‘Between the Commas‘ is the title track of Jeff Karoub’s new album – his fifth album and his first full-length release since ‘Pieces Break‘ came out in 2019. It’s an album – and a song – that reflects on some hard-won wisdom. And maybe some of it isn’t such a surprise, as Jeff states from the start “You don’t need advice from me — but somehow I think I should provide it.” And the reflection that life is short, and that you don’t get to choose where you’re born and have pitifully little choice in how or where you die, is perhaps not new – but the encouragement to make the most of the time in between these events is pitched in a novel way. “Think of what you’d like it to say” suggests Jeff of one’s own self-written obituary.
The idea for ‘Between the Commas‘ is taken from Jeff Karoub’swork for the Associated Press, where an obituary starts with a name, gives a description of something key to the person’s life, then says what they died from. It’s that bit in the commas that matters – it defines the person, highlights their key deed or personality trait. It’s a challenging thought as to what would go there – there should be something though, shouldn’t there?
