This song really started with the phrase in the title. The rest of the song took quite a while, but that initial title was the spark. I remember Googling to see if someone else had come up with it first (I don't think they had).

It started up as a song about inequality - I remember being outraged about bankers complaining about the loss of their bonuses. In fact, most of the things that we in the developed world worry about are really trivial when set against some of the issues others face elsewhere on the planet. 

I wrote a few versions of the first verse before I came up with the idea of including some place names - it's a bit quirky but I kind of like it. Occasionally, my three year old and I have a chat about this song. She once asked me "Daddy, who's the girl who lives in Leeds", and another time said "and, there's a girl who lives in Manchester!"

The lyrics for the first couple of verses took quite a while to get right. The examples needed to be quite specific, but also make a general point. There needed to be good contrast, and a place name that rhymed, so a few things to think about...

Writing the bridge lyrics - "some worry what they're gonna eat, some worry what they're gonna tweet..." - helped me figure out what the song is really about. I found myself wondering who has the bigger problems? I know that sometimes people from developing countries have commented on the benefits of a simpler life when observing the stress of living in the west, and I sometimes find myself a little envious of the simplicity of the lives of others, if not the poverty. Maybe it's not a battle over who has the hardest life - everyone has things they struggle with.

I wrestled with the final verse for quite a while. I'm a christian songwriter, but I don't necessarily feel compelled to always sing about my faith, and I never want to alienate others, but in the end I have a conviction that the miracle of the incarnation, of God becoming man, is that ability to understand all our issues, to bear our burdens, whatever they may be. It isn't a promise of an easy life, but a promise of real life, abundant life.

I love the different keyboard layers on this song - the glockenspiel, hammond, piano, accordion, mellotrons - the whole thing just makes me smile. Hope you like it. It's my wife's favourite.