Back and Forth for Half an Hour

Keith Landry

Believe it or not, this song was written while swimming laps in the high school pool (I had to have the life-guard kid write down lines for me every time I returned from the deep end). Oddly enough, the first line I came up with was “Swimming laps, I always pull a little left / that makes sense, I’d vote for any Kennedy.” Obviously, this song went through some changes to arrive at the metaphorical final result.

Swimming laps, I try to keep from looking back
I find it’s best to look towards where I want to be
Memorizing lines has got me losing track
Your words inside always seem to get the best of me
Back and forth for half an hour
The sweetest words run through my head a dozen times
So much power in just a dozen rhymes
Just a dozen rhymes

As a kid I never really liked to ocean
I’d sit back on the shore for fear of getting wet
Now I’m on my back and keeping constant motion
I’m in as deep as I can ever hope to get
Back and forth for half an hour
The sweetest words run through my head a dozen times
So much power in just a dozen rhymes

Maybe by some amazing grace
After so many miles and so many years
I’ll get to see you face to face
Your voice like water rushing in my ears
Back and forth like the cadence of the ocean
In and out a little more than it appears

So hard to memorize here swimming up and back
Another line each time, I’m keeping track
A never will reunion with someone I’ve never met
That’s just fine ‘cause who I am sometimes I’d just as soon forget
Back and forth for half an hour
The sweetest words run through my head a dozen times
So much power in just a dozen rhymes

Maybe by some amazing grace
After so many miles, so many years
I’ll get to see you face to face
Your voice like water rushing in my ears
Up and down between the drowning and the breathing
The sum and difference of all fears

Swimming laps and losing track, in and out and up and back