Blog · Behind the Songs · Song: Wake Behind You

Wake Behind You: The People Who Change Everything

Some people spend decades in your life and leave very little behind. Others show up for a few years and somehow change everything.

That's what LP did for me.

Wake Behind You is a song I wrote after losing a friend. But more than anything, it's a song about the impact one person can have on another's life, sometimes without ever realizing just how much they've changed.

One introduction changed everything

When I moved back to Northern Kentucky after spending years in New York City, I was starting another chapter of my life. I was back near family, back around places I knew, but I was also rebuilding a social life after being away for so long.

And then I met LP.

I met him at Manhattan Marina. He was one of those people who made you feel welcome almost immediately. He took me to Prost, invited me and my dog Cooper out on his boat, and started introducing me to people.

At the time, I don't think either of us realized how much those introductions would matter.

Today, I can trace an incredible number of the friendships and relationships I've built since moving home back to him. People I spend time with, people I've made memories with, people who've become an important part of my life.

All because one person decided to make me feel welcome.

You left a wake behind you

The last message

LP and I knew each other for about three years. Not a lifetime, but long enough for him to make a difference I'll carry for the rest of mine.

One of the things that makes losing someone so difficult is realizing that an ordinary conversation was actually your last.

Our final text exchange was about spending more time together that summer.

I told him:

You need to be here for at least some of the summer. You are missed.

He told me he would.

At the time, it was just another conversation. Another plan we'd hopefully get around to making happen.

I didn't know it would be the last.

That's one of the things grief teaches you. We spend so much time assuming there will be another weekend, another boat ride, another conversation, another chance to tell someone what they mean to us.

Until there isn't.

Why the wake matters

The title has a double meaning, and that's what made it feel right.

A boat leaves a wake behind it. Even after the boat has passed, the water continues to move. Those ripples spread outward, reaching places the boat itself never touched.

I think people do the same thing.

LP didn't just become my friend. He introduced me to people who became friends with each other. Those friendships turned into experiences, memories, and relationships that continue to grow.

His influence didn't stop with the people he knew directly. It continues through the connections he helped create.

That's what the song is really about.

It's not just about missing someone. It's about recognizing that a person's impact can extend far beyond their own lifetime.

A song I never wanted to have to write

Writing this song was different from writing most of my other music.

There wasn't a relationship to figure out, a mistake to learn from, or a new chapter to celebrate.

There was simply someone I missed, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude for everything he'd brought into my life.

I wanted to find a way to thank him.

The song was eventually played at his funeral, which made it one of the most meaningful things I've ever written. Hearing something I'd created become part of how we remembered him was an experience I'll never forget.

I wish he'd been around to hear it himself.

What he left behind

I think about LP whenever I'm out with friends he introduced me to, or spending time around the marina where so many of those relationships began.

Sometimes it's easy to overlook how much one small act of kindness can change someone's life.

An invitation. An introduction. Making room for someone who might otherwise have felt like an outsider.

LP probably didn't think twice about most of those things. That was just who he was.

But those small moments added up to something enormous.

And that's what I hope people take away from this song.

You don't have to change the entire world to leave something meaningful behind. Sometimes changing one person's world is enough.

LP changed mine.

And every time I look around at the people who are part of my life because of him, I'm reminded that he's still here in a way.

The boat may be gone.

But the wake is still moving.

Listen

Wake Behind You is my tribute to LP, and to the kind of friendship that leaves a lasting mark.

Listen on Spotify · Wake Behind You on harborvalemusic.com · Listen on your favorite platform

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