Come Closer

Album: Chickenfoot III (2011)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This aching rock ballad is unusual for Chickenfoot in that singer Sammy Hagar wrote the words first and guitarist Joe Satriani then composed the music to suit the lyrics. Satriani told the story of the song to Musicradar.com: "Sam gave me two sheets of lyrics and said, 'Can you write something to this?' It was interesting - usually, the music comes first. He didn't say a word to me about the style or anything. I looked at the lyrics and thought they were very unique.

    I woke up one morning, went to my piano and started playing. Initially, the music was a bit more Radiohead than R&B, partly because I don't play the piano too well. [laughs] I took out my phone, made a quick recording and e-mailed it to everybody.

    Sam came to the studio all excited to record it -- he loved what I had demoed. After the other guys arrived, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make it a guitar song. Again, the answer didn't come to me at first. I didn't want the track to be a power ballad, but going too bluesy didn't seem right, either. We started playing, and once we heard Sam sing in that R&B/soul timing of his, we felt comfortable going more minimal - we didn't have to slam it. During the solo I stepped on my POG pedal and played these arpeggios, and everything felt right about the song to me."
  • The song has a R&B groove, which tested bassist Michael Anthony. He told Ultimate Classic Rock: "It was kind of challenging, because Joe had the part and Chad (Smith, drums) and I are going 'hmmm, what are we going to do to this?' A lot of times, you'll get a little tough thing there [like that] and Chad and I, we just banged around a few ideas and came up with something that really worked with what Joe was playing."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Dean Pitchford

Dean PitchfordSongwriter Interviews

Dean wrote the screenplay and lyrics to all the songs in Footloose. His other hits include "Fame" and "All The Man That I Need."

Mick Jones of Foreigner

Mick Jones of ForeignerSongwriter Interviews

Foreigner's songwriter/guitarist tells the stories behind the songs "Juke Box Hero," "I Want To Know What Love Is," and many more.

In The Cards

In The CardsSong Writing

Songwriters have used cards and card games to make sense of heartache, togetherness, and even Gonorrhea.

Bob Dylan Lyric Quiz

Bob Dylan Lyric QuizMusic Quiz

Think you know your Bob Dylan lyrics? Take this quiz to find out.

Butch Vig

Butch VigSongwriter Interviews

The Garbage drummer/songwriter produced the Nirvana album Nevermind, and Smashing Pumpkins' Gish and Siamese Dream.

David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears

David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & TearsSongwriter Interviews

The longtime BS&T frontman tells the "Spinning Wheel" story, including the line he got from Joni Mitchell.