So it’s a well-known fact that the majority of my creative inertia comes during the night. I’ve had moments of epiphany that are unrivaled right after a good night’s rest. It is common knowledge that I wrote the song “To Be Lovers,” showed it to my family, and then had to engage in an epic sibling bloodletting to wrest it back from my mop-headed brother, Keith.

And when the smoke cleared, he stole it from me anyway. I just relented because of the fatigue, and because relationships transcend copyright infringement.
This time, I’m not letting go. Last week, I wrote the following intro:

Hello . . . .(long pause) . . . It’s me

I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet
to go over–everything

They say that time’s supposed to heal, yeah

But I ain’t done much healing

And then—the stupendous, barn-burning chorus:

Hello from the other side

I must’ve called a thousand times

To tell you I’m sorry, for everything that I’ve done

But when I call you never seem to be home

That’s not the whole song, and I’m not going to print them here, because I don’t want anyone else running up into my crib and start claim-jumping.

But Adele’s people better call my people and settle this now. Or I go into lawyer mode.