All & Everything


Early in the process of collecting songs for this album I struggled with the order I should be putting them in.  I am a surprisingly logical person (for such a hopeless romantic!) so I was drawn to a chronological order to tell the story as it developed in time.  Problem was, it didn’t really work like that.  The earliest songs were already full-blown lovesongs, but a few written later went back to treat the way we got there, describing earlier impressions, the hesitance, the interesting factors that pushed us toward being a couple, often in spite of our own awareness or intentions.  One song from that first year, “Sunshine”, had more general lyrics (partly because my Orchid Highway bandmate Jamie had a hand in writing them) that fit an early perspective, but I didn’t like it as an album opener.  So I landed on a compromise, deciding to arrange a song order that followed a narrative arc as far as possible, building to where we are now (which is, very happy).

One song we recorded turned out so good, and just felt like the best introduction to the whole album that I could not resist promoting it to the lead-off position.  I wrote “All & Everything” a few years in, another full-blown ‘Mature Love’ song.  It does reach back to early origins in the line “you’re what I was looking for / when I didn’t look for anything” – a sentiment that creeps into other lyrics, as does “Kept me coming back for more.”  The idea of being overtaken by love almost passively (“Till I wasn’t leaving anymore”) is a theme in several other songs as well.  The refrain that grew out of that “Anymore” I made a key to the song’s structure, following it up with sections singing “Anyway” and “Anyone.”  The chorus (“You’re my be-all…”) and the title itself are my usual plundering of well-worn clichés from the long tradition of love lyrics.  All in all, this song is a pretty good summary or microcosm of the whole album, so in the end a good starting point after all!

         All and Everything
 
You’re my all and everything
Yeah, you’re what I was looking for
     When I didn’t look for anything
 
Kept me coming back for more
Till there came a time when I
     Simply wasn’t leaving anymore…
 
Anymore…   Anymore…   Anymore
 
Every day with you is great
And I’m not afraid to say it
     Even though you know it anyway
 
Anyway…   Anyway…   Anyway
 
(ooo well) We could do anything
        You are my be-all and everything
 
Who could say what we’d become?
All I know is that with you, I’ve had
     Way more fun than anyone
 
Anyone…   Anyone…   Anyone
 
(ooo well) We could do anything
     You, you’re my be-all and everything