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happy-every-day

The Story of Happy Every Day

May 3, 2021 by Aaron
Production And Song Stories
aaron j. trumm, aaron trumm, happy every day, happy every day leaning latin mix, how songs are written, nquit, nquit music, song stories

I promised some people I’d make a post about my song, Happy Every Day. So here it is.

I was at Stanford, attending to my shiny new lungs – aka getting my regular check up. Oh yeah, as it happens, I had a lung transplant in 2013. July 4, 2013 to be exact. No big.

Whenever I go out there to check out my lungs, I book time in the recording studio on campus – because well, I have a key for life – seeing as how I did my master’s there – in a time of utter privilege I’ll always remember. I was doing my sessions one Saturday, and because it’s lonely locked up in the room all day by myself (I’m not always by myself, but in this case I was) – I went down the hill in the sunshine and wonderful greenery to the student union building (known there as “Tressider”) and got some lunch.

While I did that, I called my friend Sebastian, and as you do, asked him how he was doing. He replied, “I’m great man! I’m happy EVERY day!”

I said “THAT’S AWESOME! That’s a song!” – to which he said do it, to which I said “I’m serious, I’m going to go back up the hill in the studio and do a song called that RIGHT NOW!!”.

So I dashed up the hill and got my moleskin notebook out and sat in loungey fooseball kitchen area in the building, and I wrote out all the lyrics boom slickidy boom – then I went and found a big ‘ol grand piano (remember when I said privilege…that place is so awesome) and I banged out the chords and little melody that became the melody you hear right at the beginning…

Harry Potter and the Ridiculous Privilege – Here’s the piano I wrote Happy Every Day on

Then I rushed downstairs into the actual studio and set up to record the – other grand (privilege!) – piano and banged out the song structure bloop dee doop – then went in and did all the vocals.

That was all I had. But I took that home, sent it to my friend Nathan Menhorn who is an insane drummer drummed on other tracks of mine, and he sent me drums. Next I called my friend Rodney Bowe, an amazing bass player I’ve known for nearly 30 years since college, and he came to my house and played some bass. I mixed it all together and boom…

But it wasn’t quite right yet so I added a fourth verse at the end…and then I went around and performed it at various places including the Lyrics for Life competition at the Transplant Games of America, which I won silver in – woo!

But then a few years later…

I submitted the mix to an A&R rep at a licensing company. And he rejected it! (Don’t worry that happens A LOT). But he actually offered feedback. He wanted the song to lean in to the latin vibe more…so in 2021 (that’s the year I’m writing this)…

I got another person – Paul Croteau – who I know from a music industry Facebook group – to add some latin style percussion and horns. Then I got excited, re-arranged the piano, fixed a word in the chorus I never liked, fixed that fourth verse because I was never sold on the rhythm…

And BAM AGAIN! The Happy Every Day Leaning Latin Mix was born – which I think should be the only version – but the other one is out there so let’s let them both live!

THE END!!

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