happy tunesday! write a song about me (the marc whinston project)

Continuing with the tracks from my album, Track number three is "Write a Song About Me."

For reference, previous entries in this series were:

• about the album as a whole;
• about track 1;
• about track 2;

In 2012 we were taking a family road trip to California. We stopped at GameStop in Nebraska to buy the kids some more entertainment. The place was staffed by some college kids who seemed kind of bored. As we waited in line to pay, I couldn't help but overhear some of their conversation. One of them complained that he didn't know what to write about for his English paper. "Write about me," replied the young lady who was working with him (and who seemed to be attracted to him), "I like when people write about me." And an idea was born.

The song itself has kind of an odd structure. There's no bridge, and it's V-C-V-C. And the two choruses aren't even the same. I'm not 100% sure why I wrote it that way. It was at least partly due to the fact that I wrote two different choruses, and I liked them both enough that I didn't want to discard either one.

When I wrote this, I was imagining it as being sung by a woman. I think it's the only song I ever wrote with a woman's voice in my mind. Toby, with his array of contacts, had no problem finding a suitable female vocalist. But when he sent me an mp3 with his vocal (which would serve as a guide for the hired female vocalist), I started to have second thoughts about whether it needed a female vocal. But I decided to stick with my vision and go for the female vocal. But then, when I heard Bryony's version I had another idea. I asked Toby if we could experiment and create a duet, seeing as we had a version with his vocal and one with Bryony's. All I had to do was decide which parts would be sung by the man, which by the woman, and which by both. It worked way better than I had hoped.

When I was first sequencing the album, I put this track first because it's one of my favorites and because it's probably the most upbeat song on the disc. But a Eytan Mirsky suggested I move it so as not to open with a duet. Don't use all your powder right away. That made sense, so I moved it to the third spot.

I also included the female-only and male-only versions of the song as bonus (never-before released!) tracks at the end of the album. There were many personal jokes that I was tempted to throw into the project -- fake names in the "special thanks" section...stuff like that. But I decided to treat this project seriously, and so left out all the jokes. Well, almost all the jokes. I did include the four "bonus" tracks at the end, packaging everything to look as if this was a rerelease of an earlier album. Just a small joke. I couldn't resist. Three of those tracks are alternate versions of tracks on the album.

Enjoy.

"Write a Song About Me"
Song by: Marc Whinston
Lead vocal by Toby Wilson and Bryony Ward
All instruments and backing vocals by Toby Wilson
Arranged and Produced by Toby Wilson for Tobias Wilson Music, Ltd.