Songwriting is always a mysterious process. Some start with a riff, some with an off-the-cuff remark, some with hours of singing jibberish until something resembling a lyric starts to emerge. This one started with a title. I keep a book full of them beside me when I’m writing to give my imagination a kickstart.
We had started working on what was to become our fourth album, Heaven & Earth. Our co-producer Pat O’Donnell and I were jamming away with our guitars and I had my title book open in front of me. I saw the word Sunlight and started singing it like a mantra as we started shifting chords into what sounded like an uplifting chorus.
The rest of the lyrics took a lot longer to get down. Optimism, life’s journey and a sense of adventure – I threw it all in the verses while Declan and Pat worked hard to give the music and production the right amount of oomph.
Even today it’s one of my favourite songs of ours to sing… apart from trying to hit the high note at the end of the chorus. That’s always a leap of faith. Sometimes I can even sense some of the audience crossing their fingers for me. In this live version, I chicken out and sing it slightly differently. Ah well, Bob Dylan never sings a song the same way twice.
FREE DOWNLOAD Sunlight (From the album Heaven & Earth) here:
LISTEN/BUY Heaven & Earth here:
Thanks,
Brendan and Declan 
