Jay Nash, ‘Too Good for This World’ [Exclusive Premiere]

Singer-songwriter Jay Nash and his track "Too Good for This World" will crack open the hearts of The Boot's readers. The song, premiering exclusively on The Boot, is raw, poignant and poetic.

Nash's newest offering, Vermont Sessions, Vol. 1, is set for release on Dec. 9, and the 13-track live project features the unreleased "Too Good for This World" as a bonus song. The tune was inspired by events that took place when Nash was a junior in high school and features Garrison Starr.

"I wrote this song in mid-October … a few years ago," Nash tells The Boot. "That time of year always triggers memories of my first real brush with tragedy: I was a junior in high school. At the homecoming dance that year, I remember dancing with this girl that I had always admired from afar, but I had never really had the chance to speak to."

Nash recalls that he and the young woman danced to a couple slow songs, "her hands clasped around my neck, mine around the small of her back, swaying back and forth in a darkened gymnasium."

"I’ll never forget what I felt after the song ended: She slowly let go of my hand and held eye contact over her shoulder as she disappeared into a crowd of her friends," Nash continues. "Maybe it was all in my head, but it felt like we shared an incredible, albeit brief and almost wordless, connection. It was all in her eyes. I still can’t fully explain it, and I’ll never forget it."

The chorus of "Too Good for This World" gives listeners insight into what happened after that experience: "She got to go, she got plans / Higher things that I can't understand / She got to fly, no time to cry / No, she's too good for you / She's not just a girl / She's too good for me / And too good for this world." In plainer words, Nash explains, the Monday morning following that dance, he found out that the girl had been killed in a car accident.

"I was destroyed, and I couldn’t make sense of it. Needless to say, our entire community was devastated," he remembers. "That was the first time that I really came face to face with the permanence of death and loss.

"In a way, I was really just a bystander. I didn’t know her very well," Nash adds. "But from what I did know, this girl was so beautiful, so kind, gentle and intelligent. She was full of promise and full of hope. Somehow, with one bright-eyed glance over her shoulder, she conveyed a lifetime of humanity and connection. I have carried it with me ever since, and I think that I always will."

"Just 16 years old / That hurt in my soul / I swear I've never known since," Nash sings in "Too Good for This World." The artist tells The Boot that he's tried to make sense of death over the years, and he has always returned to the theme "that they were 'just too good for this world.'"

"It’s almost as if, despite their years, they have gleaned all of that there is to know and feel in this life," Nash muses of those who have passed away, "and that some celestial power has made the decision from beyond that it is time for their moving on."

Fans can pre-order Vermont Sessions, Vol. 1, which includes "Too Good for This World," on iTunes. More information about the talented singer is available on his official website.

Listen to Jay Nash, "Too Good for This World":