Track 7: "Weak Days" (w/ co-writer Jason Morris)

Podcast

Oct 8

Welcome to I Owe You an Explication, I’m your host, Sean Della Croce and today we’re discussing the song "Weak Days” with special guest and co-writer, Jason Morris.

Stream Illuminations here: https://ffm.to/qqk1jjd

Cover Image by Alex Crawford

All songs written and recorded by Sean Della Croce

Produced by Alan Deremo

Introduction

Hello friends. This week's podcast is going to sound a little different because "Weak Days" is the only song on Illuminations attributed to myself and a co-writer. I'd love to explain it all on my own, but I could use a little help this time. The story goes like this: When I was 16 years old and just getting into writing songs on a serious level, my uncle, Jason Morris (a music publisher here in Nashville) approached me with a fantastic hook. It was something along the lines of: this is a weak day, it's bringing me to a weekend.

So Jason and I sat down for a little chat where we discuss the inspiration behind the song and how it came to be. I hope you enjoy:

Interview Transcript

Jason Morris:

So I'm Jason Morris I'm from Bowling Green Ohio and very small farm town, college town in Northwest Ohio and the day after I graduated high school I moved directly to Nashville, TN.

Sean Della Croce

We’re going to talk about “Weak Days” today. I looked it up, we wrote “Weak Days” or the idea started coming about around 2008-ish, right? But tell me when it started for you.

That sounds about right. The idea came around for me—I was in a dark time in my life just coming out of a divorce, and I had this idea that was just kind of rolling around in my head. And it just wasn’t going anywhere. Somebody asked me how I was doing or how my day was—was today a good day—and I just said, “ah, it’s a weak day”. And the idea kind of hit me and I though, “weak day…it’s leading met to a weekend”. And I thought that was going to be the upside of it. So that was really all I could get out of it was “weak days taking me to a weekend,” and that was it.

And so it just kind of rolled around in my head for a while, and I don’t know…where were we? Were we at your mom’s house? It seems like we were at dinner or something.

SDC

We were at confirmation dinner at Finezza.

Confirmation dinner—that’s what it was—at Finezza! I guess I came to you and said something like “I’ve got this idea you need to work on”. And what, were you like 16?

SDC

I think I was 16

‘Cause you know all about divorce and sadness at 16, right?

SDC

Yep. Maybe I knew a little too much at that point

Maybe you did. You must have, because you ran with it. I said, “The idea is weak days—it’s bringing me to a weekend," and you turned around a wrote a song about it. And I was like “wow, how did she do that?”

SDC

How do you feel about the finished song as it is because, of course, I added lot of stuff that wasn’t exactly directly, you know…

I’m glad to hear you say that because I do hear the song, and when you say, “This is about my uncle and his divorce,” I go, “Well, not exactly about your uncle, it’s just that he had an idea about it and that’s what he was feeling.” But overall if don’t correlate it to my own life and let it just be a song, I think you did an unbelievable job. Although there are parts of it that tied into the truth of the matter at the time.

I’ve got a question for you: how did you do that at 16? Did you just know that much? Where did that come from for you? I mean I gave you just like bare bones—like really bare bones—like three lines and you came up with this whole scenario that was really pretty real to a lot of people who have been through a dark time.

SDC

I mean it is really weird the alchemy that happened between us on that song creatively. I don’t really know what happened. I think, obviously my parents had gotten divorced when I was around 11, we had moved during that period and the years after. So I guess I had seen them navigate that from my young teen perspective. And then when you went though your separation I was solidly in my teen years and like, aware. Bu I mean, I don’t even remember writing it.

Well it’s funny because I remember you bringing it to me.

SDC

Oh tell that story.

We had gotten together once again I think over at Erin’s house and you played it for me, and I just went, “wow”. It actually became something that it never would have become without you, I promise you that. It never would have gotten past that chorus probably.

Everybody’s sat alone in that room. You know everybody’s been that lonely sinner. And it sounds like a real bummer of a song, but you’ve got a great melody to it. You know, I mean the song—as sad as it is and as real as it is—has this ride, you know, that you’v got going along. And then you hit that bridge and it’s like, “Wow, this is a sad song, I didn’t realize that”. But anyway, kudos to you.

SDC

Oh well thanks. Yeah, I mean the chords are really simple. When it’s all said and done it’s like Em, G, C. I kind of like that in this case because it’s not the most conventional combination, I mean there’s no D in there or an A. But it does just kind of churn along like this train.

And I think it makes it stick out. It makes the song stand out a little bit not having the conventional CDG GDC.

SDC

I mean it starts on an Em, it’s like “yaaaaaw”.

It’s already “yaaaaaw”. It’s heavy isn’t it?

SDC

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it is that feeling like in that room going…just meltdown. And I think if you haven’t had that experience, you will. Well I think that’s a great place to stop, and thanks for inspiring “Weak Days” and cheers to Maddy Dog Music.

Hey, thank you for writing such a great song. I never saw it coming and becoming what it is and thanks for the help, and really you killed it, so keep writing.

SDC

Thanks Jason.

Thank you.