Bluesy rock group Jocelyn & Chris Arndt just released their new album "Go" and to celebrate we asked Jocelyn to tell us about the song "Footprints On The Moon" which features Danny Lewis of Gov't Mule. Here is the story:
"Footprints on the Moon" started out as a scribble on the back of a grocery store receipt I borrowed from my mom at a Train/Maroon 5 concert. I'd just graduated high school, and my graduation present from my parents was concert tickets to see Train and Maroon 5.
Twice in a row. Because I'm a complete fangirl. Seriously though, Train and Maroon 5 in one concert? I couldn't miss it. But anyway. This was the second of the two shows, at the NY State Fair in Syracuse; the first was in Saratoga. Mom came with me (she's a pretty big Train fan herself).
It was a beautiful summer night, and we had awesome seats in about the tenth row. I remember looking up at Pat Monahan belting it out in his skinny-tie-and-vest getup and just thinking, "Man. I want to be up there." And all of the sudden these lyric lines started coming into my head. So I turned to Mom and asked her if she had anything I could use to jot something down. A grocery store receipt, a BIC pen, and a few seconds later, I was knelt down by my seat, scrambling to write down the idea in my head before I lost it.
And then the show was over, and we went home, and I stuck the receipt in the drawer of my bedside table with all my other random crumpled-up slips of song ideas and forgot about it. Fast forward to this winter, when we were writing for our new album "Go" and I found the scribbles while leafing through my pile of lyric notes looking for ideas. I turned it over, saw the words "footprints on the moon," remembered my Pat Monahan moment, and decided that this was an idea I shouldn't put back in the drawer. This one had to be written.
I took the pieces of words and melody I had to Chris, and he worked his magic and transformed them into this groovy jam. I think the kind of authentic, retro energy he infused it with really fits the song's message. Lyrically, this is a tune about going all-in for your dreams: you've got a plan, you can visualize it in your head, and there's no stopping you until you get there. It's a feeling I think anyone who's had a dream they want to make into reality can relate to. We've just gotta go for it, you know? And then when we took the song to our producer, David Bourgeois, he immediately had all these great production ideas that would really drive home that message. I think the cherry on the top was arranging for Danny Louis of Gov't Mule to play Hammond Organ on the track. That guy can slay. And slay he did; his organ work, combined with Chris's guitar playing, really takes the whole tune up a notch.
Fast forward again to last week, when we found out that "Footprints on the Moon" was the #5 Most Added Song on the Billboard Triple A Indicator Chart. Like, woah. I guess dreams really do come true.
Shoutout to Pat Monahan for making it happen.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself here and learn more about the album right here!
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