2025 Competition Entry:

While You Love Me by Greg Lastrapes

Genre

Pop

Website

Co-writer(s)

no

Performer(s)

Greg Lastrapes – Vocals, Piano; Jimmy Keegan – Drums; Brad Cummings – Bass

Description

In my 20s, I found myself in a whirlwind, very long-distance relationship (Me in the US, her in Australia) with plans for me to move there and marry. Several months later, she abruptly ended it. Of course, later I would realize that she had just come to her senses first, but at the time I was confused because I thought things were going well. Once the dust settled I wrote, from her perspective, this imagined consolation.

Bio

Born in 1968, I’m a native Angeleno and former showbiz kid. I first sang on stage at the age of seven, and by the time I was twelve, I had earned my SAG and AFTRA union cards. In the early 1980s, I appeared in the popular live kids’ cabaret Let’s Put On a Show, which ran for nearly three years at the legendary Roxy on Sunset.

In my early twenties—while hustling as a recording studio runner and engineer—I squeezed in studio time whenever possible to record my band and dove headfirst into the Hollywood music scene. In the 1990s, I became a published songwriter and ASCAP memeber, with co-writes on albums by Shivaree (Capitol) & Karissa Noel (Sony/Epic).

For the last couple of decades, I’ve worked as a first-call session singer for advertising, lending my voice to international jingles for brands like Apple, Visa, IKEA, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Mattel, and Fiat, as well as film and TV productions such as La La Land, Mad Men, The Simpsons, and many more.

I also have a background in filmmaking and design and have directed music videos for Ambrosia Parsley and Holly Miranda. In 2023, I had the honor of directing the music video for my daughter Scarlet’s debut single, Shady Little Lady, as well as co-producing the track with her.

Lyrics

It’s all bliss, aint it?
All of this,
Your kiss, your touch.
So much for trusting my heart,
Cuz if it can’t get any better,
It can only fall apart.

CHORUS
So I’ll leave you while you love me,
While you still think I’m okay,
Because maybe not tomorrow,
Maybe not today,
But someday,
Maybe years from now,
The fire will be gone.
So I’ll save myself the heartache
And move on.

It’s madness, ain’t it?
I’ve had less,
And I guess I was unhappy,
But still I saw it through.
Oh, but you
Mean the world to me.

CHORUS
So I’ll leave you while you love me,
While you still think I’m okay,
Because maybe not tomorrow,
Maybe not today,
But someday,
Maybe years from now,
The fire will be gone.
So I’ll save myself the heartache
And move on.

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