Crushed Ice
Scott Zuniga's Song-of-the-month continued in September 2024 with a tale about loss and reconciling the regrets of youth by embracing the chill.
Crushed Ice
Crushed Ice is a song I wrote about losing my best friend and the struggle to reconcile who I am now with who I once was. It delves into the regrets of my youth, the bittersweet nostalgia for what I used to be, and the realization that life, in all its messy imperfection, was beautiful all along.
Listen to Crushed Ice
Story Behind The Song: Crushed Ice
30 years ago my best childhood friend died in a car accident. I was fourteen, so was he. I think about him every day.
One of the last things he told me was “I can see you playing music when you grow up.” Well, here I am my friend. Reaching back in time, trying to make sense of the present. I love you Patrick, I miss you.
In part, Crushed Ice is a song about losing my best friend. It’s also about my struggle to reconcile who I am now with who I once was. It delves into the regrets of my youth, the bittersweet nostalgia for what I used to be, and the realization that life, in all its messy imperfection, was beautiful all along. This is carefully depicted in the cover art for the song.
Cover Art: Crushed Ice
My goal as a Boy Scout was to earn every merit badge offered. One summer, when I was thirteen, I got serious and earned twenty-two badges—a feat that stunned every boy in my troop. I was laser-focused and determined.
But then puberty hit, and my Scout ambitions gave way to guitars and girls.
By the time I turned eighteen, I was still one badge short of earning my Eagle Scout—the pinnacle of Scouting achievement. It’s a disappointment I carry with me to this day, one that has fueled my resolve to “never start a job I can’t finish” in adulthood.
For the Crushed Ice cover art, I chose a single merit badge to represent both everything I worked so hard for as a boy and everything that eventually derailed those efforts. Rather than the missing Emergency Preparedness badge, I used an image of a gas station cup filled with free crushed ice—a perfect symbol of youth’s freeloading, free-spirited coolness.
To me, Crushed Ice captures the good, the beautiful, the bad, and the ugly of being young. That lone merit badge reminds me how close I came to achieving my childhood goal, while also granting me permission to let go and stay cool as life unraveled. Chaos comes and goes; sometimes, you just have to let it burn and embrace the chill.
Music Video: Crushed Ice
Song Lyrics: Crushed Ice
by Scott Zuniga
Boy you wrecked my life
You wrecked my home
Boy oh foolish boy
You'll never grow
If you keep burning trees
Then I'm left digging holes
For dying seeds
—
Boy you faked your death
Back when it was cool
You just held your breath
at the swimming pool
If you keep playing God
Then I'm not half a man
Even decades on
—
Chaos come and goes
I should just let go
When I walked out on you
I was on my own
I loved you more than life
My spitting image
My confident winner
My Ken Griffey Jr.
My life-ranked quitter
My open mic hero
My daft git driver
My handsome devil
My bathtub diver
My hopeless romantic
My old jeep driver
My legendary screwup
My first date spy
My snowball maker
My snowball thrower
My free gas station paper cup of cold crushed ice
—
Chaos comes and goes
I should just let go
Song Demos & Extras: Crushed Ice
I drove by Lorin Farr swimming pool in Ogden, Utah a few years ago and felt inspired to write this one.
Crushed Ice - Demo #1
This one is cool because you can actually hear me writing and scribbling at the end. I think I was frustrated with the flow of the lyrics.
Crushed Ice - Demo #2
A little page-turning and throat-clearing to keep things authentic.
❤️😘❤️