Love`s Path - Story Behind the Song
A Newlywed Couple Surprises a Seasoned One on their Shared Wedding Day
THE STORY
I love this story. Bill and Kris were planning their wedding reception at a beautiful old Inn in Vermont, which they had chosen not only because it was a great place with great food, but because the couple who ran it, Doug and Linda, seemed like a really amazing, loving “good karma” kind of couple. Mid-way through planning, Bill and Kris learned that the night of their wedding reception was also going to be Doug and Linda’s 20th wedding anniversary—and that they were going to be working right through it to put on the reception. Bill, the groom, got the idea of commissioning me to write a song for Doug and Linda, to be performed for them live as a surprise near the end of the night. I had never before been asked to do a song from two people to two people. Hmmmm. During the interview, it was really fun hearing how this seasoned couple, Doug and Linda, appeared in the eyes of the newlyweds. I think it’s important for all of us working at couplehood to have models that inspire us. People we know really well, and, too, people with whom our paths connect only briefly, but in ways that affect and guide us. This song celebrates the idea that committed love is a path—that there are people up ahead on the road, paving the way, and that there are others just stepping onto it.
Late in the evening, Doug and Linda were summoned to the front of the reception room for they knew not what. Doug was still in his chef’s apron. Their staff was running around excitedly, in on the scoop, helping us time it all just right. The groom made an introductory speech explaining what a commissioned song is, and letting the wedding guests know that this was the first performance of a never-before heard song, written for and about Doug and Linda. Then, I performed it live. The idea that they would be honored at a party they were throwing really blew them away. Both were surprised, overwhelmed and delighted. Linda was moved to tears. The room erupted into applause, and I was having one of those little “life moments” feeling it all happening all around me. Man! It’s a cool thing to sing about love. [See the Inn]
THE ARTIST
Anna Huckabee Tull is an award-winning Boston Singer-Songwriter with five national releases to her credit, and a Master’s Degree in Spiritual Psychology and Applied Psychology. [More about Anna]
THE WRITING AND RECORDING STORY
Hats off to my dear, dear friend and longtime production partner Eric Kilburn, who played every blessed instrument on the entire song--except percussion, which is another serious hats off to the incomprable Catherine Birrer. Eric, by the way, has three retractable bonus arms and knows how to strum a Dobro with his big toe. I think Catherine can do the same. (About all of this I am lying completely.) Eric is the owner of Wellspring Sound in Acton, Mass where I… (a) have recorded a now-uncountable number of songs (42?) (b) once talked an intern into belching fantastically into the microphone, and used his burp as a sound effect in a kid’s song. You just never know what’s gonna happen when you’re making a song…
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© 2006 Anna Huckabee Tull. The rights for this song are filed and registered with the United States Copyright Office as a Sound Recording by Anna Huckabee Tull. Copies of these songs may not be sold or bartered. But sharing? Sharing is all good!