Why I keep the demos

My demos folder is a graveyard, but I never delete it. The ghosts in there are too useful.

A demo holds the version of a song that did not know it was being judged yet. The tempo is wrong. The harmonies have not arrived. There is usually a kettle in the background. But the intention is louder there than it ever is on the final mix.

When I lose my way on a finished track, I open the demo and remember what I was actually trying to say. Sometimes the polish has covered something I needed to keep.

Demos are not drafts. They are evidence of who I was on the day the song appeared. That makes them worth keeping forever.