A Songwriter’s Story: PT Walkley, “The Way That You Are”

In fifth grade I had a terrible art teacher.

Not terrible in an artistic sense because, after all, that’s so subjective. She was just a nasty woman. One would think that the main focus of an elementary school art teacher would be to boost the spirits of the budding artists, to encourage their participation and expression of any kind. I just remember lots and lots of yelling, and a few busted cray-pas. The closest she came to constructive criticism for me: “That doesn’t look like an owl.”

I knew I wasn’t the best at drawing, so I often tried to pass my work off as ‘abstract,’ a term I had just learned. To sass her, I turned in an invisible ‘sculpture’ (I forgot to do the project) and told her to use her imagination. Her reply: “Imagination is one thing, but I want something I can hold in my hand.”

An old friend reminded me of that day, then I wrote this song:

PT Walkley’s new album, Thriller, is out now.