2025 Competition Entry:

Wandering by Josh Rifkin

Genre

Rock

Artist

Co-writer(s)

no

Performer(s)

Josh Rifkin – vox, acoustic guitar, Wurlitzer, organ
Helton Lima – drums
Thiago Correa – bass
Leonardo Marques – électric guitars
Miranda Lee Richards – backup vox

Description

I lost my father to Alzheimers last year. I wrote this song after traveling to my hometown for a Thanksgiving visit. He was in the moderate stages of the disease at that time.

Bio

Josh Rifkin’s latest album Lancaster Road delivers introspection in a range of stories and sounds, dressing its singer-songwriter spirit in shades of soft rock and blue-eyed soul. The title track recalls a hometown drive with his father, whose passing inspired the album’s thoughtful perspective.
For Rifkin, music is a way to honor the past and take in the present, all while moving forward. With a history that includes being signed to Island Records as frontman of San Francisco-based Mumblin Jim (and opening for acts including Cake, Violent Femmes, and Train) as well as solo works featured on hit television shows including The Mindy Project, Parenthood and Friday Night Lights, the Philadelphia native’s well-traveled experience as a musician and live performer brings a sense of emotional immediacy to his songs.
The project itself was a journey, produced by Grammy-winner Leonardo Marques and recorded in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. A host of top South American musicians add their talents to the album’s power and polish, as do the vocal textures of guest performers Jennifer Souza, Niki J Crawford, Miranda Lee Richards, Annie Little, Bart Davenport, and Adam Elk (Mommyheads).

Lyrics

Wandering high, wandering low
Well I been all the places I thought that I needed to go

Where did I start and where did you end?
Well I wish you were here with me now, I could sure use a friend

Everyone said I was crazy at first
Everyone out there but you
Everyone said I was crazy
But somehow you knew

Take me back home
To where I’m from
You can run all you want
From the person that you will become

Where did you end, where did I start?
Well the voice in my ear and my own, it’s hard to tell them apart

Following dreams for all your life
Following for better or worse
Sometimes I feel it’s a blessing
Sometimes it’s a curse

Please pick up the phone I know you’re there
Talking to the voices in the air
Took the picture off the wall and kept it in your bed
Guess I forgot, time’s all we got
And after all, life get’s so small

Life breaks your heart, if you let it in
And if you break your heart for the world
That ain’t no kind of sin

Everyone said I was crazy at first
Everyone out there but you
Everyone said I was crazy
But somehow you knew

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