About That Song: The Scarlet Goodbye
About That Song #73
In our special series, singer-songwriter Sarah Morris interviews artists about the songs that shaped them.
Hi! I’m Sarah Morris. I’m wildly in love with songs and the people who write them. There have been a few songs in my life that have been total gamechangers—songs that made me want to be a songwriter and songs I’ve written that made me feel like I am a songwriter. About That Song is a space where I can learn more about those pivotal songs in other writers’ lives.
For our 73rd installment, I talked to Daniel Murphy and Jeff Arundel, long-time Minnesota musicians who came together to form The Scarlet Goodbye. Their sophomore album comes out in a few days and they’ll celebrate its release in back-to-back shows in Minneapolis and Excelsior MN!
The Scarlet Goodbye. Photo credit: Mike Hardwick Photography.
Sarah: Hello Dan and Jeff!! Last year, I saw you perform at Lutsong Music Festival, with gorgeous Lake Superior as the backdrop. Since then, you’ve been busy putting the finishing touches on your second record. El Camino Adios is set to release this weekend with a pair of shows at two beloved venues.
This seems an excellent reason to take a beat and discuss the songs that have been pivotal in your journeys—the ones that led you to what has been called “the most unusual mashup in Minnesota music history”: The Scarlet Goodbye. Do you remember the songs that made you want to be a songwriter? Tell us about that song.
Dan: I really liked the song “Space Oddity” when it came out. I was about 10 and I remember recording it off the AM radio station onto my little portable tape deck player and transcribing all the lyrics. I did not realize at the time that the character in the song, Major Tom, purposely cut off his communication with ground control so he wouldn’t have to return to planet Earth, but I still thought it was crazy cool and mysterious and it literally fascinated me…
Sarah: I STILL think it’s crazy cool and mysterious!
Jeff: We had one stereo at home and I had three older brothers, so I had to listen to whatever they were spinning, and Abbey Road went into my 10-year-old brain and never came back out.
Sarah: These are both extremely solid picks. Once you began writing, did you feel like a writer immediately? It took me a few years of writing before I believed it—was there a song that gave you that “a-HA! I AM a songwriter!” moment? Tell us about that song.
Dan: I started writing in about 9th grade. The first song I remember writing was called “Abrupt & Abrasive.” It was not very good and did not resemble a song at all in any meaningful way. My freshman year of college, my writing turned into ideas that got recorded and hold up as, perhaps naive, but as songs somewhat.
Jeff: My first several songs were so bad that I shift uncomfortably at the very thought of them. Then, at some point, it’s like something just changed and I could channel something, connect to something, that I could put onto paper and onto the neck of the guitar.
Sarah: I too have songs that I would shift uncomfortably at the thought of! AND I’m grateful for their existence because that was all a part of the journey, I think.
After years of making music in other projects, The Scarlet Goodbye formed from “a chance meeting” between the two of you. How quickly did that chance meeting lead to songwriting? What was the first song you wrote together?
Dan: The first song we wrote together was “Paris,” which is on our first recording. We had the basic structure together the first day we worked on it and spent a few more afternoons flushing out the recording. It was also the first song The Scarlet Goodbye recorded.
Jeff: And immediately, it careened around in ways that were different than what I had done myself.
Daniel Murphy and Jeff Arundel of The Scarlet Goodbye. Photo courtesy of the artists.
Sarah: And that’s how you know you’re onto something, I suspect. “Speedway,” the first single from the new album, sounds like summertime, and has a playfully suggestive spirit, with lyrics like “track feels a little racy tonight” and “bet I could get you to smile”—what can you tell us about that song?
Dan: Right before July 4th a couple of years ago I attended, on a whim, a sprint car race in Wisconsin. I knew nothing of the sport and was taken back by all the red, white, and blue star-spangled clothing worn by the other attendees. There was also the effect of the Canadian fires over the skies so it looked like an apocalypse. I crafted a little story about a driver at this track trying to attain enough notoriety from the sport that he might be able to catch the eye of a girl in the stands—sort of a rural homecoming queen type of woman.
Jeff: Dan came with the main idea, and I could immediately see it in my mind—I could smell it and see it, and that made it easy to jump in on.
Sarah: I imagine it was FUN to write. Such a scene, such a story. Your current single, “Raylene,” features The Sea Change Treble Choir. It was reportedly written after attending the funeral of a friend. While that could lead to something darker and bleak, there is a sense of hope in the melody—especially in the outro. Can you tell us about that song?
Dan: That was written after attending a funeral for a friend of mine who died a pretty sad and tragic death from drinking. It takes the perspective of having to deliver a eulogy at such a stoic and devastating affair. In his senior yearbook under his photograph this friend had written “We Live To Laugh, We Live To Cry—We Live To Live, We Live To Die.” That really stayed with me and was the inspiration for the choral singing on the chorus. That session was really transformative for me; the women’s voices sounded like angels that interceded in this funeral event and tried to teach a message of resilience and strength and hope.
Sarah: Oh…wow. That sounds transformative, indeed. Healing perhaps … thank you for sharing that story, and the song. Do you have any upcoming Midwest shows where we might hear you sing that song?
Dan: Yes, we invited a few of the choir members to sing for our show on March 14 at The Aster House for this very song!
Sarah: Excellent! Congratulations on your release, and thank you for sitting down with me to talk all about THAT song.
Come help The Scarlet Goodbye celebrate their album release this weekend! You can catch them on Friday March 14 at Aster House, 25 SE Main Street in Minneapolis, with special guest Kraig Johnson. They’ll also be playing an acoustic show Saturday March 15 at 318 Cafe, 318 Water Street in Excelsior MN.
Listen to “Raylene”
El Camino Adios Album Credits
The Scarlet Goodbye:
Daniel D. Murphy
Jeff Arundel
J. Ben Peterson
Patrick Nelson
And
Patrick “Papa” Frederick
“El Camino Adios” performed by The Scarlet Goodbye with Special Guests:
Steve Gorman
Jeff Victor
Billy Oerhlein
Michael Nelson
Rob Arthur
See Change Treble Choir, Directed by Amy Johnson
Amy Spartz
Rob Genadek
Engineered and Produced by Jeff Arundel
“Sad Burlesque” engineered by Miles Hansen
Additional production by D.D. Murphy
Mixed by Jeff Arundel and Rob Genadek
Mastered by Rob Genadek
Recorded at Avalon Studios and Creation Audio
All songs by Daniel Murphy and Jeff Arundel except “3 on a Match” by Daniel Murphy, “El Camino Adios” by Jeff Arundel, “Temptation Eyes” by Dan Walsh and Harvey Price, and “End of Summer” by Daniel Murphy, Jeff Arundel, and Pedro Mariani
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Morris. Photo credit: Tom Smouse.
Sarah Morris is a superfan of songs and the people who write them, and a believer that certain songs can change your life. A singer-songwriter / mama / bread maker / coffee drinker who recently released her fifth album of original material, she’s been known to joyfully sing with people in her Big Green Bathroom.
