I was always intrigued by the “Classroom Instruments” segments on Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” wherein Fallon, his house band The Roots, and a guest music artist or artists would all squeeze together in one of the empty hallways at NBC and play a deconstructed version of a hit song on beginner or toy instruments. The simplicity and fun of it was charming, and it reminded me of songs like “Montego Bay” by Bobby Bloom, “Down on the Corner” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, and “Up on Cripple Creek” by The Band. In essence, they were clunky, chunky choral collages of good-feels sonic fun.

Soooo, I took a stab at writing a happy, little, rhythmically percussive ditty and “Ol’ Sam Sends Me” emerged from that effort with lyrics forming in 2010, and music coalescing into a complete recorded demo in 2020.

While producing our 2026 incarnation of this song, it got a little bigger and bouncier than I originally recorded it. But that served my consistent intent to write a song that walked a precarious tightrope: to be a light, fun, upbeat song about a beat-down old soul musing in his melancholy, and finding respite, rest, and solace in the songs of his favorite singer, Sam Cooke.

Other songs that have walked that same joyfully downcast tightrope include “Waltzing Matilda,” “Loch Lomond,” “The Sloop John B,” and just about any Irish drinking song.

If you like the song, feel free to sing along with the “sha la las.” I know you’ll want to, that’s why they’re there.

Mike Ankelman