Daily Discovery: Thom Donovan, “Shipwreck”

ARTIST: Thom Donovan

SONG: Shipwreck

BIRTHDATE: July 24, 1974

HOMETOWN: St. Louis, MO

CURRENT LOCATION: Nashville, TN

AMBITIONS: To continue to innovate & make great records while leaving my mark on music history.

TURN-OFFS: Superstition, lack of empathy.

TURN-ONS: Good conversation, ideas.

DREAM GIG: Headlining Slane Castle.

FAVORITE LYRIC: Carmina Burana (“O Fortuna”)

O Fortuna   (O Fortune,)

velut luna   (like the moon)

statu variabilis,   (you are changeable,)

semper crescis   (ever waxing)

aut decrescis;   (and waning;)

vita detestabilis   (hateful life)

nunc obdurat   (first oppresses)

et tunc curat   (and then soothes)

ludo mentis aciem,   (as fancy takes it;)

egestatem,   (poverty)

potestatem   (and power)

dissolvit ut glaciem.   (it melts them like ice.)

Sors immanis   (Fate – monstrous)

et inanis,   (and empty,)

rota tu volubilis,   (you whirling wheel,)

status malus,   (you are malevolent,)

vana salus   (well-being is vain)

semper dissolubilis,   (and always fades to nothing,)

obumbrata   (shadowed)

et velata   (and veiled)

michi quoque niteris;   (you plague me too;)

nunc per ludum   (now through the game)

dorsum nudum   (I bring my bare back)

fero tui sceleris.   (to your villainy.)

Sors salutis   (Fate is against me)

et virtutis   (in health)

michi nunc contraria,   (and virtue,)

est affectus   (driven on)

et defectus   (and weighted down,)

semper in angaria.   (always enslaved.)

Hac in hora   (So at this hour)

sine mora   (without delay)

corde pulsum tangite;   (pluck the vibrating strings;)

quod per sortem   (since Fate)

sternit fortem,   (strikes down the strong man,)

mecum omnes plangite!   (everyone weep with me!)

CRAZIEST PERSON I KNOW: Answering this would leave us with the pot/kettle scenario.

SONG I WISH I WROTE: “Bittersweet Symphony” – The Verve

5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH:

1. My dad (he passed away in 2006)

2. Charles Darwin

3. Salman Rushdie

4. J.S. Bach

5. Stephen Hawking

MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: Radiohead at The Galaxy in St. Louis, MO 1997

I WROTE THIS SONG: “Shipwreck” was inspired by Arthur Brooke’s poem, “The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet”. The Chorus (“Let it go, let it go”…) was originally the Verse. Over breakfast, I played Wyclef Jean an early demo of the song and he convinced me that the Verse should be the Chorus. The original Chorus then became the Pre Chorus (“If you go I will follow you to the grave”…). I wrote new Verses to replace what is now the Chorus.

The song was written on a classical guitar over an 808 drum machine.