We’ve had our new CD “County Line” on the Number1Music chart
for a few months and different songs have jumped up to #1 and back down and
sometimes back up. It’s interesting to
watch and wonder what makes a song jump back up to the top ten.
One thing I noticed from watching the chart is that we still
have a song from the first CD lingering around.
So, for over a year our song “Who You Are” is still bouncing around the
top 20 in Nevada Country at N1M.
Wow!
That made me wonder, what is it about that song that keeps
it on the radar? I know why I like it. Does everyone else like it for the same
reasons? It’s about being noticed. It’s about someone paying attention to
you. It’s about someone showing interest
in your thoughts and feelings. Don’t we
all want that?
It was written several years ago. And the first time we
played it at the old Pure Country in Sparks, NV, one of the dancers came out of
the crowd after the set was over and specifically asked about that one song
they didn’t recognize, that cha-cha.
What was that song? They had
never heard before. Wow! It stood out that much that someone went out
of their way to come ask us about it. We
felt that was a sign we had written a great song.
The actual inspiration for the song is how Mel and I met
many years ago.
I was hanging out with the girls from work. One of my co-worker’s husband was a drummer
in a local band, so we went to dance and have fun. Mel was the lead singer and guitar player and
I had never met him, but he definitely noticed me.
I went out with these girls a few times and finally he tried
to get my attention. At an event he
tried to speak to me, but I was leaving early and just giggled at him and
headed home alone. That just made him
more interested in me. A guitar player
expects to get the girl, but apparently not that girl!
Honestly, I didn’t get it.
I just thought he was being polite.
We’d bumped into each other at other events and I honestly had no idea
why he was talking to me. I thought maybe we had met somewhere else and I had
forgotten, so I just continued to be polite.
Finally, one night, he just sat right down next to me and
started a conversation. He asked me
questions, about kids, work, friends, etc. I recognized that he wasn’t talking about
himself, but he was interested in what I had to say. I wasn’t used to that, and I was smart enough
to recognize it and I appreciate it.
I was not exactly forth coming, a little reserved, but at
the end of every set he got his beer, wandered just a little and ended up
sitting next me again and had thought up a new question to ask me and get the
conversation started back up till it was time to play music again.
Eventually I GOT it and realized he was standing right in
front of me, just waiting for me to notice.
So I noticed and we’ve been together for years.
Years later we bought a multi-track recorder and Mel was
playing with it, wishing he could do more than just lay down a guitar riff, so
I offered to write a few lines. They
were rough, but it made us realize that we could write a song.
I'm not sure when this song was written, probably 10 years
ago. It probably
started with a guitar riff and then one hook line “who you are and what you do”
and from there will built a story from that hook line, filing in around the
edges. The song was completed with some
help from our drummer Dave Block during a camping trip at Lake Davis, CA.
Silverwing doesn’t play it often anymore, but we added it to
the set list during our CD release party for “County Line” and it seemed fresh
again.
The lyrics amaze me. Really
isn’t that what a person wants? To find
someone who is interested in them?
Someone who will care about what’s important to them, how they feel, and
what interests them? We all need to feel
important. We want to be noticed and appreciated. We want to be around people who value us and
understand us. We want to click with
someone. Feel that “I’ve known you my
whole life” sense of calm.
We are so busy trying
to get a word in edgewise or share our funny story that we are in a hurry for
the other person to end their story, so we can jump in and top it. So, this is the lesson of “who you are and what you do?” Be interested, be quiet and listen, you might
learn something.
You might learn that this is a person you could spend a lot
of time with, like almost 25 years! It’s
only when you are being yourself and listening to the other person tell you who
they are and what interests them. At
that point, you can see if this person is really who you might become friends
with or give them a chance and as we say in the bridge “maybe you and I could
make a real romance.”
You can listen to "Who You Are" at reverbnation. And while you are there check out some of the other Silverwing songs. One of my favorites is "Moonshine" off the first CD of the same name. It is edgy, swamp rock song. Reminds me of southern rock. I love it.
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I've been performing with Mel for over 15 years and those guitar lessons my Daddy paid for finally paid off.
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#countrymusic #songwriters #lifeisgood #marriage #partners #bestfriends
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