[Intro]
Thank you very much, how you guys doing?
Welcome to Subtract
So um, the origins of this album
I know I've written about it on, online but like
When I finished Plus, my debut album, the next album I was gonna make was Subtract
And I went in, uh, with Rick Rubin
And we started recording this acoustic album
And it just sort of morphed into Multiply
Because I don't think I was probably ready to make an acoustic album
I wanted to, you know, make, sing with Pharrell and "Thinking Out Loud" and "Photograph" and do, and do all this sort of stuff and then
After that came Divide and
After Divide I really wanted to make Subtract
But it also morphed into Equals in the pandemic
And I wanted to come out of the pandemic with "Bad Habits" and havе a song that's made people dancе and stuff
So I'd been putting this record together over a decade with all my favorite acoustic songs that I'd written over the last decade
And it was uh, slated to be put out this year
Uh, and then at the beginning of last year I had, I probably had the darkest month of my life
And it made me address lots of things and
I'd met Aaron previously
Everyone make some noise for mister Aaron Dessner, right over there
And I'd met Aaron through Taylor
Taylor had hooked me and Aaron up through email
And then me and Aaron went to dinner
This is like November 2021
Me and Aaron went for dinner and uh
I was telling him I'm just about to put out this album Subtract
But after that I would love to try something different maybe with electric guitars, blah, blah, blah
And he sent me a bunch of instrumentals
And I sort of had them for awhile
And I was like, I will, I'll get to them eventually but you know
I'm gonna put out Subtract and do all of that
And then February happened
And I basically wrote over all these instrumentals
We got in the studio and we, and we finished it
And uh, what has come out of it is actually what Subtract was always meant to be which is, which is this record
Uh, so I'm gonna play it in full, all the songs and explain stories behind them
This song is called "Salt Water"
It's basically like, I've had, you know, ups and downs throughout my life since I was very very young
And uh, you know, as I've got older and become a parent
Those ups and downs, you feel more ashamed about because, you know you
You hate thinking dark dark thoughts when you have children to look after
But this is uh, a song which basically encapsulates all of that "what if"
And it's called "Salt Water"

[Verse 1]
There's still so far to go and I can't feel my toes
When the rain soaks through the heels and slips to the sole
Well, the blades are two feet tall
I wade in green, I'm movin' forward, to where? God only knows
Feel the wind's harsh refrain like the clouds gripped my face
Saying, "It's alright to run from all this pain"
Oh, and when it's time to go with one last breath that's in my lungs
I'll scream, "It's all for love"
I'll scream, "It's all for love"

[Chorus]
Come and kiss me, salt water
Oh, finally, I feel, at three or four degrees
I'm free in salt water
Embrace the deep and leave everything
It was just a dream

[Verse 2]
I can feel it up ahead where the sky meets the ground
And after that, there's only moving grey
I'm filled up with regret
With things I did or never said, just leave that well alone

[Chorus]
Come and kiss me, salt water
Oh, finally, I feel, at three or four degrees
I'm free in salt water
Embrace the deep and leave everything
It was just a dream

[Post-Chorus]
It was just a dream
Is it just a dream?
It was just a dream
It was just a dream
Was it just a dream?

[Bridge]
Now I'm standing on the edge, gazing into hell
Or is it something else? I just can't tell
And when there's nothin' left, I close my eyes and take one step
And say, "Well, here it goes"
I say, "Well, here it goes"

[Chorus]
Come and kiss me, salt water
Oh, finally, I feel, at three or four degrees
I'm free in salt water
Embrace the deep and leave everything
It was just a dream