"Need Someone"
From HBO's The Pitt
Writing instrumental music for picture can be fun. Writing a song with lyrics for picture is another thing altogether, and extra challenging and gratifying. I wrote a song for the final scene of this weeks episode of The Pitt. It follows the passing of a beloved character, and since the show decidedly doesn’t tell you how to feel with music, I felt the responsibility over the music’s role. The show’s composer Gavin Brivik sent me the basic tracks along with the final scene, and I tried to synthesize what the characters have been through up to that point in two verses and a chorus. The chorus expresses the basic human desire to not die alone. For older people, health care workers are often all they have for companionship.
In industry speak this is called writing “top line” for a “brief.” I’m not creating a complete world as I do with my own work. The world is already built and you are creating a small part of what it’s asking for. Some of my songs can take six years to come together with many layers. It can be hard to stay on topic over that much time and it can end up being an exquisite corpse of ideas that communicate with your former selves. When you have a directive for a scene in a movie or TV show there’s a clarity of purpose that’s kinda nice compared to my own stuff. Is it fully me? Maybe not and that’s sort of the point. There’s a division of labor and it serves the story. If I did this all the time maybe I’d risk losing myself, but for a great show like The Pitt, it’s a total pleasure.
Been there, saying 'good-bye' to a frequent flyer in our ER. The scene squeezed my heart, your song destroyed me......... it was beautiful.
This moves me, Andrew. In my years of ICU nursing, witnessing an elderly couple having to part was always one of the hardest things for me. All we can do is stay present and hold the moment with reverence. You do that beautifully here with your song. Thank you.