my (awesome) next door neighbor commissioned this song back in 2017. he had friends who were going through a difficult time, and he wanted to share a custom-=made monday song with them as a single.
we sat down a few times so i could get a better understanding of the situation and the mood he wanted to convey. it actually turned out to be a bit stressful trying to nail down the details, as typically i start with a blank slate and just throw myself down the stairs, grabbing bits and pieces as i go. with a suggested outline for the mood, it was hard to generate the requisite clarity to take that running leap with expectations waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
after a week or two of back and forth and trying out some different grooves to see what he was thinking, i remembered that what he wanted was a monday song, and i’d done plenty of those, so i suggested i push all ideas to the back of my mind as inspiration, and put something together in a manner i was used to: start sloppy, work fast, clean things up, and sing from the heart. from that point to the finished song was just a few days. i worked on the prologue-in-heaven intro a little later to finish things off. we were both pleased, and with existentialism 101 on the flipside, the single was delivered.
i’m quite fond of this one. the key (and mood) shifts at the beginning and the end make nice bookends. and the simple shifting chords in the verse are similar to existentialism, which i was working on at the time. my patented peek-a-boo harmonies are present from front to back. have i mentioned how much i love recording harmonies?
i’m planning to include this song, along with existentialism 101, on my upcoming album, “falling down,” a musical journey from emptiness and hesitation to peace and integration. just like all the rest of my albums, only backward.