CHASING A SONG: STOP BEFORE I CRY DEMOS

Part Two of Four

DEMO TWO: So here you’ll notice that little guitar flair I was throwing into the top of A Random Act Of Kindness was becoming it’s own universe. I loved this new little guitar part so much that I started singing along to it’s melody which immediately inspired a whole new song as I let gibberish, per usual, fall out of my mouth.

Within minutes I realized that I was writing a song about my girlfriend Katie. Recognizing the opening lines that were stumbling out as a love song; I know that I’m not perfect, like I know that you are wild.

So there I was, alone in this house out in the desert with an unexpected new song developing and loving it, but at some point I started to wonder if the guitar part felt a little too familiar. This is something every songwriter fears the moment that they come up with something they love - that they may have taken it from elsewhere.

I sent a recording of just the guitar part to my friend Jarvis, a producer and music rolodex, with the text “do you know what song this is?” and he messaged back “hmm, is it Gin Blossoms?”.

A-ha, the guitar part somewhat resembled Hey Jealousy by our beloved Gin Blossoms. Though I still think my guitar part was different enough to make my own, I was starting to feel that the upbeat nature of the guitar part wasn’t fitting with the subject matter anyways. But what direction would I take the song now, I wondered.