Rebecca Lynn is songwriter Skip Ewing's daughter. And while you might think Skip wrote this song about his daughter, the story is quite the reverse. During a songwriting session with good friend and frequent co-writer Don Sampson, Ewing came up with the idea to write a song with a sort of nursery rhyme premise. And that made them think of children, and then they had to come up with a name to use. "What would we name a child?" Skip recalls. "If we could just think of a beautiful name... and 'Rebecca Lynn' was something we both agreed we just thought was lovely. I thought, Gosh, if I ever have a daughter, I will name her Rebecca Lynn."
So it was rather serendipitous that, when Skip met his daughter's mother, she was familiar with the song, and it was in fact her favorite song. Their Rebecca Lynn was born in 1993.
"The Bryan White record was in the later '90s," says Skip. "I want to say Rebecca was at least 3 if not older. She may have been closer to 5. I don't remember the exact year that that was out. But she was old enough to recognize that it was her song on the radio, and that Dad had written it, and who Bryan White was. And right when that song came out was around the time when I was sort of officially getting divorced. And there was a connection between my daughter and I because of that, that was invaluable for our relationship. One of the most important relationships to me, and for me. I think I have learned more about myself being a dad, and in looking at the way my daughter learns, and looking at myself and what I have to offer her and why I have to offer it, and how I can be better at just that, has made a huge difference in my life."
"Don and I were looking at our own childhood, and the things that we had and the things that we didn't have," explains Skip, "and those things we thought were universal; one of those things being nursery rhymes. No matter what kind of childhood you had, at some point you come across the nursery rhyme. And that can have a positive connotation or a negative connotation. But a great view of it is a positive connotation, because it means something to share that with a child, too. Sharing nursery rhymes is something that enriches the adult who shares it with a child."
"And so we thought, Well, wouldn't it be neat to write an adult kind of song that had that. We certainly weren't the first ones to ever do that, but to wind them amongst each other and have them mean something a little bit different than they would have if they were separated, that was a fun challenge."
One of Skip's philosophies in writing songs is to look deeply at that about which he is writing, and why he is writing about it. "I think this leads us to a lot more understanding. And I still believe the more we endeavor to do that, the better we know about people. And that's who we write songs for. We write songs for other people. Or at least I do. I write songs that will make a connection with other people, and because I believe in the hearts of other people. I believe that the audience who listens to songs, they are far more discerning than many people give them credit for. I have written songs that some people would say, 'Oh, come on, people aren't going to get that.' You know what? They get it."
Along with his smash hit, "
Love, Me," Skip's producer didn't like this song, and didn't want Skip to record it. "He finally said, 'Fine, record it," says Skip. "But just do an acoustic version of it, and let's be done with it.' He didn't think it was a hit at all." Everybody makes mistakes. (Read more in our full
Skip Ewing interview.)
