Daily Discovery: Robert Gillies, “Your Song”

2015_Gillies_Couch_1008

Videos by American Songwriter

ARTIST: Robert Gillies

SONG: “Your Song”

HOMETOWN: Stirling, Scotland

CURRENT LOCATION: Oakland, California

AMBITIONS: Being the best version of me possible, overcoming my limitations, eating all of the chocolate.

TURN-OFFS: Easy wins, injustice, North American Early Grey.

TURN-ONS: Questioning everything, melodies that speak without instrumentation.

DREAM GIG: Sold-out headlining show at Red Rocks, Colorado.

FAVORITE LYRIC: “Send your armies in of robbers and thieves / To steal the state I’m in, I don’t want it anymore…” – Sara Bareilles

SONG I WISH I WROTE: “Golden Slumbers” – The Beatles

5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: Sean Connery, Rumi, Jason Mraz, Abdu’l-Báha, and Sir Patrick Stewart.

MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: Jason Mraz live at Red Rocks, September 2012. Magic.

I WROTE THIS SONG BECAUSE… I was busking at the BART stations in San Francisco and I realized that I had a few seconds to make a positive impression on each passerby, a few seconds to say something to them that they could take with them on their journey that day – and so this song was born. We are all at different stages on different journeys with our own ideas of what our perfect destination is, and we all need encouragement. That’s what “Your Song” is all about and why I think I’ve seen it affect people so positively.