Once in a while, I get a message on YouTube asking whence came the original soundtrack of Everyone Who Has Ever Lived Here, and/or where to find it. Aside from a truncated version of “Eddie’s Song” (performed by the impeccable Sam Tsui) that plays during the trailer reel, there has not been a file available online since my university-provided web hosting ended last October (until, of course, I splurged on this website).

Playing on break at the “coffee shop” shoot in March ‘08.

I composed “Eddie’s Song” in January of ‘08. I wanted a standard acoustic pop arrangement, nothing too fancy or unrecognizable. So I began plucking messily at my guitar, and one melody stuck. That’s the way these compositions often begin: as clumsy motifs and desultory descants that—through some mysterious, innate cognitive process—manage to converge into a single tune.

Then, I warble a bit of gibberish. An occasional word, but mostly sounds. My mouth finds a comfortable shape—for “Eddie’s Song,” the dominant rhyme was a very basic “-ong” (e.g. “what did I do wrong?”; “belong in my own bed”; “about us all along”; “writing you this song”; “strong without you”; and the title itself). Less important is the rhyme than the evocation of the sound: Words ending in “-ong” have no glottal stop; the three letters blend together as crossfades do. It is, no pun intended, a long, adaptive sound that can be drawn out indefinitely. Perhaps the least bit sorrowful, it shares the feeling of two jilted lovers who mourn more than just a flawed relationship.

And then, lyrics. These often come shortly before recording—ah, the power of deadlines!—and are written over the sounds so that, even if words do let spoil the intent of the song, some of the original design manages to bleed through.

With that: “Eddie’s Song,” which spawned (more out of boredom than a need to produce early-90s house) a techno remix. And if you were listening extra closely, you might’ve heard a third song that plays on a set of iPod speakers 8:40 into the movie. That is an original remake of Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” which I recorded on GarageBand (as opposed to Nuendo) in the practice booths at Boston Conservatory.