Singled Out: Frank Viele's We Can't Have It All

New England Americana/blues rocker Frank Viele just released his new EP "The Silo" and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the song "We Can't Have It All." Here is the story:

Man, I wrote this song fast. The words just poured out on a cell phone demo. I wrote the first line - "Highways are for fast cars and bridges are for burning" - and then I was off to the races.

I've spent a lot of time in dive bars. When you're building an indie musician career, most of the rooms you play early on are dive bars with a microphone, and there's almost always that wall - the one filled with names, dates, half-thoughts, inside jokes. You know the wall. It becomes a thing. "I had four shots of tequila and now I want to write my name on something."

It's funny to me, but it also makes a ton of sense. So many of us - myself included - are subconsciously trained to believe we can achieve anything. And in a way, we can. But in a very real way, we can't achieve everything unless we're willing to live forever, because there just isn't enough time. Dreams come with sacrifice, sacrifice comes with doubt, and doubt often comes with regret.

So in that moment - when your inhibitions are a little shaky and you feel the urge to cement yourself into the history books by carving your name into the wall of a dive bar with a Sharpie - you're really just trying to buy yourself more time. You're trying to leave something behind. You're trying to do something that lasts forever.

That's the chorus of this song:

Last forever, like the writing on the wall
Of this dive bar back room where sinners like to crawl
We played the door charge, watched the shadows fall
Fueled by memories and that everlasting call
To last forever - but we can't have it all.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here

Singled Out: Frank Viele's Against The Wind (Bob Seger)

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