In 2017, I wrote a song as a response to many of my female friends sharing their “Me Too” stories on social media, in the wake of powerful men in Hollywood and elsewhere behaving abhorrently. The song was called The Countless Few, and I recorded and released it on my Soundcloud page.
The emotional content was challenging. Here I was, writing a song about “Me too,” but from a man’s perspective. The chorus originally asked the question “Is it you too?”, which I later revised to “You said, ‘Me Too'” as a declaration of fact rather than a question. I had a bad habit of asking too many questions in my lyrics, and this was a deliberate attempt to break out of that (saving all the questions for the bridge).
I shared the song at a Songwriter’s Circle hosted by Blair Packham and Allister Bradley at the Roland Inspiration Centre in Toronto. Blair pointed out how my chorus had an “AAAA” rhyme scheme which made it very predictable. I had to admit that the final rhyme was contrived, with a supposed deeper meaning that only I could see.
I decided at that time that the lyrics could use some further refinement. Here’s the original lyric:
Can’t believe what I see
The shame of our time
What we’ve put you though
It weighs on our mindsYou said, “Me Too”
Of course we believe you
Wishin’ it weren’t true
Join the countless fewThere is no excuse
For stealing your pride
Sorrys won’t fix the pain
You don’t need to hideYou said, “Me Too”
Of course we believe you
Wishin’ it weren’t true
Join the countless fewHow has this been taught to us?
Can’t we respect the lot of you?
Gotta unlearn the hurtful stuff
Gotta change our attitudesYou said, “Me Too”
Of course we believe you
Wishin’ it weren’t true
Join the countless fewMust listen to what you say
It’s our time to change
Revising the lyrics
Soon after the songwriter’s circle, I made revisions to the lyrics, being much more specific about my word choices to better convey the meaning, and eliminating the predictable rhyme scheme in the chorus. Here’s the revised version:
Can’t believe what I see
The shame of our time
What you’ve been put through
It weighs on my mindYou said, “Me Too”
Believe me, I believe you
Wishing it weren’t true
Add one to the countlessThere is no excuse
For stealing your pride
Sorrys won’t fix the pain
You don’t have to hideYou said, “Me Too”
Believe me, I believe you
Wishing it weren’t true
Add one to the countlessHow has this been taught to us?
Can’t we respect the lot of you?
Gotta unlearn the hurtful stuff
Gotta change our attitudesYou said, “Me Too”
Believe me, I believe you
Wishing it weren’t true
Add one to the countlessWill listen to what you say
It’s our time to change
I didn’t re-record the vocals right away. Maybe I felt like I could still make some improvements to the lyrics, or maybe the high notes of the verse were too much of a challenge for me. Whatever the reason, it sat on the back burner for a few years.
Revisiting the recording
In early 2023, I discovered the awesome Dreamtonics Synthesizer V software. This is essentially a virtual singer plug-in where you play a melody in MIDI, type in the lyrics, pick a “voice” and the software does the rest. There is more to it, like inserting natural sounding breaths and dialing in tone, dynamics, and breathiness at different points of the song to make it all sound more natural and human.
On March 8, it was International Women’s Day. I decided this was a good time to revisit the recording with my new lyrics.
I also felt this song was a great opportunity to test out the KEVIN voice with Synthesizer V, as there was a large contrast between the verses (high notes, head voice) and the chorus and bridge (lower notes, chest voice). KEVIN didn’t disappoint.
Something hard to master
This song is very dynamic; the verses are a whisper, and the choruses and bridge are a speech.
When it came to mastering the track, I wanted to retain the macro dynamics. I tried out the online mastering service at Bandlab.com. It raised the level of the verses to be almost as loud as the choruses. In my opinion, this was too much dynamic reduction. I ended up going with my own master, which in fact took me a long time to arrive at the “right” dynamic difference.
This revealed to me just how subjective and creative mastering is. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the Bandlab master. In fact, it’s way more consistent in its level throughout the song. With my master, there’s a much greater difference, and hence impact, when the chorus hits. I wanted to retain this sense of drama and to take the listener on a more emotional journey.
The master sounds like I want it to sound. I’m sure another mastering engineer would opt for something closer to the Bandlab master. But this is my song, and I get the final say.
Here’s a taste of the Bandlab master for comparison. For the techies, the Bandlab master comes in at -10.6 LUFS integrated; my final master comes in at -14.1. I’d love to know which master you prefer; please leave a comment below.
