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Background to the Songs: Footprints, KHT
Written by Jimmy
Footprints is on our fourth album, King Henry’s Tears.
Lyrics/Music: This was Jimmy’s first guitar song and he wrote lyrics/music together, believe it or not. Lyrically, it borders on Christian Rock but is simply meant to be about the redemptive power of starting again – in this case, the screw up songwriter survives with a swim at dawn (Jimmy was thinking of Santa Monica pier). Musically, Jimmy was just playing around with the open chords he knew. He couple play the verses and sing over it, but could sing the chorus but had no idea what chords fit it. Turns out he had stupidly drifted to the F chord, which is and always be a nightmare for Jimmy. What saves the song from the schmultz of the lyrics is Michael’s vocals and Hannah’s backing vocals. He brings a world weary cynicism to the track, making you actually believe that maybe he’s got some serious demons in his head. And maybe he would believe in the power of sunshine, or maybe he really doesn’t and that’s the point. Ed delivers some great trumpets and Martyn brings a nice guitar solo.
Recommendations: If you like this, start with Michael’s work – you most likely love the song for him. He brings two of his own songs to this album – Millbank and I’ll be Frank. Plus, we have his Discovery Album out as well and you should check it out. If you like redemption songs, then start here please:
And if you like sunshine songs, here’s a couple to keep you going:
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- Velvet Underground, Who Loves the Sun:
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- The Ranconteurs, Yellow Sun:
That’s it.
Jimmy