Songfacts®:

• "I wrote this song a few years back about the suicide of a friend," American Aquarium frontman BJ Barham explained. "The guilt that plagues you for not answering the phone when you should have or putting off a visit until next time and realizing that now there will be no next time. It's about looking back at a troubled person and choosing to focus on the good times instead of the dark times."
• Barham knew he wanted to write a song about his late friend but it took him years to do it because he knew he'd have to confront some painful emotions. When he finally decided to get it down on paper during the Chicamacomico sessions, he wrote and recorded it in the same day.
  
  "Very rarely have I ever had inception and documentation happen on the same day, but I am extremely thankful for this song," he noted. "I know that it's helped me process a lot of personal loss and I think this topic will resonate with a lot of folks out there struggling to put in the words what it's like to lose someone."
• Chicamacomico is American Aquarium's ninth studio album. It's a more stripped-down approach compared to the punk-influenced sound of their early days - a shift that Barham attributes to his growing confidence as a songwriter.
• In the lyrics, Barham recalls the trouble he and his friend would cause in Short Sugar's parking lot, which is a reference to Short Sugar's Pit Bar-B-Q, a restaurant located in the singer's hometown of Reidsville, North Carolina.