Track 7 – “Someone New” – Behind the Song

I first wrote this song in 2001/2002, around the same time as Photograph. These two were the first songs I ever copyrighted, but Photograph usually got more attention. As old as Someone New is, it hasn’t changed very much from that first version. Even the guitar solo is almost note-for-note the same. Objects in Mirror is the first time it’s been commercially available.

At the time I wrote Someone New, I had been listening to Collective Soul, and particularly their song December. I was struck by the simple approach to the music–the rhythm guitar plays the same chord progression plays throughout the song, but the other instruments accentuate it differently to give the verses, choruses, and breaks a different feel.

For Someone New, I decided to take the same approach. The rhythm guitar doesn’t change much throughout the song (other than the third verse, where it lays back a bit). The second guitar plays a melodic rhythm pattern during most of the song. The bass guitar actually has an active part in the melody of the verses, playing 8th notes primarily, but in the chorus it drops down to a lower register and gives space for a lead guitar in the chorus.

The storyline for the lyrics is fairly straightforward–a woman who is down on her luck, a man who feels like it’s all falling apart for him too, and a café where things begin to work out for once.