happy tunesday! jackpot (the marc whinston project)

 

Continuing with the tracks from my album, track number eight is "Jackpot."

For reference, previous entries in this series were:

• about the album as a whole;
• about track 1;
• about track 2;
• about track 3;
• about track 4;
• about track 5;
• about track 6;
• about track 7;

In an album with lots of songs whose themes are variations of "please love me as much as I love you," this isa bit of a departure. It's pure appreciation of love without any expression of fear or doubt. I wrote it for Blair over the course of several years, more than fifteen years ago. I remember many drives between New York and Boston -- Blair's friend, Tall Judy, was still living there -- in which I passed the miles writing this in my head.

Blair didn't like the first iteration, as its message was a little off. I don't remember the lyrics anymore, but I do recall that the message could largely be summed up as "you help me to be a winner; you are my lucky charm." Her criticisms made sense -- the message was not as I had intended. I rewrote it to convey the message that "I am a winner as long as I have you; you are my prize." Neither of those paraphrases is entirely accurate, but they get at the idea. I liked the revised version better. Interestingly, that rewrite is something that likely wouldn't happen today. These days, my songs often get away from me and convey messages that I hadn't intended. But if I like the way a song sounds, I'll keep it even if it doesn;t say what I originally set out to say.

This is not the best-written of my songs, and its structure is a bit odd -- VCVCVBC. But I like it, and that's what matters.

Enjoy.

"Jackpot"
Song by: Marc Whinston
Lead vocal by Toby Wilson
All instruments and backing vocals by Toby Wilson
Arranged and Produced by Toby Wilson for Tobias Wilson Music, Ltd.