I was just wonderring if those two songs are the exact same or am I just going insane? lol They seem to be the same lyrics, lol

Peace and Love,

Jessy

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*Your promises and whispered words are forever on my mind*
~Maybe soon there'll come a day
When no more tears will fall~

3 Hours & Where I Was Before are the same song.

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Greg Keelor met Jim Cuddy and then I met you people. Serendipity is a marvellous thing.


"I guess I don't know if I believe in God but
I know a song can make you feel good once
in a while." ~Greg Keelor~

Thats so weird, lol. I love the songs, soo nicee:)

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*Your promises and whispered words are forever on my mind*
~Maybe soon there'll come a day
When no more tears will fall~

oops, thats what I meant, duh. lol anyways, why would they do that?

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*Your promises and whispered words are forever on my mind*
~Maybe soon there'll come a day
When no more tears will fall~

Same lyrics, different instrumentals.

"3 Hours Away" features guitars and "Where I Was Before" features piano. I prefer the piano version.

Question I have is what is meant by '3 hours away'??? Just can't figure this one line out in the song.

Great album altogether. Very mello and easy listening for pretty well all songs.

I think that it means that he is three hours away from the person he is longing for, and this distance represents not just a physical barrier between them, but an emotional barrier as well. Perhaps he feels that if he confronts this person about how he feels, the distance will become even greater.  Not sure if this answers your question, but that is my take on it anyway.

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I carry with me the memory of a field I once knew, of a night so full of stars that I was left humbled by it's endless beauty. I know that whatever the cost, life is worth living. So bring it on...I can take it.

That's a pretty good read on "3 Hours Away/Makes Me Wonder" CarolK. I have always sensed a nagging presence of guilt in Jim's songs to the person or persons he longs or cares for that somehow by his "chasing songs from town to town" or "chasing ghosts" or whatever...that whatever it is he does has hurt, does hurt and will continue to hurt the people who he "knows". Of course we all know that Jim's songs are not autobiographical...Still he gives us a unique sense of what kind of price one may have to pay for choosing to be a rock star. Quite ironic, as I was just listening to The Byrds' "So You Wanna Be A Rock and Roll Star" on their Greatest Hits album as I was reading this thread. I see that theme of guilt of Jim's stream through "Sad Nights", "Bad Timing" and "Rena" so I'm guessing it's been something on his  mind for the better part of the past 15 years.

I had toyed with the idea of a career in music for a while when I was young, but after I heard perhaps the definitive life on the road rock song namely "Ballad of Mott the Hoople (March 26, 1972-Zurich)" on the great glam rock classic "Mott" by Mott the Hoople from 1973, I decided not to quit my day job...however boring such a job was. And even now when I occasionally think about what life would have been like if I had followed my muse and sought fame and fortune with my axe and my songs, I am so glad I never became a rock and roll star. What an awful life it must be. "Rock and roll is a loser's game... it mesmerizes and I can't explain the reasons for the sights and for the sounds"

A slight clarification- My youthful aspirations to become a rock and roll star as described above were totally pipe dreams. The fact that I can't play any more than two chords on a guitar to this day, and that I had absolutely no songs written then or now, also were big factors in my deciding not to quit my day job. LOL!!! Had I ever gone into the music business it would have been as and A & R man, an in house counsel to a record company or as a business/legal consultant to an artist.

Of course back in 1976-78, one often really didn't need any technical musical expertise or any song writing ability to become semi-famous. It was the age of the punker and the new waver and the do it yourself (D.I.Y.) approach to making pop music. Case in point being the Sex Pistols who prided themselves on the fact that they hadn't learned how to play guitar, drums or bass. But primitivism only lasted so long. They made their point & fizzled or as Neil Young observed they burned out...as opposed to rusting.

Seriously, I have the utmost respect for anyone who can play guitar well, and who can write original songs and who can sing and who is willing to slog it out on the road doing 200 plus shows a year...like some band we may just happen to admire.

carolk:

I think that it means that he is three hours away from the person he is longing for, and this distance represents not just a physical barrier between them, but an emotional barrier as well. Perhaps he feels that if he confronts this person about how he feels, the distance will become even greater.  Not sure if this answers your question, but that is my take on it anyway.

My brother-in-law & I just had this conservsation last night, he thought they were different songs.

I got the same as CarolK from 3 Hours Away & I  always thought Jim's songs had the underlying tones that Peter mentioned too. That to me is so sad. I think certain things in life are so glamourized we forget that certain people are just that, people & in every life there is pain. Not that these songs are about Jim's life but they must come from somewhere whether it is his observation or experiences. jmho

  3 Hours Away / Where I Was Before

 

Can’t get used to what you told me You said better brace yourself
There's changes coming in I wake up to a brand-new story
Stop the clock that's ticking on the shelf
Then let it all begin

Now I know that I'm right here where I was before
Chasing all my ghosts around
Maybe I worry what I will say
Now I'm only 3 hours away

Living in between the pages
Watching the strangers come and go Just life that’s passing by
It all keeps coming down in stages
Only hurts the ones you know No matter what you try

Now I know that I'm right here where I was before
Chasing songs from town to town
Maybe I worry what I will say
Now I'm only 3 hours away

Some things aren't meant to last
Like a day that burns up fast
Turn away and then it's gone

Sun comes the red sky morning
I pray that the trouble all has passed
Just something that I dreamed I must have missed all of your warnings
I guess we played too fast Much closer than it seemed

Now I know that I'm right here where I was before
Making all my plans alone
Maybe I worry what I will say Now I'm only 3 hours away
Maybe I worry what I will say Now I'm only 3 hours away

 

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"How the best things are won with sacrifice"

dar:

My brother-in-law & I just had this conservsation last night, he thought they were different songs.

I got the same as CarolK from 3 Hours Away & I  always thought Jim's songs had the underlying tones that Peter mentioned too That to me is so sad. I think certain things in life are so glamourized we forget that certain people are just that, people & in every life there is pain. Not that these songs are about Jim's life but they must come from somewhere whether it is his observation or experiences. jmho

I got the same general feeling, but what I really took from the song was that the he was having to deal with an important issue (maybe in his relationship?) that he'd been avoiding (both emotionally and physically), was "only 3 hours away" from home and still wasn't sure how he was going to approach it or what he was going to say to the person...

It's almost like one of those situations in a relationship - and I've been there - where you've been trying to tell your partner something for a long time... perhaps that you haven't been happy or that changes needed to be made in the relationship, and your partner just wasn't getting it and didn't "get it" until it was too late...Sad, but it happens all too often.

...Can’t get used to what you told me You said better brace yourself
There's changes coming in...

...Now I know that I'm right here where I was before
Chasing all my ghosts around
Maybe I worry what I will say
Now I'm only 3 hours away...

...I must have missed all of your warnings...

 

Also, like Dar mentioned above, the song doesn't necessarily pertain to Jim directly. I find that he often writes about other people's lives.

Also, like Dar mentioned above, the song doesn't necessarily pertain to Jim directly. I find that he often writes about other people's lives. - Bluegirl

Yeah, I know that Jim often takes inspiration from something he has observed, or heard around him.  I think that Greg used to kid around that Jim was always using his life (Greg's) to base his songs on. Like Jim didn't have an interesting enough life to base his own songs on!  Just typical of the kind of funny digs they would exchange back and forth.

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I carry with me the memory of a field I once knew, of a night so full of stars that I was left humbled by it's endless beauty. I know that whatever the cost, life is worth living. So bring it on...I can take it.

Jim should write a song called "300 feet away" about the restraining order he should probably take out on certain fans that stalk him.

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Where my designer B*tches at?

MAGNETS....COWS....HERD....it all makes sense now?

There's nothing worse than driving in a snowstorm with a GPS that's on the rag

Do you take PAYPAL?

NYCBRFAN:

Jim should write a song called "300 feet away" about the restraining order he should probably take out on certain fans that stalk him.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Hooyootalkinboutwillis?!
 

Bluegirl:

NYCBRFAN:

Jim should write a song called "300 feet away" about the restraining order he should probably take out on certain fans that stalk him.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Hooyootalkinboutwillis?!
 

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

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Keep it simple

In the middle of the night
We keep sending little kites
Until a little light gets through ~ Patty Griffin

F*ck it, I'm off to the river
Just get me outta here ~ D. Bentall