On Songwriting - "No Need To Speak"

… there’s no need to speak, just trust these hands of mine.

NO NEED TO SPEAK : Behind the song

Songwriters - Marshall Dane / RBT

“No Need To Speak” was a first writing session for Marshall and I. A session that began as a casual get-to-know-you,  a rolling conversation learning about each other. It was an easy easing into a room that quickly took a path into Marshall’s heart and his connection and love for the Deaf community. 

And so lit the spark for “No Need To Speak”. 

Collaboration is an interesting space. A space that reflects the hearts and character and experiences of the people in the room. Each collaboration has its own temperature, with an outcome that is directly related to the level of willingness to share, to listen, and to fall unguardedly into the climate of the room. Ours was an easy dive into a flow that found us “No Need To Speak”. Into a love song of understanding and of not needing anything audible to truly know what the person in front you is saying. 

Of the many lines we wrote to capture the sentiment for both a non-hearing and a hearing audience, it was further along into the session that we landed on “trust these hands of mine”. A line with a duplicity that supported the nurturing and caring message of the song. Landing on that line, and the split-second realization of how that line so perfectly captured what we wanted to say to everybody, was a happy ah-ha moment for us both.  

The power of words. Gotta love how they can so fully satiate and satisfy the soul.

R. 

Check out the very ASL (American Sign Language) focused video for “No Need To Speak”. 

NO NEED TO SPEAK : The Video here

Writers: Marshall Dane, Rosanne Baker Thornley 
Video producer: Artem Mykhailetskyi
ASL interpreter: Vera Goudie 
Video editing: Hazem Ghorab
Audio production: Will Schollar
Mixing: Benjamin Pelchat at Kensington Sound
Drums: Kevin Howley
Pedal Steel: Doug Johnson
Mastering: Andy Krehm at Silverbirch Productions
Set propping: Brett Hirons