We caught up with GaREE ALL and spoke to him about his latest single, ‘I Just Can’t Afford YOUR Love’.
How did the idea for ‘I Just Can’t Afford YOUR Love’ come about?
That single idea – “I just can’t afford your love” – struck me as serious and yet funny because it works on multiple levels. Once I had that central hook, the rest of the story naturally grew around it. But
it also started with a feeling many people know intimately – that particular ache of being crazy about someone whose lifestyle, expectations, or simply whose idea of a relationship operates at a level you just can’t sustain. The idea crystallized around that gap between wanting and affording – and I mean affording in every sense of the word, not just financially. The humor emerged naturally because the situation is simultaneously painful and kind of absurd, which is true of a lot of great comedy.
Do real-life experiences often inspire your songs?
Yes, mainly – though not always in a simple one-to-one way. I draw from personal experience, from observing the people around me, and from the accumulated wisdom – and foolishness – of a long and eventful life. After a hardscrabble childhood during which I was raised by a single mom, I’ve had careers in academia and technology before music found me, which means I’ve inhabited very different worlds and collected stories from all of them. My songs are Human Stories – which means they come from real human experience, mine and other folks I’ve encountered along the way. I collect ideas from everyday life, conversations, memories, observations, and imagination.
What do you enjoy most about telling stories through music?
Well, I love that music lets me combine storytelling, rhythm, humor, and emotion in a way that reaches people differently than simply telling a story. When you read a story, it goes through your mind. When you hear it set to music, it goes somewhere deeper. What I particularly love is the compression music demands – you have to find the exact right words without being verbose. That discipline makes the storytelling sharper and perhaps more honest than almost any other form; as is said of country music: 3 chords and the truth. And when humor is part of the story, music amplifies the comedic timing in ways that pure writing often can’t match.
What made you decide to focus on music full-time?
Writing had been part of my life for many years, but eventually I reached a point where I decided to devote myself seriously to songwriting, recording, performing, and sharing my work. I’d long been a fan of music and was often jotting down thoughts; so I thought, why not make them lyrics set to music? After successful careers in academia and technology, I reached a point where the creative voice that had always been there – expressing itself in spoken word and writing on the side – simply refused to stay on the side any longer. Late blooming isn’t a consolation prize – it’s actually a gift. I bring everything I’ve lived and learned to the songs I write. The urgency you feel when you know there’s much more sand on the bottom of the hourglass than on the top, in other words, when you know time is precious, is its own kind of creative fuel. I have things to say, and I intend to keep saying them.
Was it important for you to balance humor and honesty in this song?
Yes, absolutely. Humor works best when it’s grounded in recognizable human experiences. If people only laugh, you’ve written a joke. If they laugh because they recognize themselves or someone they know, you’ve written a song.
What was the recording process like?
Deeply satisfying – and I say that as someone who maintains complete artistic control throughout the process, which is non-negotiable for me. I work with GarageBand and such for my instrumental production and record vocals through a Scarlett 2i2 interface and a RODE mic, which gives me a clean and professional sound. This particular song was recorded in a professional recording studio in Boca Raton, Florida, where I suspect quite a few people have the experience of: I just can’t afford your love. Could not resist that one.
What do you hope listeners take away from the track?
I hope they smile or laugh, and maybe remember a relationship where love felt wonderfully complicated. But underneath the humor, I hope they take away something they recognize from their own lives – that specific bittersweet feeling of wanting something you can’t quite reach. And maybe a little solidarity. We’ve all been there. We’ve all wanted something or someone whose price – financial, emotional, or otherwise – was simply more than we could pay. If the song makes someone feel less alone in that experience while making them laugh about it – I’ve done my job.
What was it like bringing the story to life in the music video?
Exciting. While I remained involved in guiding the overall creative direction from start to finish, the video at times pleasantly surprised me as it allowed me to visually express scenes that had existed only in my imagination. Working with HIP Video Promo – a firm that has been promoting music videos since 2000 and really understands the independent artist’s needs – made the process feel both professional and personal simultaneously.
How has your songwriting changed over the years?
It’s become less concerned with writing clever songs and more interested in writing honest human stories. I think you could say it’s gotten more honest and less concerned with what anyone else thinks – which I guess I’ve probably said pretty much the same thing several different ways. Early on, there’s a version of yourself writing for an imagined audience or trying to fit a perceived expectation. Over time – especially after enough life experience and some feedback – you stop writing for the imagined listener and start writing for the truth of the moment as you see it. The craft improves, but more importantly, the courage grows. Age has been very good to my songwriting, even though it hasn’t been totally kind to the rest of me.
Anything else you’d like to share about this release or what’s next?
I’m truly excited about what’s coming. For starters, I have an ambitious piece in late development called A Human Journey – a spoken word/rap song that takes listeners through the full arc of a human life from childhood through senior citizenship, with humor and depth. As you know, I specialize in Original Songs, Timeless Covers, and Human Stories – and I make them for people who want music with something real at its center. ‘I Just Can’t Afford YOUR Love’ is an original song as are over 60 other songs of mine. Now allow me to share an exclusive piece of news with you and, therefore, my fans: for the first time, I have recorded a few cover songs. On July 7, I will release my version of ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me’ on SoundCloud. It will be audio only. I have tweaked a few of the lyrics. Original lyrics were by Gus Kahn, with music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt. If ‘I Just Can’t Afford YOUR Love’ made you smile or feel something, there’s much more where that came from. As the back of my business card says: Have Voice – Will Travel. So hopefully we’ll meet somewhere down the road. And finally: If listeners enjoy one side of my music, I hope they’ll explore the rest of the catalog. There’s romance, humor, country, pop, rap, spoken word, and stories about the experiences that connect us all. The bottom line: I’m a late-blooming vocalist and songwriter whose songs are united not by genre, but by curiosity and observations about the human experience.
Watch the music video for ‘I Just Can’t Afford YOUR Love’ below, and find out more about GaREE ALL and his music online on his officialwebsite,Facebook,Instagram, andTwitter.
