SO GOOD FOR ME
I suppose it's possible that it has escaped the notice of some, but men and women are different. And how!! Sometimes it seems as though we're speaking different languages. And in reality, I suppose that often is what's happening. We can be saying the exact same thing two different ways, and fight over whose right. We're saying the same thing! And then there's the whole emotion thing. That's where SO GOOD FOR ME picks up. This song is for me, at its essence, is about the differences between men and women, and the fact that those differences are so often what make us so great together. And although those same differences sometimes drive me crazy, I realize that they are making me stronger in places I've been weak. And that together is better. Together we are stonger than apart. Together we are better than apart. And I'm a better man walking through this life with my wife.
THE WRITING PROCESS
This is one of those songs that started out in a completely different direction than where it ended. My wife, Alexa James, was asking me about a song hook she was working on with fellow artist and songwriter, James Tealy. We were on the road, and my mind was in that wonderful place the mind goes after a time on long drives. And unknown to me, creativity was flowing just beneath the thin surface of my mind. So when she asked me what came to mind when she said a certain hook line, I told her. But it came out in song lyrics, and in a totally different direction than she and James were thinking. After I'd given her most of a verse, she said, "maybe I should ask James if it's okay if you join us tomorrow on our writing session." James, being the great guy that he is, said "sure." So we got together at Universal, and after a couple of writing sessions, had most of it worked out. But we couldn't seem to find the chorus we wanted. That's when I remembered a chorus melody I'd written a couple of years ago, and plugged it in. And viola! It worked! Alexa and I flew out for a couple of months on tour in Europe just after that, and while there we finished the Bridge and tweaked the chorus lyric a bit more. The final, final lyric, as often is the case, was tweaked in the studio.
THE REST OF MY LIFE
Alexa and I have this thing. Sometimes, when I leave the house for a few minutes, or a few hours, or just go upstairs for a while, I'll say "See you tomorrow." Which I sincerely hope is true. Of course I'll see her again that day, maybe even in a few minutes, barring some unplanned, unforseen circumstance. But that's just our sense of humor sometimes. Thus the hook, "I wanna see you tomorrow for the rest of my life." I really enjoy some of the songs from the 70s where the lyric is seemingly simple and not overly thought out, and put with the music, just rocks it out of the park. Stevie Wonder, and Ray Charles (probably my biggest influence as a singer) were and are geniuses at it. In this case, my immediate influence was Ben Harper. The lyric came out of my wanting to express to my wife the beauty God gave her when He put her together, inside and out, and express one of the small ways it affects me. And from the very birth of the song, I felt I should do it in such a way musically that would reflect my Louisiana roots. I always have fun and feel good when I sing this song. I hope the same is true for you when you listen to it.
THE WRITING PROCESS
I had been in the studio recording, and we took the afternoon off. So naturally I went home and took a nap. :) I put Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, LIFELINE on my iPhone & lay down to rest. There's a wonderful simplicity, and organic, rootsy feeling about that album. It just feels good. And it touches on some of my musical roots from Louisiana. When I woke up from my nap, the hook, "I wanna see you tomorrow for the rest of my life," was rolling around in my head. It was one of those moments when, as an artist and writer, you know you need to write, right then. So I rolled over, picked up my iPhone, opened up the Notes section, and pretty much had the lyric for the song written in about 20 minutes. I went back to the studio, sat down with my producer, Alan Shacklock, and with hiim on his guitar, we quickly knocked out the rest of the song. We had already planned what songs we were going to record, but we liked the way this one touched on my Louisiana roots, and dang-it, it was fun. So we decided right there on the spot to record it. And this is what came out.
