Q: Can we get the story behind your song 'do the thing'? I'd really like to hear the thought process behind it, because the lyrics indicate a major change in the singer's behavior. Starting with lines like, "do the thing" and "let me go" but switching to "i don't mind" and "take your time" by the end of it.
A: this was during a brief period of time when i was actually trying to write in the studio . ...  from the beginning of 2011, all i wanted to do was try more "normal" songs (maybe with verse / cho? maybe with just some simple looping chord changes?) also potentially written in the studio. (i eventually concluded that this is a terrible idea for me). experiments in this phase include "when is it time to come home again" "how am i sposed" and "do the thing" .... basically in all 3 cases, i sort of set up the chord vamp, and then i had a text file open and very spontaneously, the lyrics+melody materialized out of thin air. very basic lyrics, very basic melodies. i just let it follow the path of least resistance. "do the thing" is really like a, 'ok universe, i'm ready to go. please show me the way, take me where i'm supposed to go, i'm ready to see what i need to see now.' ... like a real "surrenduring to the sky" type of thing. honestly, after doing so many complex-weird songs with surprises and weird backflips in 2010, i was ready to try the total opposite. so you get this zoned out, almost dead feeling -- for example the huge gap in the lines in the first verse. also, the "i love you" song was recorded at the same time, and that also subscribes to this ultra-dead zoned out feel. was trying this out, probably mostly as a reaction to some of the madness that ensued in all the 2010 songs (only about 10% of which ever got recorded, by the way). So that's what you have for the verses of 'do the thing' (and by the way, 'do the thing' is not a good title, i kept changing the title and never really found the right title for that song). for the bridge, i sort of reverted to "writing mode," stopped the session, and turned to the writing keyboard / paper, and wrote a bridge -- vastly diff. key, probably thinking in "mccartney" mode. trying to do a really "special" bridge. -- by the way, this is also exactly the same strategy for the "what love is" bridge -- stop the session, turn to the book and write a bridge. I don't really have a good explaination for why the last verse of "do the thing" might feel different, to me it was just common sense to arrive at that place. you can feel a little bit of impatience setting in, like "i'll wait forever if i have to" sort of thing. you know, it's that feeling when you are talking to the sky and you know it's the most important conversation ever, but at the same time, ... you might doubt if it even hears you. The tempo decrease makes it seem even more "dying." i was trying new things, again, breaking away from the ultra-complicated, surprise-based writing, and looking to go outside the box on the simple end instead. Go to the store probably goes even further in that direction.