"dear true love" is the 13th track in the yearbook series.
when the idea for yearbook was just starting to develop in my head, i knew there was a thin line between writing songs that naturally "fit" each month's feel/mood and songs that were directly about each month (ie. a st. patrick's day song... or an independence day song.. etc.) obviously i become very intent on yearbook documenting my year, my creative process... by writing whatever felt right as i wrote it. NOT writing a series of holiday songs. BUT on occasion, i felt like it would be fun to write something that was directly related to the month of its release (ie. "snow," from the "december" EP, "january white" from the "january" EP, etc.) so when the EP for "february" rolled around, i could help myself but write a love song in honor of valentine's day.
i knew right off the bat that i wanted this to be a very simple love song on its surface. but i thought it would be super fun to hide within it another completely unrelated theme. pretty much for my own amusement... and i suppose to challenge myself a bit.
if you've ever read the blog before, you've probably gathered that i adore movies. i really do. so when i was writing this song in january (to be released on feb. 1st) me and my pal dan decided to write blog posts of our top 10 movies of 2010. so as i was writing this song, i decided it would be interesting to incorporate each of my top 10 movies of the year within the lyrics of this simple love song, as stealthily as possible. the challenge of course was to do so without it being obvious at all. i think i managed to do it! it was tough, but i'm really proud of how it turned out... and it amuses me every time i hear it and remember my favorite movies of that year. ha.
so here are the lyrics and the movies they secretly allude to:
dear true love,
i’m a writer without any words, (THE SECRET OF KELLS)
i’m a story that nobody heard (GET LOW)
when i’m without you.
i am a voice,
i am a voice without any sound. (THE KING'S SPEECH)
i’m a treasure map that nobody found
when i’m without you.
dear true love,
i'm a lantern without any light, (TANGLED)
i’m a boxer much too afraid to fight (THE FIGHTER)
when i’m without you.
so with this ring
may you always know one thing:
what little that i have to give,
i will give it all to you.
you’re my one true love.
i am a memory,
i'm a memory bent out of shape, (INCEPTION)
a childhood already bruised with age (TOY STORY 3)
when i’m without you.
dear true love,
i’m an artist without any paint, (EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP)
i’m the deal that everyone breaks (TRUE GRIT & THE SOCIAL NETWORK)
when i’m without you.
so with this ring,
may you always know one thing:
what little that i have to give,
i will give it all to you.
you’re my one true love.
i am a whisper,
i’m a secret that nobody keeps. (HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON)
i'm a dreamer of someone else's dreams (INCEPTION... again!)
when i’m without you.
dear true love,
i'm a farewell that came all too soon. (TOY STORY 3... again!)
i’m a hand-me-down that dreams of being new (TOY STORY 3 ... yet again!)
when i’m without you.
there's actually 11 movies there... because i had a tie between my top 2... toy story 3 and inception. (hence the reason they were referenced a few times throughout the song!)
anyway, check out my original top 10 blog post here... to see the list that inspired this silly challenge.
onto the music - so this song was written on a guitar that my wife gave me for Christmas just a month before i wrote it. it was a taylor mini and i like it quite a lot! i recorded that guitar for this song as well... it only felt right! a love song being played on the guitar that my wife gave me. aww romance.
i asked a few pals to be guests on this track and they did an INCREDIBLE job. first up is the brilliant Eva Holbrook, who played mandolin so so so beautifully on this song. couldn't have been happier with her contribution! she played on the song "101010" as well and i knew that i wanted to make sure she was a repeat guest on yearbook, if she'd do me the honor. such a talented and sweet person!
then, i asked my pal Ryan Francesconi to be a guest. ryan is also a musical mastermind... i'd even say he's one of my favorite musicians of all time. i met him a couple years ago, after seeing him perform in joanna newsom's band. i'm a huge fan of joanna's and was blown away by ryan's contributions to her music... ryan has since become not only a member of joanna's band, but her bandleader as well. such incredibly talented folks, they are! anyway, ryan had contributed to a few songs on the "storyboards" record and i was very much looking forward to inviting him to be a guest on yearbook. try played a bit of banjo and slide guitar on dear true love and i absolutely loved it. he was running off to tour w miss newsom right after he was able to record this, but i'm so grateful that was able to make it work!
lastly my best mate, dan perdue added some super tasteful organs and a touch of bass. lovely!
there are some recordings that come together without much hassle and struggle... and when that rare time comes, i'm always grateful. dear true love is one of those songs. it was a lot of fun to create!
thanks for reading..
much love, ryan
here are the lyrics without distracting movie reference notes...
dear true love,
i’m a writer without any words,
i’m a story that nobody heard
when i’m without you.
i am a voice,
i am a voice without any sound.
i’m a treasure map that nobody found
when i’m without you.
dear true love,
i'm a lantern without any light,
i’m a boxer much too afraid to fight
when i’m without you.
so with this ring
may you always know one thing:
what little that i have to give,
i will give it all to you.
you’re my one true love.
i am a memory,
i'm a memory bent out of shape,
a childhood already bruised with age
when i’m without you.
dear true love,
i’m an artist without any paint,
i’m the deal that everyone breaks
when i’m without you.
so with this ring,
may you always know one thing:
what little that i have to give,
i will give it all to you.
you’re my one true love.
i am a whisper,
i’m a secret that nobody keeps.
i'm a dreamer of someone else's dreams
when i’m without you.
dear true love,
i'm a farewell that came all too soon.
i’m a hand-me-down that dreams of being new
when i’m without you.
