Hold You (Tonight)

I've been accused of being involved in relationships with girls that, well, weren't exactly healthy. There are some who would go so far as to say that I had developed some rather bitter feelings towards the opposite sex. And there a few who would try to use some of the songs I've written as proof. I don't buy it. Cynical, sure. Bitter, never.

I offer "Hold You (Tonight)" as evidence to counter the "Bitter" argument. This song is a love song, pure and simple. Greg and I began working on the music shortly before Bob joined us full-time. We wanted kind of a slow, soft, slow-dancing piece to add to the growing list of songs we were writing. Originally known as "3-4-1" because of the underlying chord progression, this song became something of a challenge due to its "more serious" feel. The music we had written up to this point had an element of sarcasm evident in each piece, and this one was a departure.

Well, I started writing lyrics for it using the Pocket Brain. The Brain was a small micro cassette recorded I had started using for class notes, brain geysers, and other times when I wanted to remember something and couldn't stop to write. Generally, during this phase of my lyric writing, I would drive around listening to the rehearsal tapes and start working out word patterns. I did the bulk of my work on "Hold You" on a trip up into Oklahoma. The chorus originally went something like this:

"Oh girl, I wanna hold you tonight.
I wanna lose myself being in your arms tonight
'Cause this might be our last chance to make it right.
Oh, let me hold you tonight."

I think there might actually have been someone at this time that I was thinking deeply about. I can say that because it was when I stopped thinking seriously about her, I realized just how sappy this was. Ick. But I solved the problem and faced the challenge of making this tune fit into the Green Chili genre by making it into a nuclear holocaust love story instead:

"Oh girl, I wanna hold you tonight.
I wanna lose myself being in your arms tonight
'Cause this might be our last chance to make it right
If they drop the bomb tonight."

Much better, don't you think?