Happy Ears: Feelin’ Rough by Legit Smitty
By Jake Smith
It was March of 2020. I took my friends Billy and Tyler back to my parent's house in South Carolina for spring break. We slept in, made breakfast, and wrote songs. It was fun to bring new friends to old places. COVID hit. We stayed in South Carolina for another week. Then, the boys went home. Once they were gone, I quickly realized that I had been suppressing a lot. The fun we were having kept me from dealing with a lot of emotions that needed to be dealt with.
Time passed, I was thinking and writing and trying to figure things out. I was back in South Carolina, and I knew I would be there for a while. I was back where I had loved someone for the first time. I was figuring out if I was over that someone, but now I couldn't interact with them. It was my freshman year of college. I had just gotten used to living 7 hours away. I was enjoying Nashville and the fresh start it brought. I was running away from the emotions attached to home. Then it all got pulled out from under me.
I was depressed.
So, as one does, I started recording a lot. I made demos for probably 12 songs in a few weeks.
One of those was “Feelin’ Rough”.
Altogether, these tracks eventually became Goodwill Steeple.
“Feelin’ Rough” was immediately a front runner. It felt right. I ripped the chords off a demo of a friend of mine. He was never going to put the song out, so I didn't feel bad about it. Thanks, Robby.
I had been freestyling a lot with Billy during that season. I made a little demo track with the “Feelin’ Rough” chords, then one day, I started singing this story over it. I didn't know what I was doing. But like I said before, it just felt right. I kept almost all the original takes.
“Feelin' Rough” was recorded in my bedroom with an SM57 for the most part. It took on many forms before finding the format that it's in currently. I initially programmed drums on “Feelin’ Rough”, but I knew that I wanted this record to have a live-band feel. I was fortunate enough to have Zack Levine of Pinegrove play drums on this track and two others on the EP. Zack was very encouraging and easy to work with, and his drumming pushed the record forward in immeasurable ways.
On the lyric side of things, lines like "doctor help me get grown-up" speak to a side of me that wants a quick fix for immaturity. While lines like "I told God I know what's up" speak to a side of me that feels wise and thankful for the way I am. I didn't sing these lyrics with much thought initially. But, when I sing them now, it feels like I'm reading a letter aloud, sent from my subconscious.
All in all, “Feelin' Rough” became something that I think people will be able to connect with. I hope I put words to my process in an informative and entertaining way. And I appreciate that you have read this far. Anyways, go listen to the track already!
Be well,
Jake
By Tyler Krippaehne
By Tyler Krippaehne