Song Highlight: “You Came and Found Me”
[Photo Credit: Sara Kurfeß]
This month’s song highlight is “You Came and Found Me”, recorded on David Willersdorf’s Outside the Inside album in Nashville.
“My songwriting process has been pretty varied,” says David. “I remember with this song, I had sat down at my keyboard in my songwriter studio and as I started to play, I felt both the melody line as well as the lyric line all form together at once. I felt that the song should be both fragile and powerful, and so I really stretched my vocals to include a lot of vulnerable falsetto alongside my usual bellowing bass.
“The song speaks a lot about that inspirational friend who seems to turn up at the right time, say the right things, and even know when not to say anything at all, but simply be there (with a poke in the ribs). The other aspect of this song is that with my gospel roots, I find that some aspects of my faith journey creep into my song lyrics as well, which I can definitely hear in the lyrics of this song.
“When it came to record the song at Harpeth Trace studios with brother Rick, I was keen to keep the song slowly building over time towards that ending part, so we delayed the entry of the drums right until then. I’d had this musical counter melody in my mind which we had Aubrey Haynie play on bass fiddle in the first chorus and then the amazing Kristen Rogers sing in the second chorus. Instead of synth parts, we went with Jeff Taylor on accordion (what can’t that guy play).
“For the end part (where the ‘You sped out of the dark’ lyric line is sung) we formed a huge choir, which was really just many layers of me, Rick Price and Kirsten Rogers singing our hearts out. It was very moving for me when I first heard it all come together.”
You Came and Found Me
Verse 1:
I was down, you were there
I was low, and you cared
I was weak and you carried me
Verse 2:
I was lost, you were found
I was dead, underground
But you came and you carried me
Pre-Chorus:
Ooh, Ooh, Ooh
Chorus:
You, you smile unashamed
You make me feel brave
You came and found me
You, you knelt in the dust
You lifted me up
You came and found me
You came and found me
Verse 3:
I despaired, you gave hope
Not a word, just a poke
But you came, and you carried me
Ending Repeats:
You sped out of the dark
And into my heart, there you stayed
Words and Music by David Willersdorf
© 2018 David Willersdorf / Whistletone
