Mike Green intentionally wrote a song about blind spots.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan, singer-songwriter wanted to explore that concept while working on new material for what would become his second album, Blind Spot.
“I hardly ever do that,” Green said. “Usually, I play with ideas, and it starts to coalesce into something. But then, I have to really craft it. Sometimes, the song ends up being very different from how I started, so I try to follow the creative muse.”
That creative muse led Green to the song, “Blind Spot,” which acknowledges accepting and loving someone despite their flaws.
Backed by carefree electric guitar and organ, Green sings, “You have a blind spot when it comes to all my faults, maybe you don’t just care / I’ve made enough mistakes to fill a goddamn vault, you gotta be aware / So if it’s true, you love me, too, well, that just prove the same thing’s wrong with you.”
“I had a version of the song with a whole verse about Trump,” he said. “And then I had a love song version. I brought it into the songwriting group, and they said the other one is funny, but doing it as a love song, it has more legs to it.”
“Blind Spot” soon became the title track for Green’s new folk album, which features 13 tracks about identifying and understanding different gaps in life.
“A lot of writers will say truth doesn’t have to be factual truth; it has to have emotional resonance,” Green said. “There are a lot of love songs, and I write about [experiencing] joy and depression, paying attention, and [recognizing] the resilience coming through all of that.”
Green easily conveys those truths and emotions through anecdotal lyrics, warm vocals, and earnest instrumentation.
“In a lot of ways, [my songs] start out autobiographical, but I don’t want to write in great graphic detail about my own life,” he said. “I have to draw on what I understand.”
I recently spoke with Green about the inspiration behind Blind Spot.
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