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The final song
I (Dustin) came into the writing process for The Cycle We’re Living In (TCWLI) a little late in the game. My first six months with the band were mainly spent learning songs, both old and new, and becoming acclimated to life in a band. I was fairly overwhelmed and didn’t see myself as able to contribute much in the way of songs to the new album. As we compiled our list of songs for TCWLI, I was proud of the material with which we were working. I felt like we were hitting on a wide range of topics and musical highlights, but we didn’t have a love ballad. We had intentionally avoided writing an album with a lot of love songs. So, I wrote the song, “Nothing In This World.”
We were just a few weeks from finishing TCWLI, but I had a musical idea that had been floating in my head for a while; a Stevie-Wonder-meets-Robin-Thicke sound that I thought would fit in stylistically with the rest of the record. I had plenty of time in the car (it was a six hour commute between Des Moines, where I was living at the time, and St. Louis) to try out melodic and lyrical ideas at the top of my lungs. I believe it took two trips to have a working idea going. Then Russ and I got together and ironed out the lyrics and melody.
Lyrically, “Nothing In This World” stems from the struggle to allow ourselves to be loved. There are many reasons we come up with to deny someone the opportunity to love us. Sometimes we get trapped in a mode of self-preservation and are hesitant to make ourselves emotionally vulnerable.
you say, “love is just a game we play
of giving up and taking away.”
you’re so afraid of losing this time.I say, “love is just a choice we make,
more than just a chance we take
for sunny days or stormy weather.”
I wrote this song for my wife; it’s a promise to remind her (and me) that she is the most important part of my life. I can’t imagine sharing this journey with anyone else.
there’s nothing in this world,
nothing but you, girl, for me.
Dang it, Dustin! I thought you wrote this song for me.
Love really do love this track. It puts a nice punctuation on the end of the record and really does help round out the entire project with just the right touch. Good to have you in the song writing game. Can’t wait for the world to hear the hits you’re creating for the next project…..