Ain't Weak to Speak
This song is about the importance of talking about mental health. I think the chorus drives home a really crucial message – it’s okay to ask for help. Everybody has different experiences with mental health, but I’m hopeful that this resonates with people. According to the voice recordings on my phone, I started writing this on the 16th June 2021, but it’s telling a story that goes back over a decade.
Here’s the voice recording from the day I started writing it
At that time, it was in a different key, with different chords, and it even had a different name! It was called “Goldfish”, taken from the opening line of each verse “Memory like a goldfish…” I liked the idea of subverting expectations – who calls a song about mental health goldfish!? This title stuck all the way until November 2022, when I wrote a new song called “Go Fish” and decided I couldn’t possibly have two songs with such similar titles. With a tinge of sadness I accepted the obvious title of Ain’t Weak to Speak, and quickly realised it would be hypocritical for me to sing about openly talking about mental health, but hide that behind a subversive song title. The title change was the right choice, and I love the title now. Hopefully one day I get to release “Go Fish” to really back up the decision.