Never Have to Say Goodbye - Commentary

[Jacoby Shaddix]
Another standout track to me is “Never have to say goodbye”. We are in Las Vegas. One of my friends, he was like a father figure to me, he helped me get clean and sober a few years ago I’ve been – you know, it’s no secret – I’ve been in and out of sobriety for some years and this guy was really… He reached out for me, man, when I was down and out and helped me a lot and, you know, helped me get my life back together and, you know, back in my old wicked ways I went out and when I was out there living the old life, he was in Vegas on vacation with a bunch of his buddies and he had a heart attack and died and that hit me, man. That really hit me heavy. It was like losing another father, for me, you know. I already lost one in my life, you know, not to death but just to… we have no relationship really, you know, and then this second guy, you know, he actually, Dan, he passed away and that was just… That was rough for me to walk through but, you know, a few years later I’m in Vegas and I’m looking for something to write about and like I said earlier, man, it’s just… It’s been laid out in front of me. Every time I need to write another song it’s like it’s clear and I needed to make my peace with Dan and say what I never had said to him, you know, ‘cause he got calling me up, checking up on me but I would never return his call because I never wanted him… I never wanted him to know how bad I was doing and, you know, but now I’m coming up, you know, on my third year of sobriety and being able, you know, I know that he’s looking down on me from heaven like smiling on me, but I really felt that it was necessary that I was able to say my peace in music, you know, I really find… You know, I have finality in some of my issues when I put it in a song and put it out there and so I, you know, I just wanna do him proud, you know, when I wake up and I face the day, you know, I can do it with a sober mind and a clear head and be part of the flow of life instead of part of the destruction of life because I’ve spent a lot of years in that so it’s good to have some clarity