Cotton Candy Man

posted by Aubrey on August 13, 2025

Every end is the beginning of something new. There is much to grieve in our world AND beauty is everywhere.

This tune pays homage to a delightful and curious fellow, a traveling carney, whom Aubrey met on the road while rock climbing across the country.

Just weeks after their encounter she learned he had passed suddenly. He deserves to be remembered with a smile.

The original tune for “Cotton Candy Man” was composed over a decade ago, sitting on the back porch alone, watching the stillness of a clear night sky, smelling pines and settling into a place of quiet presence where one can feel the earth and sky touch.

Noteworthy Moments

First, a mini theory lesson. Fiddle tunes, like this one, have an A part that repeats and a B part that repeats. And then you do the whole thing over again, AABB, AABB, etc, until you’ve had enough.

Listen closely and you’ll hear the melody line jump down abruptly at the end of the B part. You’ll hear it in the banjo, where it ends the phrase on the lowest note. This is symbolic of the unexpected end of our friend the Cotton Candy Man, a vibrant life cut short too soon.

But the song doesn’t end there. Embedded in the cyclical nature of this tune is a symbol: for so many things that we grieve, there is an end of the thing but not an end to the impact. The song repeats. The memories linger. The story gets told again and again.

For a song about endings, it’s also noteworthy to mention how much we love the way the very end of this song came together. Aubrey originally wrote the song with an unresolved final note (in other words, it doesn’t end on the home tone so you’re left hanging).

However, for the album arrangement we agreed that after a short pause, Scott and Joe would play the resolution on bass and fiddle.

Well, Joe ended up coming in a little early, which gives a sweet woven texture: first the banjo/guitar fade out on the unresolved note, then the fiddle sneaks in with the home tone, followed by the electric bass finishing the song (and the album) with a final grounding chord. Satisfying.

"Cotton Candy Man" from Crooked Step, Open Gate

You can find the full album on Bandcamp starting June 6, 2025. All songs will follow on the streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etc), trickling out through the summer. "Cotton Candy Man" will begin streaming August 15.