The day has finally come! I’ve been working on this song for several months now and I am thrilled to have it all behind me. This one has been plagued with problems but I managed to work past them all and get everything sorted out. A lot of people were telling me I was spending too much time on it but they just didn’t understand. You can’t rush a great thing. Haha!
I originally got the idea to do this song when my brother gave me a ukelele he had acquired at some point and had no use for so he offered it to me. As a musician who has many instruments but never owned a ukelele, of course, I accepted. Not knowing how to tune it, I turned to YouTube and got the info I needed. The fella in the video then went on to demonstrate some simple songs to get started. Up pops “You Are My Sunshine” and BAM! I was ready to go. I took the C chord he was strumming but instead of strumming, I picked the strings individually in the order that became the riff near the beginning and end of the final version.
I had originally intended to just have some fun singing it with my daughter but after looking into the song further and discovering how truly depressing the lyrics were, I decided I needed to record it. We started by recording the waves at the beginning and end of the track while at the beach on vacation. Then I added some basic synth tracks and programmed a quick drum track so that I could record her vocal before she had to head back home and prepare for her upcoming 4th grade year. My aunt was in town briefly so I decided to see if she would add some vocals from some ideas I had as well. After everyone had left and returned to their homes, I began my process. Adding the ukelele tracks, building on the synth and drum tracks and adding a scratch vocal. My friend Michael Jones heard it and said he thought it could use some tribal drums mixed in with my programmed drums and so we recorded some floor tom, brushed snare and cymbal flourishes and threw that in there as well. What I ended up with was a pretty solid demo that had grown men crying (I will not give names). A lot of people said thats it! It’s done. Naaaahhh. Not me. I was only getting started.
I kind of went crazy for about a week, recording tons of shit to see what fit. Just looking for whatever it was I was hearing. I won’t bore you with the rest but I finally managed to find what I was looking for.
The video or “short film” was done by dear friend Mr. Michael Hunt and is up on The Hope Theory’s official YouTube channel https://youtube.com/@thehopetheorymusic now. So check it out. Be prepared though, it’s quite a musical journey and comes in at just under 10 minutes. I suggest tuning in, turning on, etc. I also suggest some nice headphones cranked as loud as they can go. Stick around til the end as well for a little behind the scenes nugget.
Take care folks and Keep Hope Alive!
-RD