… the moments don’t last

/ Su Leslie
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Carshalton, England. c. 1966. My brother, mum, great uncle Tom and me. Leslie family archive.

My parents divorced when I was in my 20s. The family photographs were divided, though over the years some have been given to me as the de facto family historian. Others have been lost, probably forever (most of Mum and Dad’s wedding photos — I’m looking at you baby brother).

And for all the hundreds, if not thousands, of photos that I take, very few are of people. Especially now that the boy-child has grown.

Something to think about.

Wish that I took more photographs of us
Said goodbye now, our love’s collecting dust
Just a memory of you is not enough
I wish that I took more photographs of us

I can’t believe I left you feeling solo
I was just at Nan’s going through old photos
And you ain’t in many of them, you’re barely in any of them
Three or four of them I wish you were in more of them
I just wish there were more of them
‘Cause now all I got is memories
And I cry but that river’s run dry
If only time was something money could buy
Goodbye, but it ain’t
With words there’s only so many pictures I can paint
And I’m running out of film now
There’s only so many pictures I can take
How does Faith feel looking at pictures of B?
How does Courtney feel looking at pictures of Kurt?
Is the pain worth the thousand words, I love you
But I hate looking at pictures of you ’cause it hurts

Wish that I took more photographs of us
Said goodbye, now our love’s collecting dust
Just a memory of you is not enough
Wish that I took more photographs of us
Oh oh oh, oh oh oh
I wish that I took more photographs of us

We all thought we’d live forever
We all thought that the moments would last
But the moments don’t last, the moments pass
And the only thing that lasts is the photograph
But what about the pictures we didn’t take?
What about the moments that we forget?
What about the memories that we’ve lost?
That only leave you full of feelings and regret
Over the people we neglected
And the time we took for granted
When all you can do is close your eyes
And hope that the memories develop in the darkness
Like photos do, I wish I had a time-machine and a photo-booth
I know to grow I’ve got to learn to let go
But I just wish that I had something I could hold on to

Wish that I took more photographs of us
Said goodbye, now our love’s collecting dust
Just a memory of you is not enough
I wish that I took more photographs of us
Oh oh oh, oh oh oh
I wish that I took more photographs of us

Last time we met, I saw change in you
You sat there calm and explained the truth
How addiction ain’t nothing but greed and guilt
Could just eat the whole world like a baby roof
And you got under my skin
All the nights that eyes-rolled sunken in gin
‘Cause I don’t want you to go die like Owen and Brian
I already wish I had a picture with him

I wish that I took more photographs of us
Said goodbye, now our love’s collecting dust
Just a memory of you is not enough
I wish that I took more photographs of us
Oh oh oh, oh oh oh
I wish that I took more photographs of us

Songwriters: Emily Warren / Chris Loco / Rory Graham / Stephen Paul Manderson

The very talented Sarah, at Art Expedition, is hosting 30 Days, 30 Songs. You can see her latest musical choice here.

39 thoughts on “… the moments don’t last”

  2. I never took that many photos of my kids as they grew except birthdays and Christmas as developing film was not cheap and I was living on a shoestring for a lot of the time. When I moved I decided to give each of them their photos, so they can relive the memories. My eldest son was very chuffed to be able to show his own children what he was like as a baby and growing up. Of course now everybody has tons of digital photos on Instagram or FB. As for old family photos I have found it really is important to write the names of people on the back of them! I have black and white photos of babies I haven’t a clue about!

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  5. I take loads of photos for the very reasons that I don’t want to regret not having them later. When I am old and grey I will spend time poring over them, reminescing and perhaps even scrapbooking them.

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  8. This is so very true! I took many, many photographs of my daughter growing up, being an only child, she has more than she probably wants. However, now that I am a photographer, and take many photos of my grandson, none have me with him. I have him with his mom, his dad and his pap but none of me with him. As I took photos last weekend while at the beach, I thought about that. He won’t have anyphotos of us, which is something I definitely need to change. Looking back, my parents are both gone now and I look at old photos and remember them young and happy, not old and sickly. Very well said and definitely something to take to heart.

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  11. Su, I know the problem and I always searched to do something about it. BUT and there is a ‘but’ of course: Just about everybody in my family is hell-bent that NO PHOTOS are being taken of them. So, we’re definitely NOT a selfie family…. I understand it for one of my sisters who is a bit ‘disfigured’ by a skin disease but for all the others, including my son, I lack a bit of understanding. THEN, it’s always and ever only ME taking photos and I sometimes joke that if we ever should need pictures of our couple, I have thousands of Hero Husband and zero of me ….. About the only one not shying away is my 93yr old mother!! It’s also, maybe, a lack of interest – which will only come when it’s too late, e.g. when the family members we would like to know more about, are under the ground and in heaven! It’s a hot and spot-on topic. And I really liked this music, plus THANK YOU for the lyrics! 🙂

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  12. I’m sure that most of our pictures will remain somewhere on the web, but no one will save them. My kids don’t want them. Maybe they will want them at some point, but by then it will probably be too late. It’s like that conversation I SHOULD have had with my elderly aunts who came over from “the other side.” I will eternally regret no having those chats … but they are gone and it’s too late.

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