When my daughter was very young, we took her out for a long day’s outing. By the time we got home, she was exhausted. I carried her upstairs to her room, turned on the light, and when she saw that her bed was covered with laundry, she burst into tears.
This song is about finally arriving home after a long journey and finding no laundry on the bed — only a soft comforter and equally soft pillows.
The exhilaration of “Boyfriend” had not yet faded, but the uncertainty had. We had arrived. We were safe.
I also borrowed a little from Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”: “Had we but world enough and time.” Indeed, for a moment, it seemed like we had all the world and time one could ask for.
Written for my friend in pain, the song existed at first the way most of my songs did: as a simple arrangement of my voice and guitar. Apart from a very early piano duet version, which you can hear below, it stayed that way for quite a while.
At some point, as I was beginning my Logic Pro journey, I learned that my friend Randy Byrnes played keyboards. So, I reached out and asked if he would like to try playing along with it. I would have sent him a version much like the Miami garden performance you can hear below.
I had no idea what to expect, but I was stunned when he sent back his ethereal piano and organ arrangement. Initially, I added acoustic guitar and my own voice and left it at that. Later, I added cello. The song existed that way, with my solo vocal, for a while. You can hear that version below as well.
At some point in the process, however, I began to hear a woman’s voice on the track as part of a duet. Having discovered Fiverr, where musicians and singers offer their services, I must have “auditioned” ten different female vocalists before finding one whose voice seemed like it might fit with mine.
Ultimately, I reached out to Olya Gram, a Los Angeles-based vocalist from Ukraine, and asked her to lend her voice to the track.
I’m deeply grateful for Randy’s and Olya’s contributions to this song. Somehow, it all came together.
Three early versions of the song, in roughly the order they came into being. Each one is a step closer to what eventually became the album track.
The solo-vocal version — me singing over Randy’s piano and organ arrangement, with acoustic guitar and cello, before a duet partner entered the picture.
My Evil Twin