In songwriting you need to write about universal feelings but do it in a conversational way. This video takes you through the day I wrote this song. Every choice I mad. Every melody, tried and used or discarded.
My publisher did NOT like Can’t Be Really Gone when I wrote it and turned it in. Too sad. No last verse. Lots of reasons for it to end up in the closet at Universal Publishing.
I disagreed. I liked it so I started singing it when I played around town. Yes, it was a very challenging song to write. I read a newspaper article about a young mother mourning the death of her child by going into denial about it. That resonated with me. Isn’t that what we often do when a lover leaves or passes away? Everything about that feeling made me certain that there was a song in there waiting to be written. But it sat in a closet.
One day I was dining at a local restaurant. I looked up and said “This is cool. Tim McGraw is coming in to eat at the same restaurant. Nashville is SO cool.”
That became “Gosh. Tim McGraw is going to be seated in the same section as ME so I will be able to watch him eat!”
That turned into…
“Oh my. Tim McGraw is sitting in front of me at MY table talking to me.”
“Hey man. Just wanted to tell you we just finished the video for your song and it’s gonna be my next single. Great work.”
Someone heard me sing it somewhere and told him about it. Sometimes its just THAT crazy down here in Nashville.