“Shame on Me” seems to be my most popular song, which makes sense because it’s up-beat and catchy. The lyrics are a bit cheeky and the song has a good rhythm to it. In fact, my mom said she played the song for her preschool class and the kids all started dancing. If a song makes kids dance, it’s got to be good, right? (Oh no - please tell me I’m not going to be the next Sharon, Lois and Bram!)  Well… I’ve also seen some adults dance to it, so that’s a good sign.

I wrote the song for my Dark Before Dawn album when I realized that my slow-to-fast-song ratio was out of whack.  So on a rainy mid-week afternoon, wearing nothing but boxers and a house-coat like any good hermit, bum, or artist, I picked up my guitar and just started playing.  The first thing that came out was the guitar part for the verses - that simple “G” to “Gsus9″ for all you guitar players out there.  I really liked it, but it almost sounded familiar.  I later found out that Ryan Adam’s song “English Girls Approximately” uses the same chords, but it’s quite a bit slower and has a different groove to it.

The original melody of “Shame on Me” was a bit fancier than it is today, but when it came time to record, I wasn’t a good enough singer to pull it off, so I simplified it.  I’ve realized recently that I should continue to try to push my skills to new levels when I practice, but when it comes time to perform, I should pull back a bit and make sure I stay within my skill level.  A simple melody sung well sounds much better than a fancy melody sung poorly.

Lyrically, “Shame on Me” is a story about a guy who is in love with a complicated girl.  She’s hard to read, she’s closed off, she’s wild, she’s dramatic, she’s demanding, and she takes control, but she’s beautiful, breathtaking, and mysteriously lovable.  I’ll leave it up to your imagination on how much this girl is based on a real person.