As a way to introduce the new records, I am writing blog posts going song by song to give you some insight into the writing, recording, production and story of each of the songs. Here is the next installment from Family Man.
Song By Song – You Don’t Want To Go To Sleep
Bed time.
I probably don’t need to say anything more than that. For some parents, it’s a four-letter word.
I had never heard the term “witching hour” until we were expecting our first child. When Elijah was about 1 or 2, the term finally hit home. It is quite remarkable what happens every single night at around the same time of day. It’s literally like the boys just completely lose their minds. How is this possible?!
I think I noted in an earlier blog that Elijah has generally been a good sleeper. Samuel has somewhat followed suit, though he’s fallen into a bad habit lately of waking up in the 4 AM range, talking for a while, then going back to sleep. But, on the average, Mary and I have had it pretty good with our two boys. They have had their moments, but we have been fortunate in this regard.
I had the idea for this song when Elijah was a baby. I scribbled some lines in my notebook during our trip to Colorado to visit friends when Elijah was 15 months old, mostly the lines for the chorus and the bridge. Then it kind of died, partly because Elijah really was a good sleeper. Still, the idea nagged at me because I knew it would make a good song that most every parent could relate to in one way or another.
Between Elijah’s arrival and Samuel’s, the City instituted a paternity leave policy that gave me 6 weeks of paid leave when Samuel was born. Let me put in a sidebar here to say that every employer should find a way to provide such a benefit to their employees. My 6 weeks with Samuel were an immense blessing to our family and to my relationship with him. I took some of my personal leave when he was born and then took my paternity leave when it was time for Mary to go back to work. 5 days a week for 6 weeks, it was me and Samuel for about a 4 to 5 hour stretch. He did a lot of napping since he was only 2 to 4 months old, but it was a really great experience that I unfortunately didn’t get to have with Elijah. Besides our time to bond, it gave me some head space since I was free from the responsibilities of working full-time. I would pull out my guitar and play and sing to Samuel while also finally working on writing some new songs, something I hadn’t done much of the year or so prior to his birth.
During this writing spurt, I revisited “You Don’t Want To Go To Sleep”. I think it came to mind one morning when he was really tired but was refusing to take a nap. I toyed around with it, trying to put some verses to the chorus and bridge that I had previously come up with. One day was warm enough for a walk, so I put him in the stroller and walked to the grocery store to get a few items. On that walk, I sang the verses into my phone as he refused to close his eyes and go to sleep. When we got back to the house, I hammered out the chords.
When I mentioned how blessed I am to know the band, I need to certainly add Tim Roberts to that list. Tim is a phenomenal player who I am fortunate to have met. He filled in at Redeemer a couple of Sundays, which is when I first heard him play. I’m so glad his business making handmade drums and cymbals has taken off because he makes an incredibly well-built product (https://www.reveriedrums.com). His drum track on this tune is so good, I don’t even have the words to describe it. It was a lot of fun to sit there and watch him lay it down. The other fortunate part of meeting Tim is that he was my connection to Ethan Gingerich. We tracked all of the percussion and electric bass at Ethan’s studio. Coming out of that, I asked Ethan to mix the entire record. It was one of the best decisions I made for the records. The first laugh track at the beginning of the song is taken from a video of Elijah when he was between 1 and 2 years old. The ending laugh track is Samuel when he was 1. It’s not hard to tell that they’re brothers.
Check back in a few days for the last installment of Song By Song with “Samuel’s Song (The Lord Heard Our Prayer)”.
