BIG TIME DREAM + HANG ON TO ME 01- Bonus Link
Two songs for the New Moon! Plus, some words about "Hang On To Me!"
It’s the New Moon, and that means new music!
This month, two songs!
Paid subscribers can stream or download—in hi-res if that’s your thing—the forthcoming single, “Big Time Dream,” and its b-side, “Hang On To Me,” by visiting the link found beyond the paywall below.
“Big Time Dream” and “Hang On To Me” will be on streamers and the like on 10/06/23. They will also be featured on the forthcoming Droge & Summers Blend Sessions, AKA Volume Three, due in November.
Today, I’ll share a few words about the b-side, “Hang On To Me.”
In 2009—around the time I was busy working on all things Droge & Summers Blend—I received an invitation from music supervisor Season Kent to take a stab at writing a song for a scene in the film Dear John starring Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, and the great Richard Jenkins. I was thrilled to hear Lasse Hallstrom, the director behind My Life as a Dog, Chocolat, and other great films, was heading up the project. I jumped at the opportunity.
I immediately enlisted my writing partner, Elaine Summers, and got to work. The filmmakers provided a video clip of the scene to work to. They had a song temped in. I don’t recall what it was. We went out of our way not to copy it. Instead, we drew on inspiration from old Simon and Garfunkel records.
I played all of the instruments for the backing track. Elaine shines on the lead vocal. I tucked a harmony below. I love how dry and in-your-face the vocals are.
Since we were writing to the scene in the film, we ended up with a very short song. We’re including it as-is on The Droge & Summers Blend Sessions collection. There are no rules. Who says you can’t have a song come in at under two minutes?
We submitted our song, but they went with something else. So it goes. Can’t win ‘em all.
Here comes the paywall… 3, 2, 1… PAYWALL!