Best I Can

Album: Dina (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Michael Cera wrote and recorded this song for the documentary film Dina, which tells the story of a romance between a mentally challenged couple. The Canadian actor and sometime musician provided the entire soundtrack for the movie.
  • This song finds Cera teaming up with Sharon Van Etten. Describing how the collaboration with Van Etten came about, Cera told NME:

    "Sharon and I share a music rehearsal space together in New York where we keep all our stuff. It's the kinda place where you can go and play music all night with no noise concerns."

    "I met Sharon one night and we got talking," Cera continued. "She mentioned that she had a place and was looking for a person to split the rent. It was just so perfect, exactly what I had been looking for… When I have friends in town, we end up going there and fooling around. It's great to have a place where you can play drums really loudly at 4am and not care at all."
  • Yazoo's 1982 synth pop single "Only You" served as an inspiration for the track: Cera explained:

    "There was this one part in the movie where they had 'Only You' by Yaz [soundtracking it]. They didn't know if they were going to be able to clear [the song rights] so I said, 'Why don't you let me try and write an original pop song that people might not know whether it's an original song for the movie or just a song they'd never heard before?'."

    "I basically tried to go after that sound [of 'Only You']," he continued. "That song was my compass and then it kind of found its own way. They ended up clearing the rights, but I like that this song was born because of that."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real Group

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real GroupSong Writing

The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.

Jeff Trott

Jeff TrottSongwriter Interviews

Sheryl Crow's longtime songwriting partner/guitarist Jeff Trott reveals the stories behind many of the singer's hits, and what its like to be a producer for Leighton Meester and Max Gomez.

Michael Schenker

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright IIISongwriter Interviews

"Dead Skunk" became a stinker for Loudon when he felt pressure to make another hit - his latest songs deal with mortality, his son Rufus, and picking up poop.

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."