In this Story Behind The Song from PledgeMusic News, They Might Be Giants bassist Danny Weinkauf takes us through the creation and success of his recent children’s song “Only One You” as well the the accompanying video.
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Guest Post from PledgeMusic News
As the bassist for They Might Be Giants, Danny Weinkauf knows a thing or two about having a lot of fun with his music. With his Red Pants Band, Danny makes music for children and families when he’s not busy with TMBG, and today’s Story Behind The Song shows how he’s inviting others to into the creative fun as well. Check out the animated feature and Danny’s exciting, inclusive story below.
Writing kids’ songs is fun. The story behind the song “Only One You” is fun for me to tell, mostly because it involves several other people without whom I could not have produced it.
As the bassist for They Might Be Giants, I spend a lot of time in hotel rooms. To make the best use of all that downtime, I bring a portable recording set-up with me. One day in a hotel in (insert favorite city name here), I was thinking about my other band: the “Red Pants Band”. (We perform music for families under the name Danny Weinkauf and his Red Pants Band which includes amazing drummer Steve Plesnarski).
Anybody who has ever seen us play can tell you that our bassist Tina Kenny Jones is not only a seriously gifted musician, but also gives off an incredible positive energy when she plays. I decided to write a song with her vocal abilities and personality in mind, and the result is “Only One You”. The simple general message of the song is that it’s cool to be whatever kind of person you want to be.
I sketched out the music in the hotel and, when I got back to town, I recorded all the music and sent Tina a version of the song with me singing the lead vocals in a “not-for-public-listening” version of falsetto (some things can’t be unheard – haha). My wife Michelle and I sang the backing vocals, and Tina then came to my studio and sang the lead vocals and cool bridge “ooh” section. Then, just because she can, Tina played trumpet and French horn as well. My buddy Jeff Thall then mixed the track and got it sounding great.
Since I was busy working with TMBG at the time, I thought it would be nice to release the song as a single. I did so and it was immediately picked up by Mindy and the rest of the team at SiriusXM Kids Place Live. The song wound up getting multiple spins a day for 3-4 months. With that type of reception, I knew I’d want to include the song on this next album and also thought a video would be great to help promote the song and album.
This next bit is my favorite part of this story. The best part of an organization like PledgeMusic is that it enables fans and supporters to really get involved in the production process. (They did not ask me or direct me to say this I swear!)
Through the TMBG fans word of mouth, word got out that I would be offering a pre-order of “Red Pants Band” thru PM. So a fan stepped up and offered not only to pledge for the new album but to help create a lyric video. Tim Labonte teaches animation and video at a school in Rhode Island and said he had a 15-year-old student who was very talented and would love to get the experience of making a music video. Well, she’s talented for sure, but she’s also generous and professional.
Check out the video for “Only One You” created by Madison Durand and sung by Tina Kenny Jones and decide for yourselves!