I Love You More

I Love You More

by | May 7, 2012 | Songwriting

People always ask my about the evolution of a song. They are all different but most of my songs start with either a lyrical idea, melody line or some kind of groove.

Here is an example of my writing process with a song I wrote called “I Love You More”.
From inception to creation and then to production.
Melody Demo of I Love You More

(Colin Arthur Wiebe)

I love You More

I was watching the Michael Jackson memorial and during his brother Marlon’s speech, I heard him say that whenever someone said “I love You” to Michael Jackson he always replied “I Love You More”.

I took the little piano melody and added lyrics to it inspired by Michael Jackson’s comeback. After I told my mom this story, she told me that her and my dad had been saying that to each other for years. Here is my first version of the song sung early in the morning.

Vocal Demo of I Love You More

(Colin Arthur Wiebe)

I love You More

After writing the lyrics and melody, I wasn’t 100% sold on the structure. I called up my friend David Pickell who is a Juno Award winning composer and arranger and booked a writing session with him. After a few cups of strong coffee and juggling lyrics and changing keys, we recorded a quick demo in his home studio in about an hour. The vocal was in one take reading the new lyrics. Since this recording we have changed quite a few lyrics around, “star in the sky” just couldn’t stay LOL

Sketch Demo of I Love You More

(Colin Arthur Wiebe, David Pickell)

I love You More

I did the bed tracks with producer Jeff Dawson at Bryan Adam’s studio (The Warehouse).

Here are the basic tracks.

Darren Parish on bass

Neko Friesen on drums

Dave Pickell on grand piano

 

Instrumental Demo of I Love You More

(Colin Arthur Wiebe, David Pickell)

I love You More

New Song Inspired By Michael Jackson’s Words

by | Jul 9, 2009 | General, Road Journal, Songwriting

I saw the Jackson Five on the Flip Wilson television show in the 70’s and they inspired me.

Why? Because the little kid named Michael Jackson sang like a grown-up and it altered my thinking that up until that point, believed only adults could sing professionally. So if Donny Osmond and Michael Jackson could be famous singers so could I. It was a believable pursuit. Today the bar gets higher and higher due in part to shows like American Idol, America’s Top Model and So You Think You Can Dance. Do shows like these encourage the youth of today or wound their self esteem? The answer is, how the adults in their lives help them process the information. Parents of young athletes who encourage their little future hockey or baseball stars to watch professional sports and learn from their heroes help to shape a “can do” attitude. Why is it that parents of singers, and musicians are more likely to say “unless you are amazing you will never make it in the music or entertainment business” ?  Dreams do come true and no matter what you believe, it is detrimental to any child to limit their belief in any way.

This post is not a rant so let me get back to the inspiration of my new song. I heard Marlon Jackson quote his brother Michael’s words and the phrase cought my attention. I quickly wrote it down and and within 30 minutes I had the sketch of a new song done. All Access Members can hear the demo on the demo page.