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I posted the original version of this on Forum 3. Vic came in with some poignant, wonderful changes to the lyric and then agreed to do the music! I’ve posted the original lyric below the new one.
This is a true story about my son and his teacher.
Thanks so much, Vic, for expressing this so beautifully and tenderly!

Unfinished Business SoundCloud Link

Unfinished Business SoundClick Link

He’d promised to finish those flowers and trees
in a painting his teacher assigned him to do
(she said) it’s coming ON well AND I REALLY AM PLEASED
and you will feel proud once our work is through

HE WAS seven years old, it was SO HARD to grasp
why she went up to heaven early next morning
His parents explained how LIFE DOESN’T LAST
and takes us sometimes without ANY warning

CHORUS
But…
Unfinished business
Weighed on his mind
Much like the life
THAT she left behind
The beauty they’d created
Stopped in its prime
Unfinished business
StOOD frozen in time

September brought with it a new art teacher
BUT HE COULDN’T GET OVER old promises made
He drew ANGELS AND BIRDS BUT NEVER COULD REACH HER
THOUGH something inside him would not let it fade

BRIDGE
Two years WENT BY he found the painting in a drawer
and HE knew he was ready to complete his chore

SO he took a thin BRUSH and carefully PAINTED
NEATLY between the flowers and trees
“Memorial of Mrs. Bull” it STATED
finally finished, FINALLY free

REPEAT CHORUS

CHORUS
Unfinished business
Weighed on his mind
Much like the life
THAT she left behind
The beauty they’d created
Stopped in its prime
Unfinished business
WAS FINISHED WITH TIME

(c) 2014, Vic Arnold and Lisa Gundling


ORIGINAL VERSION FROM FORUM 3:
Unfinished Business

He’d promised to finish those flowers and trees
in a painting his teacher assigned him to do
She’d said it’s coming along very well
and you will feel proud once our work is through

At just seven years old it was hard to grasp
why she went up to heaven early next morning
His parents explained how death comes along
and takes us sometimes without much warning

CHORUS
But…
Unfinished business
Weighed on his mind
Much like the life
She’d left behind
The beauty they’d created
Stopped in its prime
Unfinished business
Stands frozen in time

September brought with it a new art teacher
and he tried not to think of old promises made
Though he drew faces not flowers and trees
something inside him would not let it fade

REPEAT CHORUS

BRIDGE
Four years later he found the painting in a drawer
and knew he was ready to complete his chore

REPEAT CHORUS

He took a thin pencil and carefully wrote
a simple message between the flowers and trees
“Memorial of Mrs. Bull” it read
finally finished at last he felt free

REPEAT CHORUS
(c) 2014, Lisa Gundling

Hi you guys,

this must have been on the lyric board before I came back. I certainly would have remembered it. This is just a beautiful lyric, and the soft touch Vic added to the vocals brought it all together. Really good job you two!

David

very nice Vic!Great lyrics Lisa!Nice collab!Mike

Congratulations, Lisa and Vic, it's a beautiful collaboration. The music brings the lyrics to life. I loved the chorus. Beautifully done.

Nice pleasant song L&V easy on the ear well written and sung.
All the best with it
Travis

Hi guys,

This is such a beautiful tune.
I'm impressed.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Hi Vic and Lisa:

I attempted to listen and my browser would not cooperate with SoundCloud. Sorry! I know it's bound to be good judging by all the comments so far. Glad to see two talents working together and I'm disappointed I did not get to listen. Thanks, Vic... I know Caroline is looking forward to receiving your CDs for her project.

All the best,

Dave

Hi David,

Thanks so much!
You haven't been around much on Forum 3 the past week, but I posted the original lyric about three or four days ago. Vic works fast!

I like your "soft touch" comment about Vic's handling of this ... yes, absolutely! Softly lovely. He also came up with the line about the angels and birds and trying to reach her, which I love. It added an additional softness.

Lisa

Hi Michael,

Thanks for stopping by with your fun encouragement each step of the way on this!

Lisa

Hi Dan,

We're smiling away! Okay, maybe I'm smiling away and Vic is just smiling once. I'm not sure, because he's an ocean away, but, well ...

Thanks for your beautiful comments!

Lisa

Hi Travis,

Thanks so much and I agree that Vic is very easy on the ears! In fact, he's a treat for any ear! He's also mighty fine with the red pen, too!

Lisa

Hi Calvin,

Thanks very much for your impressive comments and for following this one along on its journey! I just sent it to some of the teachers and administrators at my son's school who worked with Mrs. Bull, so the song is going to be traveling down memory lane there, for sure!

Lisa

A wonderful example of well a
collaboration can work. It is
beautifully written and performed.

Big kudos to both of y'all!!!

J&B

PS Love the SC graphic

Hi David.
I'm glad Lisa gave me a chance at it.
Thank you.
Vic

Thanks Mike.
Yes, Lisa writes from her heart alright.

Vic

Lisa/Vic...

What a terrific write. A touching story and a melody that helps it unfold. Very well done. Y'all should be proud.

Touching. No better thing for a song to be...

floyd

Dan, thanks for the nice comments.
Vic

Hi Travis.
I'm glad this was easy on those ears.
Thank you for the listen.
Vic

Aww, my two favs with a sweet song!

Really loved the story and Vic, you did such a beautiful melody and vocal to tell this story, it is almost like a lullaby. Really enjoyed this collab friends!!

Tammy

Thank you Calvin.
We appreciate that.
Vic

Dave, thank you.
Here's a link you can use.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12968981

Vic

Thanks for the link, Vic:

What a great story line and collaboration. It must have been difficult to "shoehorn" all the rhyming and still tell the story Lisa provided so the listener could relate. Mission accomplished!Well done, you two. Triumphing over adversity... and life is full of little setbacks we eventually overcome. Enjoyed this very much.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Thanks so much for your two nice visits! I'm so glad you were able to listen with the Soundclick link. I can't get Soundcloud on my iPAD, but I can pull it up fine on my Mac.

How Vic pulled it all together so beautifully is simply magic to me ... I know that you can appreciate the mechanics of it all!

I'm really delighted you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting us know!
Lisa

Hi J & B.
Lisa is a joy to collab. with.

That graphic is the painting in the song.

Vic

Hi Janice & Bud,

Thank you for your kudos and wonderful comments! Vic's performance really touched me. When I first heard it, I pulled out a yearbook with a photo of Mrs. Bull, and looked at her photo while listening to it over and over. After she died, the school's church held a beautiful service for her and the church was packed to overflowing.

That picture is my son's picture. I had no idea if was meaningful to him, until we were going through some old papers and he brought it up...

Thanks again,
Lisa

P.S. I just hit submit and saw Vic's note about the painting!

Hi Floyd,

Thanks so much for your touching remarks!
I like your comment about the melody that helps it unfold ... I realize that's what I thought when Vic first sent it to me, but I could never have put it into words like that!

Thanks for letting us know your very nice thoughts!
Lisa

Hi Tammy,

Awww... thanks for your sweet visit!
Seems that Vic has beautiful melodies just sitting around in his head! I like your lullaby analogy ... it does have that certain kind of whimsy about it!

Nice seeing you!
Lisa

What a great job Vic has done with these well done lyrics. This is one of my favs by you Vic, and you as well Lisa. Kudos to you both.

Hi Lisa!

I like this a lot. The only thing that bothered me was calling the finish of the painting a chore...... so I would probably would try something like

"Two summers later, partly hidden in a drawer
He discovered the painting and held it once more"

Also, I put a photo of Roscoe on my reverbnation page... tell me what you think.... I can't beleive what a goofball he is!!

What a great sentiment and life lesson for us all.
Congrats on pulling this lyrical gem from your sons story.

This is another wonderful job, Vic., way to bring it to life, with a warm touch.
I wonder if you might up the tempo just a tad.

Thanks Floyd.
Glad it had the desired effect.
Vic

Hi Tammy.
We're happy with that comment.
Thank you.
Vic

Actually Dave, for once it all seemed to fit like a glove.
All finished in two days.
Thank you for persevering.
Vic

James, we do appreciate that.
Thank you.
Vic

Iggy, as you address this to Lisa, I leave the response to her.
Thank you for the suggestion, though.
Vic

Hi Vic,
Sorry for the confusion ...Your collaboration was excellent. I really enjoyed the tune and the sensitivity that you brought to the vocals. Well done....both of you!

Hi Nelson.
Thanks for listening to this.
Yes I could redo it at a slightly faster tempo.
Do you think it's dragging?
Vic

Vic
Just gave it a fresh listen. Disregard the tempo suggestion, I think it's just the lyrics at some places seems to be waiting for the music to catch up... Just the normal process when putting new evolving lyrics to new music. The more you work it the more it meshes.

Not draggin, just finding its way.

Again........nicely done. warm feel through out

Iggy. That thought occurred to me briefly but then I thought, well, for a child, originally that's how he would have seen it (as a chore).
The main thing is that when he came back to finish it, it was out of respect.
Thanks again for mentioning it.
Vic

Hi James,

Thank you so much!
Maybe I'm biased, but it's also one of my favs of Vic's!

Lisa

Hi Iggy,

Yes to what Vic just said! For the same reason you and Vic did, probably, I originally pondered over the word "chore" too. However, it really seemed to fit the situation. It did seem like something that was weighing on his mind, like a chore. In my mind, it goes with the word "weigh" in the chorus. Also, the word seemed to fit in with death .. Mrs. Bull's chores on earth were through, though my son had one of his to finish, however self-imposed it was. It's an interesting discussion!

Oh my gosh, Roscoe is way TOO cute! And seeing Roscoe with Sophie .. they're hilarious! They look like tall salt and pepper shakers! Sakari is waiting patiently for you to send them packing...

And thanks so much ... we're very pleased that you liked the song!
Lisa

Still thinking on that one Nelson.
I presume you mean the gaps between verses etc.

Vic

No the tempo is just fine.
It’s not actually draggin, maybe it was my hearing that was dragging.

Thanks again, Nelson.

Vic

Hi Nelson,

Thanks so much for your very lovely comments, and for coming back for additional listens and thoughtful discussion! I defer to Vic and his ponderings. (Vic is the ponderer, which perhaps makes you the ponderee. And me? I'm the ponder watcher! :))

Lisa

Very nice job you two...

Diff

Sad but lovely in the way you capture that moment in song, and its a true story, really like this Lisa and Vic.

Thanks Diff.
We appreciate that.

Vic

Hi Pat. Yes very sad.
Thanks for the comment.
Vic

I tracked the music down at soundclick. The lyrics and music go together well.