Singled Out: DD Verni And Lisa Verni' Sayin I Love You

Overkill star DD Verni and his wife Lisa recently released the new song and video "The Sayin' I Love You" and launch the The Sayin' I Love You Deeptime Leadership Scholarship Fund and to celebrate we asked DD to tell us about the song. Here is the story:

So when Covid hit and the world shut down, it was the first opportunity in almost 40 years for me to be in my studio day after day. During that time, I wrote three different records: Overkill's "Scorched", The Cadillac's Band's "Let's Rattle", and this last solo record "Dreadful Company". I wrote 'Sayin' I Love You' at this time. Sometimes I felt a little guilty sitting out there enjoying every moment of writing/creating songs while the world seemed to be a mess. I actually think that contributed to the song.

'Sayin' I Love You' started as just a simple chord progression and melody. Almost a nursery-rhyme type of idea. I tried putting some drums around it, but it didn't feel like it wanted to be a song like that. I tried acoustic guitars, more strings, and lush choirs, but found the song didn't want that either. So the final version is just a chugging guitar and some simple harmonies, kind of how it was originally put down. In the end, I thought the heavier sounding guitars against the vocal was more me than adding any orchestration.

I also like the idea of Paul McCartney's 'Silly Love Song'. I think I was kind of riffin' off that with the lyrics, where the message is cutting thru all the clutter. Sometimes just 'Sayin I Love You' is enough to diffuse a situation or to make someone's day. Or it feels good just to say it out loud. Maybe I'm a little naive, but at heart I'm an optimist; and as much as I want to doubt peoples' intentions, deep down I think people are ultimately good. So this song speaks to that.

'Sayin' I Love You' was originally written to be part of Dreadful Company. That is more of a punk rock album and I thought this song as an end cap on the record might be right, but ultimately decided it didn't fit. But when my wife, Lisa, heard the song, she urged me to consider collaborating with her to make a video, and to raise money for a scholarship fund. Lisa is a psychotherapist and creator of dancingwiththepain.org. She also serves on the faculty of the The Deeptime Network's Leadership Program, which educates people to the wisdom, wonder, and creative energy of Earth and Cosmos. She loved the song and its message, and felt that people were longing for a way forward from the division and pain in our world. She invited people to join The 'Sayin' I Love You' Movement by contributing an image of how they express love for the video of the song. Nick Wolf, from Howl Peak Productions, did an amazing job putting it all together, and got the look and tone of the video just right.

Lots of fun and a good message. What more could you ask for a song?

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here

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