So the first song on reprise is Everloving, which in some ways, I guess, might be a strange song to have as the first song on the album, because it was never a hit.
It doesn't have vocals, except for maybe the sound of me humming quietly in the background.
But it's always been one of my favorite songs, and it came together originally in 1998 in the strangest way.
In 1998, as some of you might know, I was battling a lot of unpleasant things.
I was an alcoholic and an addict.
My mom had just died.
I had lost my North American record deal.
And I was trying to make a record that ended up being played that I thought was going to be my last ever album.
So one day, I was just playing acoustic guitar.
And recording it, I think maybe even with just a cheap microphone onto a cassette.
And then I added some piano and some drums and some different elements.
And I ended up with this piece of music that I really liked, this rough cassette demo.
I tried adding vocals.
I tried getting other people to sing to it.
But there was something about that cassette demo that I really loved.
And so on the album play, I actually included the cassette demo.
You can hear the cassette noise on the actual recording.
So for this version, I was just so excited to hear how it came together with an orchestra.
And so there's me playing guitar and piano.
The piano happened to be Frank Sinatra's piano at East West Studios.
And then a string quartet.
And then the Hungarian Arts Orchestra.
So call me self-involved, but I love the way it came together.
And that's why the album starts with Ever Loving.