May 21, 2012

Album: Hard Settle, Ain't Troubled (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The opening lyrics of "May 21, 2012" present the Canadian singer-songwriter in a predicament regarding a relationship:

    I could love you,
    Or better yet, I could leave you alone


    In our interview with Donovan Woods, we asked him why he chose that date as the title of the tune. "It was the name of the voice memo the day that I recorded the song," he said. "I was away touring around England. It was a bit of pieces of things that had happened to me and pieces of things from a story that I'd read. It was just a date that happened to be on the voice memo so it stayed as the title of the song. I just felt like I couldn't think of anything better. It seemed to make sense to me."

    A line from the tune almost echoes Woods' choice as the title:

    Now you know how literal my songs are

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Have Mercy! It's Wolfman Jack

Have Mercy! It's Wolfman JackSong Writing

The story of the legendary lupine DJ through the songs he inspired.

Protest Songs

Protest SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know your protest songs (including the one that went to #1)?

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

Joe Elliott of Def Leppard

Joe Elliott of Def LeppardSongwriter Interviews

The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.

Chris Frantz - "Genius of Love"

Chris Frantz - "Genius of Love"They're Playing My Song

Chris and his wife Tina were the rhythm section for Talking Heads when they formed The Tom Tom Club. "Genius of Love" was their blockbuster, but David Byrne only mentioned it once.

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real Group

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real GroupSong Writing

The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.