I was a little kid living in a small town in Minnesota when That Thing You Do came out. I didn’t see it in the theater but I was at a friends house and we rented it on Directv. Back then when you rented the movie, if you popped in a VHS tape to the VCR you could record the movie.
And that’s exactly what I did.
I watched that movie a hundred times. Every scene is pure gold…but the foundation and the glue was the song.
The drum opening. The quirky verse/refrain structure. Smart chord changes. Innocent lyrics while not crossing into cheesy. And ending the song with the major seventh chord. There is not a wasted moment in the song, not an ounce of mediocrity. Start to finish, still to this day, THAT is how you put a song together.
That Thing You Do was (and is) an important movie to me. Eye opening and inspiring.
So I was sad when I heard the writer, Adam Schlesinger, passed away today.
I met him once. I was working the front desk at a hotel when I got out of college and he happened to be in the lobby. At the end of my shift I went and said hello. He was a nice dude, answered my all too excited questions about the song and the movie and the bands he played in.
I’ve always been glad to have met him, and now more than ever. That thing he did (that song he wrote) made a difference to that little kid in Minnesota.
So for all of us, keep showing up and making great music, playing great music, releasing great music. Now more than ever you never know who is watching and listening and being inspired by it.
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Drop me an email: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com