Wednesday, October 7

The Story Behind The Song. Track 11 - Won't You Be Mine?

I love this song.

So oddly enough Won't You Be Mine? is sort of a book-end paired with track 10, All Surface. I wrote it at about exactly the same time of year, one year later. It was the last song I wrote for Mantoloking.

Won't You Be Mine? is a song that's meant to sound and feel like spring ("the sun melts the week-old snow.") It's a song about the redemptions and renewals that are necessary, unavoidable and healthy in long-term relationships. But first and foremost, this is a song for and about my wife, Stephanie. I don't write them all the time, but I do write them, and as I said - this is probably my favorite song on the record. I think it's the perfect way to wrap things up.

I love Michelle's vocal round during the choruses (she came up with the melody), and particularly the notes that we hold out together at the ends. Steve's un-hyped and unadorned approach to the production also makes me happy. My voice is completely natural and unaffected - it's just as I sang it into the microphone at Black Lodge. The guitars sound great, Chad's leads are as tasteful as always, and the drum beat is interesting (it's somehow related to something from Grease? Ask Daniel.) Like I said, I like this one.

Some more tidbits - this song is the only one on the record to feature the low C# in my crazy C#G#D#G#C#F tuning that I use on my ASAT. In fact, it's also the only song played on the ASAT on Mantoloking, despite the fact that I used it for four of the ten tracks on Kinda Like Fireworks. I tend to do that. I have a dominant guitar or two on each album. One tends to be the newest instrument in my collection - in this case, that was the Telecaster Bass IV that yielded Say Goodnight, I Tried Again, Buy Me Out and All Surface.

So that's that - the last of the stories behind the songs on Mantoloking. I hope you've enjoyed them! Now I'm off to bed so I can get up bright and early to enjoy a vacation day with my aforementioned wonderful and awesome wife. :)

- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE