To be the kind of love that inspires someone to write a song is every girl’s dream. Maybe it’s every guy’s dream too, but you go with what you know, you know?
“You are the who, love is the what, this is the why,” sings Brooklyn-based troubadour Jesse Ruben, in his tender new tune, “This Is Why I Need You.” It’s one of those dreamy songs that makes you place your hands over your heart, close your eyes, gently sway, and try not to pass out as you imagine someone writing something like this about you.
The story behind the song makes it even sweeter. “I never, ever thought I’d have to deal with a chronic illness. I guess no one does. The period of my life right before everything unravelled was one of the best of my life. I had just run my third New York City Marathon. I had just signed with an agent for the first time. I had just started a relationship with an amazing girl,” explains Ruben. Slowly, things started to fall apart, and Ruben found himself in the throes of an illness that robbed him of his energy, his memory, and his creativity. “I couldn’t write. That might have been the scariest part. So much of my identity is wrapped up in being a songwriter. I love everything about it. I love being able to create something out of silence. I love writing something that no one else has ever written before. I love knowing that my songs get to be a part of people’s lives,” he says.
Finally, after two years, Ruben started to improve. He thought of his girlfriend, who had stayed with him during this terrible time, and overwhelmed by thankfulness for her and for those who helped him get through his ordeal, he picked up his guitar, and wrote “This Is Why I Need You.”
Ruben says the song is about a lot of things; “It’s about how big and scary the world can be. It’s about growing up and trying to figure out how to deal with new things. It’s about gratitude, and the people who help you get through the stuff that feels impossible. But for me it is more than that. It is a reminder that I’m still a songwriter.”
Listen to “This Is Why I Need You”, and be prepared to get the feels. All of them.
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