So I was in a place where everything that I had dreamed about in my whole life was kind of falling apart. But back then those were disappointing numbers.
Which is really funny to say, because I think our first album sold like 250-300,000 copies, where today they would have a parade. And the label was not happy with my sales numbers. And so my friendship with them, while incredibly beneficial in the beginning of my career had now become kind of a liability. Anything that was remotely related to Hootie & the Blowfish, there was a backlash against. It does, because I look back on that time and the moment when I wrote the song, and we were in danger of being dropped from the record label. Songfacts: Does it feel that way still when you sing it? Songfacts: That's interesting, though, that you described it as a prayer. I knew that she was waiting, and I always said to her, "Don't ever look back on this in any other way than I'll be your biggest fan." You know, "I'll always be a fan." And it was something that I said to a girl that I'd been going out with. It was this admission of failure and this prayer that I could be a better person, wrapped up as sort of the end of a relationship kind of thought. I was struggling with some personal problems at the time, as well, so it was all of those things. And it was the hope that I would be better, grow and be better as a person. It was the end of a relationship for me, and it was also an admission of my inability to function in a relationship, hence the love suicide line. McCain: Well, it was a combination of a few things. Songfacts: I don't want to burst anybody's bubble, but did you have something else in mind when you wrote this song, something that's maybe not so wedding related? I'm always amazed by the different things that people find in songs and typically they find what they need in music, and art in general isn't complete until the audience has gotten from it what they're looking for. You try to get in the right space and let the song become what it's going to be. It's kind of like giving credit to the lightning rod for the lightning. I mean, all we're capable of doing is birthing it in a way, or being the conduit. It's one of those things that I hesitate to say too much, because sometimes songs become what they were supposed to be, and it's not really up to the songwriter to determine what that is. And it's been obviously linked as a romantic song. It was kind of a Hail Mary prayer for me, personally. McCain: Because I didn't really write the song as a love song. McCain: It solidifies the fact that intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience. Phil viewers voted "I'll Be" as the best wedding song ever written. Songfacts: (Laughing) I'm sure some have. I was like, Oh my God, people are going to lose their minds. And especially when they close the highway for a month.
I live in Los Angeles and we have traffic jams of epic proportions almost every day. But I do apologize.ĭan MacIntosh (Songacts): That's all right. And I tell you, it was just one of those things, I got jammed up. I literally was trapped behind the wheel of a bus.
#Edwin mccain mercy bound driver
I was doing double duty as bus driver and we got into this traffic snafu that was of epic proportions. This interview was rescheduled once, which as we found out, can happen when the subject is also driving the bus. After his 2001 album Far From Over, he left the label on shockingly amicable terms, going the indie route ever since.Īs Edwin tells the story of "I'll Be," you'll hear how the song defined him as an artist and brought him to a positive place from a period of alcoholism and despair. This got him a deal with Atlantic Records that petered out after his big hit and when the Hootie backlash began. So who is the guy behind the song? McCain is an introspective singer/songwriter from South Carolina, which in the mid-'90s meant Hootie & the Blowfish. It's a song so intimate that we hear our own stories in it, and often use it to accompany weddings and other moments that define our lives. The song tells the story of a turning point in his life - his "Hail Mary" moment. On the road for hundreds of dates every year, "I'll Be" is the honey that attracts new fans to his rootsy music not suitable for pop radio. Some songwriters have rocky relationships with their well known hit, but McCain loves everything about it. More folks can sing its chorus than tell you the first thing about Edwin McCain.
"I'll Be" hit the charts in 1998 and has been on playlists ever since. The song is more popular than the artist.
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