Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$2USD or more
about
Some background: when I wrote the first line of this song, it was immediately after reading a couple of George Saunders short stories and I thought "the problem with feeling good all the time" sounds like the premise of a funny short story he'd write. As I continued with the first verse, the song ended up being about not being selfish so when it came time to write the chorus, I knew I had to base it on the Brother check-in.
Now for some more background: the Brother check-in is something I saw on Facebook in the spring of last year and thought was very funny and immediately shared with a group of friends. It wasn't the content of the message that we found funny, but the syntax of it:
"I am doing a Brother check-in. Showing support for one another...I need SIX men to post, not share, this message to show you are always there if someone needs to talk. Pretty sure I know who will."
While we shared that message back and forth as a joke at first, it soon became something of a comfort to see a notification from that group text chain. It really became a genuine show of support amongst our little group. You could text that in the chain and everybody would copy/paste it right back at you. If you tweet it, you'll get a bunch of people replying and sending it right back to you. It's like a weird community builder in a way.
This is all just to say that both the Brother check-in and this new song had the same development arc: they started as jokes and quickly became genuine statements of affirmation and support.
Once the song was finished it only made sense that I get as many people as I could who were in on the Brother check-in to sing on the chorus, to really project the sense of community that the message of the song is preaching. It also became obvious to me that the only way for this song to truly live up to its message would be for the proceeds to go to charity, which is why all the proceeds from this single are going to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
This was a lot of liner notes for a single track. Sorry.
lyrics
LYRICS:
The problem with feeling good all the time
As it’s been explained to me
Is that you’ll never ever wanna come up for air
And that’s the catch, you see?
Because if you ain’t breathing you’re surely dying
And if you’re dead someone’s surely crying
And if all you do is make people feel bad
Then you might as well have spent your whole life acting mad
Now that’s not to say you can’t have your happy days
But sometimes we all get blue
So check in on your loved ones your family your friends
Don’t make the world about you
(chorus)
Hey brother, hey sister, I’m checking in with you
I’m showing support for everybody and anybody who
Needs someone to lean on when you just can’t see it through
I’m here to talk, I’m checking in with you
Well sometimes life comes at ya fast
Like a twister or a downbound train
And if you only ever had sun without clouds
Then you’d never get any rain
And if you wait for the rain that’ll never show
Then next thing you know your crops won’t grow
No, gettin little gloomy it don’t mean the end
And you shouldn’t try to hide it from all your friends
So I’m here to tell you it ain’t no sin
To admit the way that you’re feelin
When you’re down for the count and you’re losing your chips
Cause of the cards that life’s dealing
(chorus)
Hey brother, hey sister, I’m checking in with you
I’m showing support for everybody and anybody who
Needs someone to lean on when you just can’t see it through
I’m here to talk, I’m checking in with you
Now I’m not saying this’ll fix everything
Or turn all your wrongs into rights
But it’s sure to bring you a little comfort
If you’re having sleepless nights
Like if your job’s a bust and it just don’t pay
Or if you got held up by train delays
Or the one you love don’t love you back
Or if they dyed your hair purple when you wanted it black
These things could happen to anyone
Anywhere any time at all
But if you feel like you’re takin it awful hard
Don’t be afraid to call
(chorus)
Hey brother, hey sister, I’m checking in with you
I’m showing support for everybody and anybody who
Needs someone to lean on when you just can’t see it through
I’m here to talk, I’m checking in with you
credits
released February 21, 2020
Nick Miller: lead vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, electric piano
Carmine Mattia: bass
Mike Wertz: drums, backing vocals
Produced, mixed, mastered by Mike Wertz & Carmine Mattia at Little Cheddar Studios in Brooklyn, NY, USA.
The Check-In Choir (in alphabetical order):
Jay Ackley
Julian Ames
Alex Arbuckle
Maverick Breton
Sage Buchalter
Matt Campbell
Dalton Deschain
Mike Duquette
Evan Gehring
Kathleen Ireland
Alex Mercuri
Rachel Millman
Trevor Moore
Vish Patel
Alex Perry
Mike Pfeiffer
Josh Pressgrove
Emily Rossi
Dylan Roth
Joe Stando
Yaari Tal
Sean Toney
Leigh Walton
Cover photo: Aanand Prasad
Cover design: Alex Arbuckle
Ben Wheeler uses an East German synthesizer and a Soviet flanger to create hauntingly weird yet bright and open electronic soundscapes. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 10, 2022
