The Mile - Track by Track
1. Feels Fine
Amber Lawrence/Suzy Connolly
(Destra/Mushroom Publishing)
‘Feels Fine’ came about at the Mud, Bulls and Music Festival, in Queensland. The idea of the circus coming to town but not being able to cheer me up kept going around in my head. So, in the luxury of my one-man tent I wrote the first two verses to the song. I really liked the concept of how feeling down is frowned upon, when sometimes all we need is to be left alone to have a day to ourselves, wallow, and then get on with it. I took the first two verses to songwriter, Suzy Connolly, and she got my drift straight away. I think it took about 1 hour of chatting over a cup of tea, then two hours of thinking to come up with the chorus. It’s a song that I am really proud of.
2. Things That Bring Me Down
Amber Lawrence (Destra)
I wrote this song in the comfort of my granny flat – the organised but very cluttered and messy place I call home. I live my life by extremes, and I think this song reflects it. I work hard and I have fun, but I am always paying for it. Be it by constantly trying to clean up my room, waking up late, or eating too many donuts (my favourite food), it’s really having too much of a good thing that brings me down. Personally, I haven’t changed, and I think I will always live by those rules.
3. Won’t Let Our Love Die
Amber Lawrence/Aaron Pye (Destra)
I have to admit, this song was not really written about a personal experience, and more about imagining having to fight for someone you love. I have seen it happen plenty of times, when the love appears to have run out in a relationship, but all it takes is for someone to fight so that the love doesn’t die.
4. Good Girls
Amber Lawrence (Destra)
This song flows nicely from ‘things that bring me down’. I wrote good girls because I have a bunch of girlfriends who seem to lead much calmer and saner lives than I do. One night after chatting with one of my best friends, I had a think about why I keep getting into trouble and I think it’s because I just can’t behave myself for long enough. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see myself as a ‘bad girl’, but things like forgetting birthday’s, leaving things in a mess, saying dumb things and not being able to cook, make me think I have a few things to learn. I love the way that Rod and Jeff produced this song, and I think it’s kind of cool to not always be a good girl!
PS… I can cook cupcakes!
5. Just Us
Amber Lawrence (Destra)
Life can throw some tough things at you, and I have seen some really sad things happen to people in my life so far. The more I realise how fragile life is, the more important I think it is to value what you have right now. This song came about for those reasons. Sometimes you might think it is important to have it all – the big house, the expensive car, the holiday, but ‘in an instant it can vanish’, and all you are left with are the ones you love. I believe being with someone you love is the most important thing…fame and fortune can come later.
6. Gonna Fly
Amber Lawrence (Destra)
This song was literally written as I was driving home from a day of work. Like many people I spent years working in an office, dreaming of doing what I really want to do – write and sing music. Well this album is really the culmination of that for me. I believe it’s more about giving it a go, taking the risk, and ‘who cares how high’, and well here I am! The song is my Aunty Michele’s favourite, and she hassled me for over a year to make sure this song made it on to the album.
7. The Mile
Amber Lawrence (Destra)
This song is dedicated to Sam McRae. Sam was a beautiful 16 year old boy. Sam was a son, a grandson, a brother, and an apprentice jockey who tragically lost his life in a horse racing accident in 2005. Losing Sam was devastating for so many people, and I never intended to write a song about it, but one day this song just flowed out of me. The song tells the story of Sam and his father Gareth on March 26, 2005, as they left to prepare for the fateful race. Sam and his dad walked the race track – the long mile – together, to talk about the race and how to best ride in order to win. Sharing that last mile together is a beautiful memory for Sam’s dad, and I hope that this song is a fitting tribute to Sam and his family.
8. You Saved Me
Amber Lawrence/Luke Dixon (Destra)
Love does strange things to people. This is a song that I didn’t intentionally sit down to write. The “You Saved Me” melody came to me after I farewelled my lovely boyfriend after a great day. I truly felt ‘saved’, and lucky to have found such a great person. I wrote the rest of the song, and then worked on some finishing touches with my mate Luke Dixon. By the way, I used to be a Surf Life Saver at South Maroubra, so all the life saving and water references came easily (not that I ever saved anybody)!!
9. The Tide
Amber Lawrence/Travis Collins (Destra/ABC Publishing)
Ah more water…. I love living close to the sea, and I guess that’s why a couple of my songs have sea references. The funny thing is, I actually don’t like swimming, but I guess that’s not important. I wrote this song with Travis Collins at the College of Country Music. I had the idea for the song because I was in a relationship at the time where somebody wasn’t letting me go. I felt like I was free to be me, as long as I didn’t go too far away. If I did stray too far, the tide would always drag me back in. This song is my brother and my sister’s favourite!
10. Soldier
Amber Lawrence (Destra)
My cousin Alana was just married when she found out her husband was being sent overseas as part of Australia’s defence force. His contract was for 6 months, and one morning I gave her a call to see how she was going. When I got off the phone, I tried to imagine what she must be feeling, and I imagined that if it was me, I’d be “counting down the days” until he came home. It must be so tough missing someone for 6 months, and I take my hat off to the partners of defence force personnel, or anybody who has to go away for long periods of time.
11. Love You Like No Other
Amber Lawrence (Destra)
I wrote this song originally about myself, but after realising I had too many love songs for one album, I changed the words and made it about a ‘friend’ of mine. This song was started in my granny flat, and finished in another granny flat on Norfolk Island. I must like small spaces for writing! It’s a feel good song about someone who’s finally given in to love!!!
12. Hole In My Head
Amber Lawrence (Destra)
This is the only song on the album about a broken heart – well kind of. By the time I wrote this song my heart wasn’t as broken as it had once been, and so I was able to write with a new perspective on being broken up. It’s actually based on a true story, an old boyfriend phoned me and asked me if I missed him still, and at that point I finally realised “yeah, like a hole in my head I miss you”. This one is a bit of a live favourite.
All previews of the album tracks are in mp3 format, playable with programs such as Windows Media Player & iTunes.
