Credits
I want to send out some special thanks to everyone who helped make this entire project happen:
- To my mom for helping me edit this entire thing.
- Once again, to Hallie for the wonderful Foreward she wrote for this project.
- To all of my friends, family members, old girlfriends and childhood crushes for letting me write about them.
- To my wife for letting me talk through the process and listen to these songs (and many more!) over and over and over for the past year.
- To my kids for inspiring me to want to leave them with a little more knowledge about who their dad was and is.
- Finally, thanks to all of you for reading these entries and joining me on this journey. I have no idea where the idea for this project came from and I didn't have anything I was trying to get out of it. I just wanted to get these stories out there so that you could get to know me a little bit better - but I didn't realize how much I would get to know some of you better as well. I've gotten emails and texts and Facebook messages almost every day during these 40 days and they've all been awesome. Some funny, some insightful, some sad - all of them real. Thank you so much for sharing.
What's Next:
I've been asked a bunch of times what creative adventure I'm going to explore next after this "Top 40" project. That is an awesome feeling and very kind that people would be interested in following me to the next frontier.
Honest answer - I just don't have any "next" ideas as of yet.
Not that this was anywhere close to "Catcher in the Rye," but I've always admired what J.D. Salinger did when he was one and done. Produce one great work and walk away. I don't want to do anything just to do it. If I ever do anything again, I would want it to be as complete and fun and tight as this idea was for me. When something is fun it isn't work.
I'm open to whatever's next, just don't have it yet.
But I will keep you posted...
One for the Road:
When Will I See You Again
The Three Degrees
The Three Degrees
1973
One last song. One last story.
As I mentioned, I’ve seen The Killers live in concert 8 times now. Always a unique, fun show but one thing always jumps out to me:
The brilliance of the songs they use for when everyone is leaving.
You know what I'm talking about - the band has left the stage, the confetti is still floating in the air, and the lights have come on. They somehow always perfectly nail the songs that come on over the speakers as you’re walking out. It’s such an underrated thing to be awesome at. I look forward to what rando songs they are going to play as I’m leaving as much as the set-list during the show.
So I spent a lot of time thinking about what song I would use as my “lights are on and everyone’s leaving” song to this project.
Obviously these lyrics are a bit on the nose, but the song - the totality of this song, from lyrics to instruments to sound to performance to vibe - is one I think would make The Killers proud. It just SOUNDS like a song they would use.
I'll go as far to say this: while “All These Things” is 100% my official-no-doubt-favorite song of all time, this one probably makes me the most happy when I hear it. Always has been. There is something so earnest and sincere about the vocal performance. It’s desperate and sad and hopeful all at the same time.
I said when I started this Top 40 project that I wanted to be “known” through these songs. Well here’s your last something super dumb thing to know about me:
For as long as I can remember, I have written out scenes to be used in a movie or TV shows. I'm not good enough or smart enough to write out entire scripts, but I love crafting specific scenes - or moments.
Over 20 years ago I wrote a scene for a TV show connected to this song and I've tweaked it and updated it a bunch over the years.
This song is about a couple that can’t be together. For whatever reason. They just can't. For the first few seasons of the show they would have this “will-they-or-won’t-they” dynamic and you would naturally expect them to eventually get together. Only I've want to go the other way and separate them for good.
With this song.
They have this brief exchange where they would each start a sentence but can't finish it. The other one would inherently know exactly what was being said and begins to respond but can't.
Because they know they can't.
It all hits an apex during the instrumental bridge of the song. The characters would touch hands (or something) which transports them on a montage of what an alternative life could have looked like together. It would be a series of rapid quick flashes of them hosting a party, on a road trip, at a romantic dinner, looking out on the city from the top of the Empire State Building, reading books by the fire on a rainy day... all culminating in the beginning of a kiss that they've both thought about. Wondered about. Dreamed about for the entirety of the show.
And not just for these characters, this would be THE moment fans of the show have been waiting for: We finally get to see them together! We finally get to see the kiss!
Only it all gets interrupted as the "Are we in loooooove..." line snaps them back to reality.
I’ve written a lot of scenes and a lot of scripts and a lot of articles and a lot of columns over the years. But this rando scene that never got used - and let’s be honest, will never be used - stays with me the most.
I think because it’s tied to a song.
That’s the beauty of music in our lives. It can take us back to a moment, or an era, or a person, or a place like nothing else. That's what this project has been about for me. These songs have helped me tell my stories in a way I couldn't have otherwise.
I'm grateful for this expression as I come out of the locker room for my 2nd half.
Maybe I'll add 10 more songs when I hit 50? Maybe I'll redo the entire list? Either one, or neither, is OK, I think. The biggest and most valuable lesson I've learned 40 years in is to just let life be what it is when it is. Enjoy the good waves as long as they last. Ride out the bad ones because a better one is coming. Always try to get better, for sure, but don't fight it when it sucks. Find the good in the bad and it gets better.
I've stopped kicking and screaming so much and have been a lot happier.
Well.
The band has left the stage.
The confetti is still floating.
The lights are coming on.
Thanks for coming to my own little concert over the past 40 days. It’s been a blast.
Drive safe.
Listen to "When Will I See You Again" here:
As I mentioned, I’ve seen The Killers live in concert 8 times now. Always a unique, fun show but one thing always jumps out to me:
The brilliance of the songs they use for when everyone is leaving.
You know what I'm talking about - the band has left the stage, the confetti is still floating in the air, and the lights have come on. They somehow always perfectly nail the songs that come on over the speakers as you’re walking out. It’s such an underrated thing to be awesome at. I look forward to what rando songs they are going to play as I’m leaving as much as the set-list during the show.
So I spent a lot of time thinking about what song I would use as my “lights are on and everyone’s leaving” song to this project.
Obviously these lyrics are a bit on the nose, but the song - the totality of this song, from lyrics to instruments to sound to performance to vibe - is one I think would make The Killers proud. It just SOUNDS like a song they would use.
I'll go as far to say this: while “All These Things” is 100% my official-no-doubt-favorite song of all time, this one probably makes me the most happy when I hear it. Always has been. There is something so earnest and sincere about the vocal performance. It’s desperate and sad and hopeful all at the same time.
I said when I started this Top 40 project that I wanted to be “known” through these songs. Well here’s your last something super dumb thing to know about me:
For as long as I can remember, I have written out scenes to be used in a movie or TV shows. I'm not good enough or smart enough to write out entire scripts, but I love crafting specific scenes - or moments.
Over 20 years ago I wrote a scene for a TV show connected to this song and I've tweaked it and updated it a bunch over the years.
This song is about a couple that can’t be together. For whatever reason. They just can't. For the first few seasons of the show they would have this “will-they-or-won’t-they” dynamic and you would naturally expect them to eventually get together. Only I've want to go the other way and separate them for good.
With this song.
They have this brief exchange where they would each start a sentence but can't finish it. The other one would inherently know exactly what was being said and begins to respond but can't.
Because they know they can't.
It all hits an apex during the instrumental bridge of the song. The characters would touch hands (or something) which transports them on a montage of what an alternative life could have looked like together. It would be a series of rapid quick flashes of them hosting a party, on a road trip, at a romantic dinner, looking out on the city from the top of the Empire State Building, reading books by the fire on a rainy day... all culminating in the beginning of a kiss that they've both thought about. Wondered about. Dreamed about for the entirety of the show.
And not just for these characters, this would be THE moment fans of the show have been waiting for: We finally get to see them together! We finally get to see the kiss!
Only it all gets interrupted as the "Are we in loooooove..." line snaps them back to reality.
I’ve written a lot of scenes and a lot of scripts and a lot of articles and a lot of columns over the years. But this rando scene that never got used - and let’s be honest, will never be used - stays with me the most.
I think because it’s tied to a song.
That’s the beauty of music in our lives. It can take us back to a moment, or an era, or a person, or a place like nothing else. That's what this project has been about for me. These songs have helped me tell my stories in a way I couldn't have otherwise.
I'm grateful for this expression as I come out of the locker room for my 2nd half.
Maybe I'll add 10 more songs when I hit 50? Maybe I'll redo the entire list? Either one, or neither, is OK, I think. The biggest and most valuable lesson I've learned 40 years in is to just let life be what it is when it is. Enjoy the good waves as long as they last. Ride out the bad ones because a better one is coming. Always try to get better, for sure, but don't fight it when it sucks. Find the good in the bad and it gets better.
I've stopped kicking and screaming so much and have been a lot happier.
Well.
The band has left the stage.
The confetti is still floating.
The lights are coming on.
Thanks for coming to my own little concert over the past 40 days. It’s been a blast.
Drive safe.
Listen to "When Will I See You Again" here:
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