That song actually came to me almost entirely all at once. The second I heard the chord progression, the melody came and then the words came. It literally dawned on me like a flood, which is very rare. Usually, songs come in pieces, but this song came right away! Thank God, there's technology in my phone that allows me to record ideas whenever they arrive. Initially, I started the song off with a line that's not in there anymore. I began with, "You are a child with so many choices. The hardest always make us cry." Right away, I knew I was going to write a letter to my kids, basically. It's telling them you're getting ready to go out into the world, you're going to get kicked around, it's going to be tough and you're going to find yourself in some painful situations, but here's what's important—you're always going to be loved by your family, and that will always get you through. That's going to be the one lifeline that you have which will pull you through all of this chaos around you. Eventually, what ended up coming out of that is the song you hear on the record. It's such a vulnerable, open and very honest song in that way. We really felt like we wanted to replicate that original recording of the guitar and vocal in the phone as much as possible. We recorded the vocal, and we didn't put any special sauce on it or anything. We didn't double the vocals, and we didn't try to go for the perfect performance. I just sang it with my heart. Brad [Delson] played guitar. Mike [Shinoda] sat in the other room, and we all played it together. It was presented in the simplest way, and that's what we've got.
More from that great interview can be read/watched here. Part 2 is coming later.
