The Gun

Album: Only This And Nothing More (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song about a gun crime came to David Nail a little at a time. He started with the chorus at which stage the lyrics were so far removed from his real-life experiences the singer had no idea what it would about.

    Once Nail and his backing band the Well Ravens were in the studio, he decided to dig a little deeper into the song. Nail recalled to Billboard that he "picked up a guitar, pulled that one out, and started to fumble with it." The singer's sound engineer, Andy Petroff, then pulled out his computer, and played a selection of the different sounds that he had programmed.

    "The next thing you know, the basis for what it became started," Nail continued. "I went in and did a vocal take, which I am almost positive is the vocal take you hear on the record."

    Petroff then took his soundscape to his studio back home and set out taking it to the next level. When he sent Nail a track of what he'd done a few days later, it blew the singer away. "It felt like a movie," he said "It sounded different than anything I'd ever done before."
  • This was the first time in around half a decade that Nail had come up with entirely fictional lyrics without any truth to his own life. "I think as a songwriter, that helped to inspire me that I could still do this," he said. "I don't have to write about the same old thing or subjects that people expect me to write about. I can be a songwriter who can write something out of thin air that is triggered by something I watched on TV. It's like creating a movie."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Chris Rea

Chris ReaSongwriter Interviews

It took him seven years to recover from his American hit "Fool (If You Think It's Over)," but Chris Rea became one of the top singer-songwriters in his native UK.

Kristian Bush of Sugarland

Kristian Bush of SugarlandSongwriter Interviews

Kristian talks songwriting technique, like how the chorus should redefine the story, and how to write a song backwards.

U2 Lyrics

U2 LyricsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the lyrics of U2?

Joe Ely

Joe ElySongwriter Interviews

The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"

Tim McIlrath of Rise Against

Tim McIlrath of Rise AgainstSongwriter Interviews

Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath explains the meanings behind some of their biggest songs and names the sci-fi books that have influenced him.

Max Cavalera of Soulfly (ex-Sepultura)

Max Cavalera of Soulfly (ex-Sepultura)Songwriter Interviews

The Brazilian rocker sees pictures in his riffs. When he came up with one of his gnarliest songs, there was a riot going on.