I think I have good advice for how to tell if you love someone.
Look up this song called “East Chicago, IN” by the band Michigander.
Once you’re at around the 3:50 mark, you’ll hear the music swell. You’ll hear these words sung in a cathartic and beautiful way, like the singer can’t go one more second without letting it out: “It doesn’t matter where you are, it doesn’t matter where I am. You know that I’ve got you.”
Now let me ask you a question. It’s a big one. When you hear those words, who do you think about? A name and a face is going to pop up. Probably more than one. That’s who you love.
This has kind of become my version of that quote, “It’s all about the first person you want to tell your good news to.”
I’m telling you this to hopefully explain the magic of this song. And so you know why I wanted to talk to Michigander frontman Jason Singer before his show in Denver.
We talked about his newest album, which is called “Everything Will Be OK Eventually.” We talked about the infectious vibe of his live shows. We talked about how he writes “sad songs disguised as happy pop songs.”
Maybe it was selfish of me, but I really just wanted to talk about “East Chicago, IN.”
Singer said he almost didn’t release the song, because it breaks a lot of rules. It’s not a textbook catchy tune and for being more than 5 minutes long, it’s spare lyrically. He sings the phrase “Come on back to me” 18 times.
“It was just me being self-indulgent and doing my own thing,” Singer said. “My first thought was, ‘Nobody is ever going to listen to this.’”
The song came to him one night while he was driving home to Michigan. He’s done that drive a lot, so he knows about the exit for an Indiana town called East Chicago where the time zones switch back and forth and you’re not really sure what time it is, but it doesn’t matter because all you have is time to drive and think.
Singer thought about how he often feels far away from his “favorite people” because of touring.
“It’s a song about friendship and about the people you care about,” he said. “There are always going to be people I don’t live near, but are very important to me.”
That’s where that line comes from. It doesn’t matter if he’s driving away from them, Singer wants his people to know they matter.
When Michigander put the song out, a lot of people listened.
“East Chicago, IN” is among Michigander’s most streamed songs with more than 3 million listens. When Singer plays it live, eyes are locked on him. People cry.
I think it’s because Singer gives words, albeit simple ones, to a feeling that’s hard to put into words. It reminds me how Kacey Musgraves says so much by simply saying, “Don’t go through your camera roll,” in one of her new songs.
When I look through my camera roll, I see friends I don’t talk to anymore but I’ll never stop caring about. Sometimes I send them funny Instagram videos hoping to make them smile. I guess that’s my way of saying, “You know that I’ve got you.” Because once you find people you love in that no-matter-what way, you don’t want them to doubt it.
If I really want them to know how I feel, though, I should probably just send them a song called “East Chicago, IN.”
This content was originally published here.
