True Poet

"True Poet" is the first single and opening track from Humming Bird's debut record, Hey, There's Tommy! Hey Tommy, Where's Mom & Dad?

Writing
"True Poet" was the third song written by Humming Bird, and was written immediately after Martin had finished writing the verses and choruses for "Dizzy Wednesday." At the moment, he was sitting on Jack's bed (Jack was in the studio discussing the drum tracks for "Sucker Stick") demoing songs into his MacBook Pro. Martin intentionally attempted to write the happiest song he could, thinking about new beginnings (within the context of a new band where there were no rules). "The main point of the song," he says, "was realizing that there were zero expectations for Humming Bird, and I could make the song sound however I wanted and be about whatever I wanted. And if someone faulted it, or said it was cheesy, I had the perfect crutch: yeah, but it's Humming Bird." It was started at approximately 2:00 p.m. (MST) and an acoustic demo was recorded by Martin and sent to Jack and Ed at 2:15 p.m on Oct. 15, 2011.

Recording
The drums were then tracked that night (10/1) and sent to Jack and Martin in the studio, where they began recording guitars on the song. Rhythm guitars were recorded by Martin (only first takes were used) and the leads were recorded by Jack. Vocals were done the next afternoon. Martin sang his lines while watching the Tigers and Yankees game on TV. The Tigers won that day. It is the first release where Martin did not attempt multiple takes on the vocals. Jack wrote the harmonies and chorus backing vocals impromptu, recording them as they came to him.