Why this tune?
I just returned from a enjoyable and intense songwriting workshop on Star Island, New Hampshire Scarlet Keys and Susan Cattaneo, two brilliant writers and teachers, helped us explore the building blocks of great songs.
On our first day, we were talking about cliches, and Scarlet mused about the caveman who may have been the first to complain about a broken heart. That got me thinking about that caveman, which led to this song about that common phrase, developed over three days of playing with the lyric and the story. The music is a nod to the sounds of the Caribbean and my adopted home of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. I was delighted to perform it on our last night, in a student concert we opened up to everyone staying on the island.
I’m hoping to put what we learned into practice in future songs!
You may notice a different background in this week’s video. I shot it in our rental house in Los Angeles, where we’re staying through the middle of October. I’ll share more information about my upcoming LA recording project soon.