Long story short: All proceeds from this song will go to directrelief.org earmarked "Ukraine." Long story long: For three solid years I was on a roll. Then Putin invaded Ukraine and it all seized up. Until one night almost three weeks into the war, I was listening to David Remnick likening Ukraine's President Zelensky to a modern-day Churchill, and suddenly I felt that vague yet unmistakable tug. It had been most of a month since I'd written a decent song, so I sat down at my desk with my guitar on my lap and pencil and paper before me, anxious to build a ladder to get me out of this hole. As it turns out it wouldn't be a perfect ladder, although it had all the rungs I'd need. They were just a little out of whack, is all--and I didn't trust a few to hold my weight. So on a whim I called an old friend because I had a vision of a song that would serve a purpose above and beyond me. And this person was certainly the only producer I knew who wouldn't roll their eyes. And she was a night owl. So I hoped she'd answer without getting woken up. I got my wish...
"Julie," I said into the phone, "I need your help." Sure, I was in a strange state so when Julie Last quick asked, "Are you all right, Tad?" I blurted out, "Who can be all right in a world all wrong? I need your help!" And then I sang her the birth slop version of "Song For Ukraine."
It was soon improved. Even so, the next night in Julie's studio she still had strong criticisms. On the chorus I broke out of my minor mode with two gospel, major chords. Julie felt it should stay where the listener expected the song to stay. l checked my reflexive dismissal and said instead, "Well--just as an experiment--how about this?" Julie agreed. Then after accepting some alternate phrases I said "Okay, I'll need to credit you for this." "No you don't, Tad," she answered, "this is your song." And from that moment on? We flew...
The next day I sent our rough mix to Tony Levin who wrote back, "I'm in if you want--but I like you performing it alone, Tad." I was tempted to shoot back: "But no one knows MY name, Tony!" Besides, we absoLUTEly needed Tony at the bottom end.
Julie and I agreed on introducing strings at the bridge, which my pal Tim Carbone supplied on the fly. But that still left the second verse instrumentally identical to the first where I felt we desperately needed a piano to come in subtly and then expand. In short, we needed Pete Levin--and we got him.
Every one worked for free and has my profound thanks because every dime I receive goes to "Direct Relief, Ukraine"(--top rated by Charity Navigator.) Of course, there's also an ever-hotter, ever more desperate world beyond Ukraine. Food shortages will rage across Africa. Covid is reforming in a new variant. Drought will accompany famine, fires here, floods there, the world over. And ye! the seas shall rise...paralleling soaring suicides! But I can only handle one hell on Earth one song at a time. This one's done. Give it a listen. Buy it and--and if you can?--add a few dollars more. And stay tuned because I've got a lot more to say.