THEA: Because some of the work we do involves Suno, people may assume we aren’t making a lot of musical decisions (in truth, we make many), but one of the most important things we do is choose a messenger for our lyrics.

This story is one Chad created, and we went through several style changes before we realized what it needed. We made some good cosmetic alterations to important lyrics (this is how we got to “lanterns” and “beacons”, and the friendship theme that runs through it), but it still sounded all wrong. Not urban enough. Then urban, but still not right.

Then we asked ourselves, “How would John Ondrasik [Five For Fighting] do this?”

Four phrases in, I had tears in my eyes. We immediately high-fived—we both knew we had finally gotten it right.

“I Only Know Your Light” found its voice.

Anything to add to this, Chad?

CHAD: I have worked in the tech field for decades, and I often worked a lot of hours late into the night. Especially when I was younger. Sometimes it was only me in the office late at night, but as I aged and had less reason to stay later, I noticed a lot of the younger developers would stay long hours. I’d review code check-ins and see really late nights had happened.

This made me think about how these kids were often alone, with no family, and no real active social life. It seemed pretty lonely to me. So, I decided to write something about that loneliness.

As is always the case, Thea helped take a rough version and polished it. I think she made it into something we can be proud of.

THEA: Wait. We both forgot to talk about the stalker vibe. [LAUGHS]

🎵 What a difference a word makes🎵:

When we first thought we were done with this one, the opening  said “I watch your building across the street and I see your light come on.”

I sent it to my niece and her husband, because they both spent their careers working in office buildings. I wanted to see whether the story resonated at all…and they both loved it except they pointed out that these particular lines felt a little creepy. Chad said he knew it felt a little creepy, I wasn’t bothered by it, but the fix I came up with was so easy, I can’t believe we didn’t just do it before asking their opinion of the song: “I see your building across the street, and I see a light come on.”

And that took care of that.

Yikes. [LAUGHS]