Welcome to Chip & Tracy’s Place

A place for music, memories, stories, and the life Tracy and I shared.

I’m glad you stopped by. There hasn’t been a lot going on at Chip & Tracy’s Place for some time now, but that’s changing. The site is back, and it will continue to grow. I wanted to kick things off with something very special.

Let Me Tell You ’bout My Baby

A pre-release track from my forthcoming album, Let Me Tell You ’bout My Baby — a collection of music dedicated to Tracy.

For Tracy

Well, baby,

It’s been six months since you left me, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t miss you. You still fill my every waking moment.

I should be getting better, and Lord knows I’m trying. But you left a hole here that I don’t know will ever be filled. Some days I think I’m going to be okay, and then there are days like today, when I can’t do anything but bawl like a baby over the injustice of it all.

I’m just a mess.

I made you a promise that I’d hold it together. You were always the stronger one of us, but I promised you, and I intend to keep that promise. I’ll do my best to become a little stronger every day.

But my love for you will never dim.

You will always be my lady.

A few days ago, I was sitting at my piano thinking about you and playing all your songs. Eventually, I got around to the very first song I ever wrote for you.

Let Me Tell You ’bout My Baby.

You always said you could never choose between Baby and Ordinary Lovers. Since I wrote Baby for you when we were what—15 or 16?—I suppose it has always held a special place for me.

I can still remember sitting at that piano at Mom and Dad’s, coming up with the tune. And I remember how giddy you were over the fact that I had actually written you a song.

Remember that?

It always needed some updating and rewriting. After all, lyrics were never exactly my strong suit.

And then I started thinking about that night, just a few months before we found out. We were sitting in the studio having a toddy or two when you grabbed a notebook and said, “Let’s start on all those rewrites we’re always talking about doing.”

Man, we thought we were dynamite.

That was until we woke up the next day and you couldn’t even read your own handwriting.

I can still remember us laughing like crazy over that.

While I was playing Baby the other night, the song started talking to me.

She said, “You know, Tracy always wanted you to finish me. Why don’t you give it a whirl? I’ll even help you out.”

So I did.

I started working on her, and before long she took on a life of her own.

Anyone who has heard the original will know she is still the same song. She still carries much of that first verse and chorus, and the underlying message is still there.

But somewhere along the way, she rewrote herself.

What began all those years ago as a story about one moment in time has become the story of a lifetime.

You were always after me to write a song about us. I think that’s what Baby has finally become.

And maybe something more.

It has become a testament to the love I have had for you all these years, and the love I will carry for you for the rest of my days.

I hope you can hear it up there, wherever you are.

I believe you would be pleased.

And just like the song says:

You will always be my lady.

So here’s looking at you, kid.

I love you with everything that’s inside me.

Always,

Your Baby