Continuing his series of monthly releases, Prince Edward Island’s consummate songwriter Dennis Ellsworth has just gifted to the world his latest single. “Whatever You Need” sounds like the promises you make your partner in the swells of a life-debilitating flu, but Ellsworth takes it much further.
Ellsworth explains that his commitment has him in it for the long haul. The birth of his daughter, two days before his own birthday back in February, meant a world of new experiences for him and his wife.
“We had a girl and we named her Esme Isadora. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew it was about to change me forever. The fact of the matter is that I’ve discovered a new level of love that I wasn’t aware of until Esme was born. For Esme and Heather. It’s an incredible thing,” explains Ellsworth.
Naturally, for Ellsworth, that meant it translated directly and easily into a song. As the track suggests, Ellsworth threw himself into his duties as a new father, and that’s where the song grew from.
“For the weeks leading up to Esme’s birth, if I wasn’t taking care of my wife, cooking meals, cleaning, assembling cribs, bassinets, running around town, or making sure everything was in its right place, I was at my kitchen table, watching as winter kept coming. I would sit every morning, drink coffee and strum my nylon string parlour guitar. I started to mess around with the chords at that point, but it wasn’t until I got to the studio that it came together.”
Ellsworth says that while the melody grew naturally out of those free moments, the arrangement required a little more focus, and the lyrics themselves took a moment to percolate.
“The music is based around a melody that was swimming around in my head and the drums are from a recording session I did 3 or 4 years ago with an old band I had assembled,” says Ellsworth, “The song I pulled these drums from was called ‘I want to be loved.’ With Adam Gallant, I tore them apart and reassembled them in a different order and began putting guitar tracks together. The intro used to be the guitar in verse two, but on it’s own it was way too much like U2, so we hid it in the body of the song instead of exposing it off the top. By the end of the studio day, the music was there but the lyrics were still coming together.
“For the next week or so I drove around town with this song on repeat. As I listened, I began to form the lyric.”
He spells it out for us in the new lyrics video for “Whatever You Want.” It features footage from a flight over Toronto, which could bring a whole new layer to the song but the sentiment is too beautiful to muddy.
“It is a declaration of unconditional love. It is for my wife and for Esme. It is a promise to do everything in my power to provide for and support this family, no matter what the sacrifice. The song is a dedication to our time before Esme and a welcoming to her and our future as a growing family.
Living slow is living well
Tomorrow isn’t going anywhere
It’s a carousel”