Singled Out: Matt Zaddy's Far Too Long

01-08-2025

Singer-songwriter Matt Zaddy recently released his latest single, "Far Too Long", and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the track. Here is the story: My song Far Too Long has been a long time in the making. I was recently going over old demos, and I found some demos of this song from 9 years, which makes complete sense to me when I think about the subject matter and what I was going through at the time.

The Story Behind the Song: When I was writing this song, I was working 40+ hours a week at my day job as a paralegal, and 40+ hours a week as a musician - teaching, gigging, etc. I did this for about 3 years straight in my 30's. If it was my 20's, I probably wouldn't have even noticed, as I had become accustomed to burning the candle at both ends with a day job and music. As I aged, it was beginning to ware on me, and I didn't even realize it.

I recall a specific moment where my younger brother, who was working in my office at the time, came back from vacation. He asked me what I had done the week he was away....and I had no idea. I had lost a week's worth of memories due to burnout. I was drinking 2 pots of coffee a day, sleeping very little and repeating that process day in, day out. It was then that I realized I had to make a change and start to transition to doing music full time. Between this experience and some very positive encouragement from my wife, Heather Christine, I start to phase myself out of the paralegal business and focus just on music.

The lyrics directly reflect what I was going through at the time, between burnout and losing a part of myself my work. It was a lesson for me to take better care of myself and to know my limits, but also a reminder to make time for the other things in my life I had been neglecting.

The Recording: I originally brought this song to my producer - Emmy award winning / Juno Nominated Ross Citrullo (RHC Music) in 2018-2019 as part of the songs that were to be on my album. At the time, it felt like the song was not a good fit for the album tracks. I kept working on the tune and developing it.
This year, I came back to the studio to record it. This time, really struck a chord with my producer and we just went for it.

We were to record the song the week before Labour Day: one day preproduction, one day band tracking, two days for touch ups, lead guitars, etc. I had just come back from a cottage trip, and I woke up with spots all over my body. I didn't know what I had! I did a consult with my doctor and it was believed I had a non-contagious parasite I had picked up from the lake (found out it was something called Swimmer's Itch). That cost us half a day of pre-production. Thankfully, my producer and I have developed an amazing working relationship, and we were able to get the Preproduction done in half a day for the tune.

The next day we had he band come in to lay down bass, drums, and organ/piano. We used my ghost track guitars from the pre-production, and we did all these instruments plus vocals live off the floor. The players were amazing, and we were able to get all the bed tracks done in 1 hour! We were joking around about how well it went, and Ross said, "Well, that's how you get a record done in an hour haha!" We had previously done a live off the floor approach for my single What Comes Around in 2023, and this process worked just as well for a second time.
Over the course of the next two days we ironed out the acoustic guitar takes, plus vocal harmonies and lead guitars. All in all, a fantastic experience that went by so fast, it makes me itch to get back in the studio!

My Influences on the Song: At the time I wrote the lyrics and most of the guitar, I had a lot of Ryan Bingham going through my mind, specifically his record Mescalito and the song Hard Times. I used to listen to Bingham all the time in the mid 2000's while I was touring and playing in a progressive metal band called Starring Janet Leigh. That album was the soundtrack to a few tours, and I still play it regularly. I always find that The Band and Neil Young creep into my songwriting no matter what I do, so you can hear a bit of The Weight and Out on the Weekend in there as well.

Vocally, I tend to feel the above artists, plus some Black Crowes. It's become a part of my psyche so it makes itself known in the vocals for sure.

The interlude is interesting. I came up with the chords on my own, but when I thought about it more, it really felt like a nod to Pink Floyd, in the direction of Breathe. The original version of the song had 2 interludes (likely the live version will too), but in the recording it's a small break between the first chorus and second verse that adds just a bit of new flavour. It really gives a jumping off point for the band to come in full force.

Final Thoughts: All in all, I'm incredibly happy with how the tune turned out. I think anyone who has worked hard for something they cared about, and maybe pushed a bit too hard, can relate to what I was going through at the time. The Americana vibes in the song speak to that hard fought grit that it often takes to pursue your dreams, and I hope it can be both an inspiration, but also a reminder of the toll overwork can take on ourselves.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read about my tune, I truly hope you enjoy it.

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