Premiere: The Pursuit of Dreams in Micah McCaw’s Reflective “Tearing Seams”

Micah McCaw’s “Tearing Seams” puts the mad dash of life on pause in a moment of introspective reevaluation and consideration.

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'Tis the season for reflection: For reviewing what we’ve done and who we’ve become in the past 12 months. As the end of the year approaches, it brings with it an inevitable impulse to look back: Just a quick glance behind us as we continue our race. We know where we’re coming from, but what are we running toward – and will we ever get there? Micah McCaw’s “Tearing Seams” puts the mad dash of life on pause in a moment of introspective reevaluation and consideration.

Well I spend all my time
Preparing for more time
And I’ll never even know
If it is worth it at all

I thought that I woke up
Because this dream ain’t quite so big
Gathering around a campfire outside
None of us will know that we lied

Listen: “Tearing Seams” – Micah McCaw

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Tearing Seams,” the new single from Micah McCaw. A singer/songwriter from Medford, Oregon, Micah McCaw infuses deep piano chords, trembling violins, sweet vocal harmonies and more into a warm, acoustic guitar-driven folk-rock song. Sweeping brush strokes drive momentum forward as colorful lyrics catch an individual’s confrontation of his own values.

The doctor checked my pulse
Would you believe that there was nothing wrong
Just another kid who got what he wants
All my dead friends taunt and taunt and taunt

I spend all my time
Preparing for more time
And I’ll never even know
If it is worth it at all

“I wrote ‘Tearing Seams’ on Christmas Day last year when I was sitting in my room pondering my life,” McCaw shares. “I realized that I was having an intense struggle with the fight between ambition and greed. That year I had toured for three months and played some really incredible shows and yet still I was unsatisfied. When do we sit back and say, “We did it” and move on or just know that we are satisfied, and when do we push forward and struggle for more?”

He continues: “It was a time when I was able to reorganize what was valuable to me. We read quotes from authors, actors, and various other famous humans from the past who say that they wished they would have spent more time with God, family, and friends, yet I still have a hard time listening to people with more wisdom and experience than I do. So this song is about exploring all of those ideas and wondering why I spend most of my time preparing for more time. Sometimes we need to breathe and not worry about preparing for the next big thing.”

I sleep with less and less dreams
I’m like a book with tearing seams
If the moon and honey ever visit again
Will I drop everything to kiss her chin?

I got a musical tree
And I gotta voice inside of me
If the captor escapes captivity
Would he know the difference between bars and trees?

We’re all setting our sights on something greater than ourselves, but to what extent do we let our dreams and goals get in the way of our everyday lives? Setting one’s standards high is reasonable, as is endeavoring to be the best you can be. McCaw isn’t singing what he’s singing because he has dreams; rather, it’s because he knows he’s missing out on something, feeling whatever emptiness or unfulfillment he’s feeling. It’s a way of life – one that, for better or worse, really doesn’t relish the everyday, the second-to-second living, or the in-between.

Is it healthy? That’s a value judgment. Perhaps the best one can hope for is self-awareness; as long as you know what you’re doing and what you’re putting yourself through, especially when so many others have so much less to their name, to their life, etc., then at least you’re aware of your place. “Just another kid who got what he wants / All my dead friends taunt and taunt and taunt,” McCaw sings in the verse. The beggar is longing for her next meal; the cancer patient is hoping for a miracle, for one more day; the musician pines for his next show.

So I’ll spend all my time
Preparing for more time
And I’ll never even know
If it is worth it at all

“Tearing Seams” is a step back. It’s an observation of the world, in all its tricky wonder and complexity. McCaw, in his own expression of honest, selfish desire, brings his listeners to turn in on themselves as well: To look at what we have and what we want, and – if just for four musical minutes – appreciate our bodies and minds, our friends and family, our values and our possesions; our health and happiness.

If you are not satisfied with who you are; where you are; what you have, then pursue it to your heart’s delight. There’s no shame in that. Just remember that life is temporary and fleeting; that it will pass you by if you’re not careful. You may never even know “if it is worth it at all,” but hopefully you’ll have loved every moment of it.

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:: stream/purchase Tearing Seams here ::

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