bob dylan

How tall is your song?











How Would I Hold You? A Question and a Song

How would I hold you… if the sky was falling down?

This is what I asked myself in bed with my wife one night.

That’s often how songs begin for me. With a line that just appears. Over the years, you train yourself to notice them. Little things people say or phrases that cross your mind.

OK, here goes.

P.S. After you listen to the full song below, listen to me croak out the initial seeds of the idea.

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Brother Paul Fails Jingle Exercise, Pens Life Story Instead

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This one has a bizarre backstory.

My friend James asked me to write a jingle for Gillette. He works with a music company that does lots of advertising work.

This seemed like a pretty big opportunity. They wanted to rework the idea of “the best a man can get”. OK, I’m down.

I had this little bit of a song called Pastor’s Blues. It had a rolling acoustic guitar riff that felt like it touched on the Dylan / Springsteen vibe they were going for. So I finished it up, the only trouble was adding “the best a man could get” into the chorus. How could this be done and not be cheese city?

My father in law taught me to sing to the one you love. I thought maybe if the man in the song were singing to a woman about how she was the best a man can get, maybe it could touch on something real.

I don’t think this had been done before. My recollection of the Gillette theme song was more of one bro singing words of encouragement to another bro.

So that’s how I played that card. I put a whole pitch together around it–take a look.

The song never made it past the agency so you won’t see any men shaving or diving off cliffs or flying helicopters to it anytime soon, but that’s just fine by me ‘cos now I get to keep it for myself.