Ryan O'Reilly - “The Last Time - Acoustic Version” (ft. Adam Barnes)

Photo by Geraldine Hutt

We welcome Ryan O’Reilly back on the blog with his new collaboration with Adam Barnes: “The Last Time - Acoustic Version,” a song about the realization that you’ve finally moved on from someone you once loved.

Moving on can be exhausting and closure can often be hard to find, but this song will help you process those unwanted feelings and place them inside of a pretty little package to be hidden on a shelf, underneath a bed, or burned beyond recognition… With a good folk song, the possibilities seem to know no bounds, and that’s what you’ll find here in this terrific duet.

The song begins immediately and intimately with vocals and acoustic guitar. This track is very raw and emotionally stirring, especially for anyone who’s ever had to say goodbye to someone that they loved. The way that O’Reilly and Barnes harmonize brings an additional layer of feeling to the performance, as being in love and in sync can often seem quite harmonious, in and of itself. And to say farewell will oftentimes leave your heart in the midst of its own, sad, solo performance.

The lyrics run through all of the trials and tribulations of missing someone with your entire being: weight fluctuations, aging, and lying that this will be the last time they ever enter your thoughts, even though they’ve now been immortalized in song. It’s the perfect paradox– a marvelous melody that allows us to experience that flood of ancient emotions, over and over again, every time we hear it.

-TM