Track 8 – “Perfect” – Behind the Song

In the fall of 2013, my wife and I were getting ready for the birth of our first child. We had recently come across a piano, and one day when I was playing what I felt (like a stream of consciousness), the chord progression for the verses just came out. It was fun to play, but words also came quickly: “I just heard the news today, and I don’t know what to say. This is all just happening so fast.”

Within minutes I had all the music for the song figured out, but only the one verse and pre-chorus with lyrics. The rest had to come quickly, right? I had no idea this song would take the longest to write. I think it was because this was the most raw of a first verse/pre-chorus I have ever written. Normally with a song you want it to start well, yes, but you want it to build in the chorus, come back down a bit for the second verse, and then hit its highest point just before the end. I didn’t know how to start this song any differently than the first verse and pre-chorus, but I also didn’t see how it could go “up” from there to the chorus.

When I was writing other music for Objects in Mirror here in 2024, I looked at the song again and finally hit that same stream of consciousness from 11 years ago, and finally the other lyrics came quickly. But because of the passing of time between the first verse with its anticipation of meeting my son for the first time, I began the second verse looking back on a decade of seeing him (and his younger brothers) grow. “How could this young man have been that baby in my hands?”

This song underscores all the excitement and worries that come with being a parent. I’m not perfect, but I’ll do whatever it takes because of how much these boys mean to me. So while it took a long time to finish this song, it’s as real as it gets.