It's nice to know that good things do come to those who wait. You just have to wait a really long time occasionally.
A little over eight years ago, I heard a new U2 song called "Window in the Skies" and really liked it. It is certainly a deep cut in the band's canon. Few people would put it in their top thirty U2 songs if they even know that it exists. But as I watched the song's music video (which is pretty good in its own right; you can see it here), I latched on to its simple yet beautiful refrain.
Wanting to get the song, I logged on to the iTunes store (this was back when we still said things like "log on to the internet"). When I found the would-be future staple of my next playlist, I saw two dreaded words next to it: Album Only.
"Window in the Skies" was a part of U2's greatest hits album U218 Singles. iTunes hasn't really been kind to these compilations. When you can purchase a band's best songs individually, what is going to compel you to buy a greatest hits album. The most-used solution is to have a couple of new songs on the album that are only available if you purchase the entire album.
I understand the logic, but I already owned every other song on U218 Singles with the exception of "Sweetest Thing" (which I have never really had a burning desire to own) and the other new song "The Saints Are Coming" (a cover song featuring Green Day, which sounds more and more dated because there is nothing that screams mid-2000s like Green Day). So basically, the recording industry was asking me to pay $9.99 for two new songs.
Nope. I liked the song, but nope. Still I checked the album every once in a while just to see if it slipped off there. I didn't expect things to change. If I'm being honest, I was hoping to catch a mistake. Every once in a while I would hear the song and remember that I really liked it. Yet I did not waver. This was a matter of principle. That and I am incredibly stubborn. Over the years, I resigned myself to the fact that "Window in the Skies" would never be mine.
Until today. EA and I watched U2 on Fallon the other night (which, I like Fallon the talk show host, but the episode probably had too much Fallon talking and too little U2). With that in mind, I was just browsing the iTunes store and came across U218 Singles. Out of habit, I scrolled down through the track selection and then I saw it:
Window in the Skies - U2 - 4:07 - $0.99
It was like seeing Bigfoot and Santa Claus riding the Loch Ness Monster. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but I never thought I'd see that. After playing an eight and a half year waiting game, I won. I outlasted the recording industry. Immediately I downloaded "Window in the Skies" and put it on my running playlist. I listened to it and smiled despite the fact that it was mile 5 and it is now summer in South Carolina despite it being early May. And when the song was over, I played it again.
Small win? Yes. But sometimes you have to celebrate the minuscule victories.