About this release

The first demo of “Throw” is nearly 15 years old today. In this release I’ve introduced some old drafts marking its progression over time - a yin and yang of ideas and influencers. I’ve also included the oft requested “instrumental” version for those that matched the guitar hook while on hold with sundry businesses. (I’m told it's been heard at Priceline, American Home Shield, Delta, H&R Block and others). The result of which has trafficked many new listeners to my music and made it my “biggest song to date.” (Although in a time before Spotify, “Savor the Cold” well exceeded this on MySpace).

I always thought of Throw as a piece of self-talk. In the refrain- “throw yourself in front of it”- the “you” I imagined was always me. I.e., Get out there and do that thing, ____ (insert your name here)! I never thought of it as a banger or rally cry. Also ironic: That most people hearing the song have been mesmerized by its post-chorus riff, and not the message. I like that riff too. But I wonder how many Shazamers pulled up the vocal version and listened to the lyrics. And that being said, I wonder if the lyrics they heard matched the song they imagined. As one YouTuber commented, “oh it’s like Animal Crossing!” I like Animal Crossing too.

Multiple versions of the same song raise the question of favorites. The late Felix McTeigue who produced the 2014 release (and added the line “with me tonight” to the lyrics) said that listeners needed to be hit over the head with a “hit.” He was responding to the quiet, self-produced version from 2012. From this wisdom sprang a hooky, jangly recording on Some Girls. Although the acoustic-pop style tethered sonic consistency to the song and album, I still felt lukewarm about the application. I’ve never been a good skull-basher. And I always wanted more synths.

Hence the 2021 re-record. It marked many things for me. Hommage to Felix who passed in 2020. A connection to the past. An opportunity to bring something new to a song that listeners might find familiar. A way to explore the original vision. In the set of This Far Apart, Throw 2021 made for a nice closer and tied the years and ears together.

I had to pull a cover together for release to make it “official” and the image of that unknown young girl kept pulling me in. I imagine her on a bus going somewhere far away, perhaps to a strange place. Her look seems both uncertain and hopeful. Daydreamy (and possibly sleepy). Which was the spirit in which the song was conceived. Who knows what truth lies behind any of my assumptions. We make things up as we go. But most importantly, we keep going.

DKD

Nov 2023