Hey Friends!
I'm writing to let you know about my new song and its lyric video, All That We've Been Through, released today.
One interesting songwriting note -- this is the first song I've created where I wrote and recorded the music first, then figured out what it was about, and wrote the story and lyrics afterward.
In the past, I've always started with lyrics first, and built the music around them. Starting with the music first is a valuable new and different approach for me to try and learn as a songwriter, and one I hope to use again in the future, at least some of the time.
People often wonder whether particular stories told in books or songs are based on actual people and events in the writer's life. With my songs, it's been a mix. Some of my songs are definitely about me and real experiences I've had. Others are complete fiction. And some are fictional, but maybe based on imaginary composites of different people I know and events in their lives with which I'm familiar. This is undoubtedly a common method of storybuilding for fiction writers and songwriters.
All That We've Been Through definitely falls in that third category. It's not a true story about any specific real people, but its plot may have similarities at different points to the stories of several couples I've known over the years whose friendship I've valued and cherished. In this case, the recent loss of a dear longtime friend also certainly affected the story's trajectory, and elicited some of the emotions I was trying to work through when I wrote this song.
The song is available on all common music streaming services (be sure to find the one by me, Wayne Parker -- it looks like this is a common song title). It is also available as a lyric video you can watch on YouTube. You can follow the link on this page to my YouTube channel.
Special thanks to Matt Taylor at Echo Lake Studios for co-producing this song with me, mixing and mastering it, and adding the haunting backup vocals.