I keep all my songs in a spreadsheet and let a random shuffle choose the pick of the day. Today it landed on “Simon Says.”

This track was released over ten years ago on my very first album, Love’s Marrow. At the time, I was just learning how to record music using my first digital audio workstation—SONAR. I loved SONAR, but it was bought out and disappeared from the market not long after. I eventually switched to Ableton Live and never looked back. Anyway, I digress.

Listening back now, this song really captures a period of experimentation for me—learning the mechanics of sound design, working with MIDI, and stacking vocal harmonies. The drums I laid down sound fairly terrible 😉, but I still find the slightly hip-hop–leaning chorus an interesting turn. And I’ve got to say, I absolutely love the bass part I built in the bridge around the 3:30 mark. That was pure fun.

Is it amateur-sounding? Sure. Is it too long? Probably. But I love it all the more for those reasons. You learn by actually creating stuff—making it, releasing it, and repeating the process over and over again.

Just do it.

Cheers,
Dave