One result of the heavy focus on recording and pushing forward this solo project to tap into my large backlog of material was a sharp decrease in writing new music over the past 2-3 years. I felt I owed it to my existing songs to try to make something out of them before going on a new creative tear and adding to the pile. But as we neared the first studio date to record all the love songs I’d been hoarding for this album, most years old by now, I thought I should probably write at least one brand new tune to sum up where Brandy and I have gotten to at this stage in our lives.
I found a bouncy Em-G progression on my acoustic, got a verse or two written and eventually transitioned into what felt more like a pre-chorus or bridge than the chorus every song needs. That part ended strongly with the lyric “I don’t even know how to say…” and led into a D-chord that was so clearly the start of a big chorus. I sang the first thing that came into my mind over that D, which not so surprisingly turned out to be “I can’t stop dreaming of you” and immediately followed that with “I feel more awake when I do.” Bang. I had my chorus, and my tidy thematic wrap-up to the whole album about dreams, sunshine, and love sweet love. I unabashedly trod the same lyrical paths as other songs here, reaching back to our beginnings (“Started out / Didn’t know what I was looking for”), the magic of discovery (“…took my hand and parted new horizons”), and future contemplation (“Where we go / From here may be an unknown quantity / But I just can’t wait”).
Recording this was a dream, partly because it was so fresh to us, every player and part fit right into place, including my own chicken-picked rockabilly-flavored electric guitar.
Can’t Stop
Started out, didn’t know
what I was looking for
Same as most of us
You came along, took my hand
& parted new horizons
Together we’ve discovered
many things of consequence
With the best one being:
The journey is more important
than the destination
How you changed my life completely
I don’t even know how to say
I can’t stop dreaming of you
I feel more awake when I do
And it will always be true
As long as you feel it too
Where we go from here may be
an unknown quantity
But I just can’t wait
To go with you across the
years remaining to
the two of us yet
How you changed my life completely
I don’t even know how to say
I can’t stop dreaming of you
I feel more awake when I do
And it will always be true
As long as you feel it too
because…
I can’t stop dreaming of you
I feel more awake when I do
And it will always be true
As long as you feel it too