However, the lyrical reveal – in which he switches from “He’s everything you want” to “I’m everything you want,” – was the result of ongoing experimentation. Scannell proud to recall how despite such riffs often birthing during studio sessions with producers, he recorded the catchy hook on the track’s earliest demo, after it came to him in the middle of the night. The extent to which fans still hold the hit so dear is evident at the band’s live gigs, where each pause between songs seems to hold a palpable anticipation for the track’s iconic opening chords. “It’s a part of so many people’s lives, so every time I sing it now I’m aware it doesn’t just belong to me. “Over time the meaning has absolutely changed because we’ve played it in India, Malaysia, Europe and so many places, not just outside of the United States, but outside of my apartment in New York City where I wrote it – and outside of my family’s basement in Massachusetts, where I demoed the song so many years ago,” he says. VIDEO: Vertical Horizon – Everything You Want
Scannell’s quick to point out that despite the pain, he loves the award-winning track and will happily perform it “as long as anybody wants to hear it.” Having belted out the chart-topper all over the world, he remains in awe of the track’s reception and says it has taken on new meaning over the years. I’m so much more whole than I was when I wrote it and sometimes now, I can almost sing it and not feel the pain… almost!” Music can be such a cathartic, healing medium and as a songwriter the goal is to walk away from a song being more whole. “But I think that’s part of the healing process. “I still think of her when I sing it, but less so,” says the musician, who wrote the track about desperately wanting to help a woman he was in love with, only to be constantly turned away. It became the fifth most played song on the radio in 2000, but 20 years since Scannell penned “Everything You Want,” he admits that thoughts of the girl who inspired the number one hit still make it hurt to perform live. I just sat down and wrote a record of music that inspired me.”Īs Everything You Want turns 20 on June 15, Scannell reflected on the key hits which shot the band to global success two decades ago. So, this record for me was the most selfish – made without any exterior motivations and concerns. But I’m really welcoming of when it comes and make every effort to harness, nourish and grow it into something. “At this point of my career, it’s an extremely selfish process and if I’m not inspired, I’m not going to try to force or fake it. “It was just me wanting to make new songs and not really thinking about other stuff,” Scannell says of the 10-track album. The hit was followed up by “You’re a God” and the beautiful ballad, “Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning)” and, through band shakeups and a hiatus, Scannell has kept the music coming, most recently with 2018’s The Lost Mile. The second single from the group’s album of the same name, “ Everything You Want,” spent 41 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number one in July 2000. That’s probably the highest compliment a songwriter can receive – for people to sing their song with such conviction that you can back off the microphone and be drowned out – and I experience that almost every time we play ‘Everything You Want.’” “I still get goosebumps thinking about it. So, he just played it through,” Scannell reflects. “I went to see Billy Joel and when it was time for him to play ‘Piano Man,’ we sang it so loud in the audience that he couldn’t even sing himself. The experience would have a profound and lasting effect on the Vertical Horizon frontman, but at the time he never imagined that his own music would on day have an equally- powerful impact fans.
Matt Scannell was just a kid when he turned up to Madison Square Garden in New York to see Billy Joel in concert.
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