Waiting for Life
Like Red Light Stop Sign, also Waiting for Life has had the honour to become a title track for an album. However, unlike RLSS, WfL was intentionally composed for this purpose. It was autumn 2001 and Tero was determined to finally finish his first own album, which still lacked a title. Its working title had been "... and Everything Between" for more than a year, but the intended title track Everything Between was no longer up to the task and without it the title would be of no use.
One night on the way to play tennis, Tero happened to ask his opponent, what he thought the tracks on his forthcoming album had in common. The answer was that they were all more or less about "waiting for life". That very moment it dawned on him and just a moment later, the song started to create itself. WfL was built on top of a wistful piano theme, accentuated in the chorus by the vocalist's dialogue with the backing singers.
The piece is calm, yet determined, all the way until the end of the second verse, where the listener is swept away by the collapsing break. Ever since its conception, WfL has been its creator's number one favourite and that part its most important detail. A different kind of a change in the mood comes about in the uplifting part following the second chorus. Like Heart-Shaped Ice, also WfL lacks a modulation, even though usually you should be able to count on finding one in a Snowclone song. The reason behind this decision was that the melody is complex enough by itself. The original album version in 2001, however, did have one.
WfL poses a set of questions that everyone is bound to face at some stage of their life: Is this it? Did my life turn out the way I wanted? Why not? Where did I go wrong? Am I still waiting for something - instead of concentrating to live here and now? The bus passing by reminds there are no shortcuts to reach your goals.
Rain runs through the frosty air
No one else out there
Warmth has left this empty cell
My heart is cold as well
Guess I'm through with hoping for
Something that comes never more
I close the door and hit the road
Go where everyone has gone before
When I'm walking through the rain
[Walking through the rain]
I don’t know why I'm still sane
[Know why I'm still sane]
Though I planned it for so long
It all ended so wrong for me
[So wrong for me]
Loneliness, emptiness, I confess
I'm waiting for life
On my lonely path I've gone
Being the only one
Though my thoughts fly here and there
I have gone nowhere
It's no use to plan your life
If you don't dare live it right
No, do not leave me on the life stop
I've been waiting so long for my ride to come
I see others passing by and laughing
They did take the right line, not the one to gloom
Oh, I have tried to change or maybe not
I'm the one who soon will die and rot
When I'm walking through the rain
[Walking through the rain]
I don’t know why I'm still sane
[Know why I'm still sane]
Though I planned it for so long
It all ended so wrong for me
[So wrong for me]
Loneliness, emptiness, I've been through it all
While my dreams have slipped so far
Out of reach, out of sight
What remains of my life?
[Life I spent my whole life waiting for]
When I'm walking through the rain
[Walking through the rain]
I don’t know why I'm still sane
[Know why I'm still sane]
I was counting on sunrise
A new hope was born every day
[Born every day]
It's a mess, so senseless, nonetheless
I'm waiting for life
Still waiting for life