Death By Perfection

Album: Echo (2009)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Maia Sharp celebrates the beauty of imperfection on this tune from her Echo album, singing about a work of art that was destroyed when its so-called flaws were fixed. It was a lesson she was still learning. In a 2012 Songfacts interview, she said she included the track on the album "to remind me to loosen up."

    She continued: "Even as we were recording it I remember standing over (engineer) Krish Sharma's shoulder asking him to tune a tiny syllable that was a hair sharp and he turned around and said, 'Maia, listen to the song.' Some of my favorite recordings from my favorite artists have quirky human moments and I love that about them so why don't I embrace it in my own work? I'm getting there."
  • This features vocals from Bonnie Raitt, one of Sharp's musical idols. It wasn't the first time the pair collaborated. Sharp sang on a few tracks from Raitt's 2005 album, Souls Alike, which also had Raitt introducing the Sharp-penned ballad "I Don't Want Anything To Change." Shortly after, she was invited to tour and perform with Raitt as her opening act.
  • Sharp thought this track had the "right palette for a Bonnie Raitt vocal." In a 2009 NPR interview with Melissa Block, she recalled Raitt recording a different melody from the one she sang for her. When Raitt tried to apologize, Sharp told her, "Don't ever sing what I sang you. Sang what you just sang, because it blows away mine. She just owned, as she always does."
  • Another Raitt connection: Echo was produced by Don Was, who helmed Raitt's 1989 commercial breakthrough Nick Of Time - the winner for Album of the Year at the 1990 Grammy Awards.
  • Sharp released the album, her fourth full-length release, through her own label, Crooked Crown. Her first three albums were issued through three different labels, but none of them gave her what she needed. By the time Don Was agreed to produce Echo, she wasn't attached to a label and didn't have time to find one. Was wanted a specific studio and team to work on the album, including famed session drummer Jim Keltner - known for his work with John Lennon, Bob Dylan, and Barbra Streisand, among others - who was only available for four days. So Sharp made the leap without a label and they got to work, with the whole album taking just two weeks to record and master.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")Song Writing

Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions Answered

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions AnsweredSong Writing

10 Questions for the author of Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces

Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Greg talks about writing songs of "universal truth" for King Crimson and ELP, and tells us about his most memorable stage moment (it involves fireworks).

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine Band

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine BandSongwriter Interviews

Harry Wayne Casey tells the stories behind KC and The Sunshine Band hits like "Get Down Tonight," "That's The Way (I Like It)," and "Give It Up."

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And Hell

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And HellSongwriter Interviews

Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.