Twenty Long Years

**"Twenty Long Years"** is a song about someone reflecting on how they "made a life out of chasing a ghost" and "it took everything [they] had." The singer struggles with addiction and gambling debts, finding two decades of hard living have taken a toll, destroying their health and finances. They also struggle with their memory or mental acuity, expressing that they would explain their story, but "the booze just makes [them] slow" and "the dope tends to cloud [their] mind." The singer ends the song with a lament "I got to find a way out of this mess, I'm in trouble and it sure looks bad," that they "went lookin' and it drove [them] mad," and noting "I ain't never seen you look so sad." It's unclear if this last lyric is addressed to themselves or someone else.

The end of the track includes sounds of people singing along in a bar setting.

## Background and influences

In the Spotify storyline for this song, Ben Schneider explains that the character in the song is a fictional future self:

"Sometimes to get a new perspective on things I'll write a song as an invented character. I go so far as to create names and backstories. Not just because it adds depth, but because it's fun for me. I get a kick out of it. And sometimes I'll write as a fictionalized version of myself, imagining all the potential futures I could find myself in, good and bad (mostly bad) and trying to guess how I'd act or feel in a certain situation. This song is written from the perspective of a potential future self I hope to never meet. Maybe some part of me thinks that by committing it to tape it can't come true, because then I'd be a fortune teller, and everyone knows the future is unknowable... Right?"
## Music Video

In the video, the scene with the people singing along in the bar takes place in the Broken Bottle, with a member of the Phantom Riders slumped on a stool next to the Cosmic Selector jukebox. Frankie Lou passes by, then Leigh Green and a man in conversation together, before someone throws a bottle which smashes on the Cosmic Selector. The music stops and the people in the bar exclaim in protest.

### Music video trivia and fan theories

The identity of the man walking with Green isn't known, but he has salmon-colored shirt cuffs, and the only other character depicted with a shirt this color in *Alive From Whispering Pines* is Remy Fusil.

## Annotated lyrics

I have a tale or two to tell you,

but the booze just makes me slow

I could rack my brain remembering,

but I guess maybe I'll just go

There's a method to my madness

There's a secret to this town

There's a reason why I'm still living here,

though I can't think of it right now

I made a promise when I left for the coast, twenty long years ago

I made a life out of chasing a ghost, twenty years takes its toll

I got along for a while, I guess, but it took everything I had

I gotta find a way out of this mess, I'm in trouble and it sure looks bad

I have a thought or two to share with you,

but the dope tends to cloud my mind

I now destroyed my health, searching for myself,

but there ain't nothing there to find

There's a debt or two I owe you,

but the gambling left me poor

I put up my name in the sacred game

and forgot what I was playing for

I made a promise when I left for the coast, twenty long years ago

I made a life out of chasing a ghost, twenty years takes its toll

I got along for a while, I guess, but it took everything I had

I gotta find a way out of this mess, I'm in trouble and it sure looks bad

I gotta find a way out of this mess, I'm in trouble and it sure looks bad

I gotta find a way out of this mess, I went looking and it drove me mad

I gotta find a way out of this mess, I'm in trouble and it sure looks bad

I gotta find a way out of this mess, I ain't never seen you look so sad

I gotta find a way out of this mess

I gotta find a way out of this mess

## Potential lyrical references

Frequently, Lord Huron's songs explore similar themes, sometimes they have stories that are covered by more than one song. These lyrical connections are merely for reference:

1. ↑ Numerous Lord Huron songs reference ghosts or spirits, sometimes as metaphors for something else, such as "Love Like Ghosts"

## Sources

"The Moon Doesn't Mind" (Roy Casey)
"**Mine Forever**"
"(One Hellava Performer)" (Tubbs Tarbell)
"Love Me Like You Used To"
"Meet Me in the City"
"(Sing for Us Tonight)"(Tubbs Tarbell)

"**Long Lost**" (Leigh Green and Hauser Godwin)
"**Twenty Long Years**"
"Drops in the Lake" (*Drops in the Lake (film)*)
"Where Did the Time Go"
"**Not Dead Yet**" (The Phantom Riders)
"(Deep Down Inside Ya)"(Tubbs Tarbell)

"I Lied"(with Allison Ponthier) (Donnie and Midge)
"At Sea"(*L’Île Cosmique*)
"What Do It Mean"(Quentin King)
"Time's Blur"
**Bonus tracks:**
"Your Other Life" and "Ton Autre Vie"