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Callbacks to Alternate Ending

“The Best Nightmare” always got great feedback from people, whether they heard the studio version or if they saw me perform it live.

It’s one of my favorite songs too because it has so many conflicting emotions. For that reason I made a sequel to it in 2010 called “Recurring Nightmare” which I’m also very proud of.

I never intended to make a trilogy, but it felt like a disservice to ignore the best Alternate Ending track for a sequel album.

In a production sense, this song is actually a continuation of TWO Alternate Ending tracks. I “produced” the beat with the same program I used to make the first two “Nightmare” songs. I chose a guitar riff that sounded like those songs, but I also used ambient noises that were similar to the ones used in “Smart Girls” (also off Alternate Ending) and, more obviously, the same “ooo” and “yeah” female vocals as that song (though I flipped the order).

Origins & Role in the Album Concept

This song actually started out as two songs: “Let Love Die” and “The Basics of Love” and neither was intended to be a continuation of the “Nightmare” saga. A main theme of those “Nightmare” songs is fearing the end of one relationship in pursuit of another. In retrospect, I believe that each of my relationships prepared me for the next in some way, such as not jumping in too deep, or not blaming myself when I’m not be the priority. Likewise, these relationships made me a better person, such as teaching me greater self-sufficiency on both professional and emotional levels. I’ve made a number of songs about the hurt, which is often the emotion that overpowers the others. For a change, I wanted to celebrate the positives of being in three “failed” relationships, writing one verse about each of them. No surprise here: the element of my life falling apart in this song is love.

Rawhide Report

First off I have to acknowledge the obvious connections to “The Best Nightmare” and “Recurring Nightmare” both lyrically and in terms of the production. This was one of the first songs for this project that you sent me, so I’ve been listening to this one for quite a while; so long in fact that I always forget that you haven’t even released it yet. I’m not sure if this is one of the other songs you’re going to give the “single” treatment to but I feel like it could definitely be a strong contender. Much like its aforementioned sister wives, I think “Let Love Die” is a relatable and accessible song. A lot of people are going to be able to identify with content of this song. I can also tell that you put a lot of time and care into constructing this song to make sure that it tied into the other two thematically.