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Illuminating Love
The Illuminating Love Story
(Behind the songs)
Illuminating Love Prelude
Track 1
I wanted to form an anthem to start off the album and help tell the overall story of the album. Love has it's many ups and downs so this musical prelude starts off with a positive feeling and goes into an uneasy feeling during the middle and has a big lead up like a rush of feelings and explodes into the title track. While I was forming this track it had a working title of "Electronic Dreams".
This title track was written for my wife. As with any relationship that has endured over an amount of time, there are ups and downs. The true testament of a relationship is how can you work through these and grow as a couple. The thing that keeps the relationship going is never letting the burning flame of light slowly fade out, but doing things to help make that light glow brighter.
Track 2
Illuminating Love
Favorite lyric:
"For in your eyes my time stands still, I get lost for words as your standing near me "
Track 3
Running Feet
This track was recorded a few months after being with my wife back in 2011. She was overwhelmed with different parts of life and seemed like life was traveling at the speed of life. I've never been an expert with words, but wanted to just say come into my arms and we'll forget everything going on around us, let time slow down, and everything will be ok.
I never released this track because I liked it lyrically, just not musically. I reworked the original lyrics into a more upbeat melody and you can now hear the finalized version I'm happy with!
Favorite lyric:
"Gentle tongue calm my fears as minutes pass on and on. Your words are so sweet as you call out to me."
Original version of the song from 2011
Track 4
House of love
House of love (working title All out of love) is a track that was one of the last additions to the album. One day while I was driving, the first lines of the verse came to my head and I thought was too powerful to not have on the album.
The song is a dedication to my mother and father who always provided for us no matter how much a struggle it might have been. We may not have had the fanciest of cars, biggest of houses, or name brand shoes but they gave us what was most important. We always had good food on the table, a roof over our heads, and clean clothes to go to school and church in. Sometimes we focus too much on the material things and not on what matters most, love. This song is a thank you to them and also a way to say "I get it" now. I get why they did what they did while I was growing up, because now I do the same for my family.
Favorite lyric:
"Every single night they'd tuck us into bed and pull up the covers with a kiss on the head.
Track 5
My usual process while I'm writing a song is to record the music first. I like to create the feeling or set a mood first. I had the chord progression of the chorus first and while driving I would hum little sayings to myself to try to create a lyric line I liked. One afternoon I had the line "I never felt so good as I did that day" come to my head and I wrote it down. I took that into the studio and tries to think of what could have happened "that day". I already had the theme of the album down (LOVE) and what I came up with is the day when one person tells the other YES to dating or marriage and the intense rush of positivity that goes through your body. From there I developed the story of two friends contemplating should they develop this romantic feeling or just stay friends.
Crossing the line
Favorite lyric:
"You were queen and I was King and we both wanted the same exact thing, to be held in each other's arms."
Need your time
Track 6
This is going to make me sound like an old man, but I still remember the days we didn't have electronic screens plastered in front of our faces. We didn't have Facebook to keep up with our friends, instead we would actually call them or talk to them in person.
It's hard to carry on a conversation with someone if you can't make eye contact. Instead, the other person is more involved with the digital world on the screen in front of them. This song is one where the main character tells their significant other to put down the phone and look at me and maybe we can have that spark we had in the beginning.
While I was forming this song, it had a working title of Old Slide C. The reason is I had the little guitar lick for awhile (Old Slide) and it's in the key of C.
"I am marching to the beat of a lover's drum, the symphony of love is playing all around."
Favorite lyric:
Track 7
Temptation
As with most of my songs, I always have the music done first and then just listen on repeat for an inspiration. This time the inspiration for lyrics came while I was listening to a Blink 182 album called Neighborhoods and there is a song called Snake Charmer that is a love story type song based on the Adam and Eve bible story. I thought that was clever and decided to do one myself!
Favorite lyric:
"When death is pounding on our doors, but there's still so much that we want more"
Track 8
Sullivan Street
This sound is a tribute to my childhood. The moment when you first see a girl that makes you experience a new feeling for the first time.
There was a road named Sylvan Street in the neighborhood where I grew up. I had to switch it around to Sullivan Street to fit better melodically. When I was around 9 years old there was a girl that came to stay with her grandma on the weekends. My neighborhood friends and I caught glimpses of her and we all fell in love. There was about 5 of us who would go play with her in competition all fighting to win her over. Though none of us really did and she eventually moved away, that moment still sticks of the rivalry amongst the group of boys trying to win her over!
Favorite lyric:
"It sent us above the clouds, into heaven. Where an angel was found smiling at me. She was also found on Sullivan Street."
Track 9
The origins of this song dates back to around 2008. It's another tune that I wrote and recorded but shelved it on future projects. Since the main theme of this project was LOVE it fit right in. When the song was originally recorded it was more acoustic fingerpicked song. It was more mellow. While working on it for this project I wanted to give it more of an upbeat feel and one you could move around to. The lyrics and music stayed the same as the original version, but more beats were added and the arrangement was changed to give it room to breathe.
The song was written from the standpoint of a young man and an older man are having a conversation. The old man is giving the young man "advice" to just let it go, but the younger man is reminiscing about the feeling she gave him.
Time Flies By
Favorite lyric:
"Every night I lay away and think, about the day when we're in love again."
Original version of the song in 2008
Track 10
Hope Prelude
This intro music was attached to the finished track of Twinkling Hope. I wanted to shorten the track so I split it apart and the music created a mood to follow into the next track, but I felt it needed something more.
I originally had recorded a quote from a famous author to go along with the music, but it didn't seem to fit in. After trying a few different sayings, I decided to write one of my own on the idea of HOPE. There's not many things that just flow out while I'm writing lyrics, but this one did and within 20 minutes, I had the final poem.
My hope is that whoever listens to it, can gain a little hope of their own if they are needing some.
Track 11
Twinkling Hope
For a couple years now I've had the guitar piece of the verse of this song. I can't necessarily take credit for writing it as it's based off the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I tried a couple times to write lyrics to go with it over the years but nothing stayed. When this project was being worked on I revisited the tune. I didn't want to have a star as my theme of the song so I let the listeners fill that in. It's just someone or something that you can turn to for hope. It could be a person that gives words of encouragement or it could be looking to the heavens and praying for help. You can fill it in for whatever you turn to.
Fun fact, I always try to incorporate my daughter singing in something for every album I do. See if you can catch her in the song with her angelic voice!
Favorite lyric:
"My head hangs low, the feelings cut deep. The shadows they fall as my knees go weak."
Untitled Last Song
Track 12
It's funny how some songs find their way into the albums myself or other musicians create. This song was never a thought to be on this album until the very last minute. When I had the final tracklist it had 11 songs on it. I'm not a fan of uneven numbers and knew I needed another one to make it 12.
I wrote the main guitar piece of this song (in the verse and pre-chorus) back in 2006. I had it in another song I created called "David's Psalm" based on the biblical characters David and Job. I liked the track but once again there was something about it that stopped me from releasing it. It mainly had to do with the original chorus part and how high it needed to be played and sang.
I started re-recording the main guitar part for this final track and knew I needed to re-develop a chorus part. Also the lyrics!
When seeking musical for inspiration I listen to other artists and see what they do with different chord progressions. I found a song by Queen called The Show Must Go On. I gained inspiration by some of the progression starting on Bm to creat a mood, but also reflected on the title. I started relating it back to a relationship and how "the show could go on". I started to play with the notion of a fight between a couple and how one could move on.
After recording the music I started to listen to the track to form a lyric line to start the writing off and the one I settled with was, "The last song and dance...". That's where the lyrics started.