Can’t Regret Anything
This song was written when I'd just found out I was going to be a dad and I imagined what it would be like meeting my child for the first time. The thought that I had was that everything that had happened, all the mistakes I'd made, and all the times I'd looked stupid had brought me to that moment - making it all worthwhile.
I could not have guessed what was going to happen next, and the kind of foreshadowing that title would have.
Now I’m here, and you’re here too
Every little thing I ever did has somehow led to you
Now I can’t regret anything,
I can’t regret anything
I can’t regret anything at all.
Hold On Tight
My daughter was born extremely prematurely and was fighting for her life. She was too small and underdeveloped to breathe independently, open her eyes or cry. There was no way for her to communicate in the way babies normally do, and you find yourself taking the numbers on the screen as a kind of communication from her.
The title and the chorus are about the one thing she could do, while I was at my lowest and physically ill from the worry - she grabbed onto my pinky finger. Her hand was barely big enough to wrap all the way round. In that moment, all the tension left my body, this was the first contact of any kind with my baby - and all the worry went away. I told myself that this was her telling me that she loved me, and that everything was going to be OK.
And even though that was likely just my own idea, it turned out to be completely true.
Are you trying to tell me you love me?
Are you trying to tell me it’ll be all right?
So darling, hold on tight.
Waltzing
Finally home and settling into normal parenting.
This is a song about looking forward to knowing I won't always need to pace about the livingroom at 4am to get the baby to sleep, but knowing I'm also going to kind of miss it.
When we’re waltzing in the livingroom
The world will have to wait.
The Strawberry Massacre
This song tells the story of a wonderful trip to a fruit picking farm when she had not long turned one.
I have however told this from the point of view of the strawberries. It has become a harrowing folk ballad of a bloodthirsty human infant that chuckles while devouring her victims, whose remains coat her adorable outfit.
Chilling.
There she sat laughing and clapping while another one was devoured
Laughing, clapping, laughing, clapping.
Coated in strawberry viscera.
The Best Birthday
A silly ukulele number recorded in one take.
A song celebrating her first birthday. A birthday which we feared at one point we'd never see.
I’d get you clowns, balloons and fireworks if that is what you want
I’d get you the biggest birthday cake but I’m not sure that’s enough
‘Cause all that really matters, is that you’re here with us
It’s the best birthday.
The best birthday that you won’t remember.