Waiting

I called the number, told them something’s wrong
They sent a siren and they came along
Blue lights flashing through the morning rain
Now I’m lying here, trying to explain

They checked my pulse, they checked my chest
They said, “We’ll see what happens next”
So here I am beneath fluorescent light
Wondering if I’m gonna be alright

Funny how the clock gets loud
When you’re lying in a hospital crowd
Everybody’s waiting for a name
Everybody’s wondering just the same

So I’m waiting, waiting
For somebody to tell me what they know
Is it nothing? Is it something?
I got a ticket on the ambulance
And now I’m sitting in the aftershow
Yeah, I’m waiting, waiting
For the verdict from the room down below

There’s a man coughing three beds away
A woman staring at her phone all day
A nurse walks by, I watch her disappear
She looks like she’s heard every human fear

My mind keeps writing stories of its own
From “you’re fine” to “call somebody home”
Then my stomach growls — funny how
Even death can wait till lunchtime now

Funny how you bargain with your brain
One minute calm, the next insane
You Google every symptom in your head
Then wish you hadn’t read what you just read

Maybe it’s my heart
Maybe it’s just stress
Maybe I’m just tired
Of guessing at my best

Maybe I’ll be laughing
About this in a week
Or maybe this is real
And I’m just being me

One thing I know for certain
When they said “don’t worry”
That was probably the moment
I started worrying

Still waiting, waiting
For somebody to tell me what they know
Is it nothing? Is it something?
The ambulance brought me halfway
Now the waiting does the rest
Yeah, I’m waiting, waiting
With my heartbeat banging in my chest

So if you see me lying here
Don’t ask me if I’m fine
I’m still waiting for the answer
And trying not to read between the lines

Waiting…
Just waiting…
For somebody to tell me
I’m wasting everybody’s time.

The Story Behind the Song

“Waiting” came from an experience I hade.

It started with chest pain. I called for help, and before long I was on my way to the emergency department in an ambulance. The ambulance ride was fast and urgent. But once I arrived, everything changed.

Then came the waiting.

Waiting to be examined. Waiting for someone to tell me what they knew. Waiting to find out whether it was something serious or something that would turn out to be nothing. Lying there under fluorescent lights gives your mind plenty of time to start filling in the blanks.

You hear other patients. You watch nurses come and go. You look at the clock. You think about every possible explanation. You try to tell yourself not to worry, while simultaneously doing exactly that.

And somehow, in the middle of all that uncertainty, there was also something strangely absurd about the situation. That dark humor became part of the song.

“Waiting” isn’t really a song about being sick. It’s about what happens inside your head when you don’t have an answer — and you’re forced to sit there and wait for one.

The experience stayed with me after I left the hospital. Eventually, the thoughts, the uncertainty and the dark humor became lyrics, and those lyrics became “Waiting.”