During a Bluetooth phone conversation one day during my afternoon commute, someone I’m very close to was telling me about a relationship that mysteriously ended. He seemed to vanish one day and she wasn’t sure why. As she explained different aspects of their relationships, there seemed to be some very large red flags waving, which she confirmed.
She said she was coming to terms with the end of the relationship, but she just wanted to know what happened. “You want to know how the movie ends,” I commiserated. “You need to write a song about that,” she told me. After we finished our conversation, I started working on it and by the time I got home, I had several lines. I worked on it over the next few days and here’s the song: “How the Movie Ends.”
Before the mysterious disappearance, they were getting pretty serious, discussing their future together and even planning a move across the country together.
We were writing our story, fine-tuning our script
When you tore up the pages, they blew away in the wind
Without explanation, you ran out the door
Crushing expectations I never questioned before
But then he disappeared. At that time, the last she heard was that he had a flight out of town for business and he asked her not to contact him anymore.
I want to know how this movie ends
You flew away, leaving me in suspense
Is there a sequel so I don’t have to guess
I want to know how this movie ends
I tried to keep the movie theme going in the second verse.
It began as a romance, shifted to mystery
As the plot twisted, my world crashed down around me
You spoke your lines so eloquently
I should have known they were too good to believe
I tried a different strum for the bridge and used movie themes to describe the end of the relationship – being left on the cutting room floor and the credits rolling. (The last line of the bridge is also a reference to how some movies end, such as one of my favorites, “The Wizard of Oz.”)
You left me on the cutting room floor
Credits are rolling, but I wanted more
Were there signs I chose to ignore?
Was this all a dream?
And just like the real-life scenario, there’s no resolution.
How does this movie end?
My Songwriting Journey 