goodbye my old friend

Evidently this song is roughly a year or so old but I heard it for the first time yesterday and I have to say, it made me sad.

You’ll be fine tomorrow
The sun will rise again
It’s never easy to say goodbye
You know I’ll always love you
You know I always will

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye my old friend (my old friend)
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, we’ve reached the end (we’ve reached the end)

I don’t cry with sorrow,
I cry with joy
The memories we made can’t be destroyed
You know I won’t forget you
You know I never could
And when I said I loved you
You know I meant for good

This evidently is the final single from Audio Adrenaline. I knew that lead singer Mark Stuart had been having vocal problems and it was obvious based on other members doing more of the singing as time went on that Mark's ability to sing would be limited. But there's this part toward the end of the song (which is sung primarily by another member) when it slows and quiets and Mark comes in for the first time and sings the chorus in this broken, raspy, sad voice, and it definitely got to me a little bit. How hard that must have been for him to have sung those words, written this song, and decided that it was time for Audio A. to end.

I'm not big into the "Christian" music scene these days, but I also realize that Audio A. to some extent transcended that subculture that tends to be somewhat uninspired and unoriginal and did some really good music for a long time. I remember in 1996-97 listening to their album Bloom and realizing that within the Christian music scene there were some really good musicians who were trying to do something different ("Jesus Freak" broke a little before that, Jars of Clay was coming up, Caedmon's Call had recently broke, Switchfoot was starting to make some noise). Their cover of "Free Ride" is ridiculous. Great guitar and great vocals.

Well, anyway, it was a sad moment as I thought back over the years of hearing Audio A., playing their songs on guitar, listening to youth choirs sing their songs, and seeing them perform on probably 4 or 5 occasions. Thanks for the music guys.