You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made.

I'm Rishi Kesh Hirwe.

This episode contains explicit language.

My name is Tao Wyn, of the band Tau in the Get Down Stay Down.

I was reading Marilynne's novel, Gilead, and there is this character

who is a black sheep or an outcast of his family, and he's returned after several years of

being completely out of touch, and he's about to leave again and basically break his father's heart.

And there's this passage where he's asking forgiveness

from a family friend.

Then he stopped and looked at me and said,

you know, I'm doing the worst possible thing again.

Leaving now.

Glory will never forgive me.

This character and the way that he's developed and rendered

struck me so deeply,

and it reminded me so much of my dad.

In this one passage in particular,

sort of brought me closer to understanding my dad

and gave me a kind of compassion and a curiosity about him

that I hadn't entertained before,

wondering what kind of person he had been all these years

that I didn't know him.

...