Hi Izzy,

Originally Posted by Izzy
Hey Hans,
Welcome back! First off, I'm genuinely glad to hear you're on the mend—health truly is precious, even if it occasionally interferes with songwriting.

Let’s talk about "Three Wishes." If I’ve decoded your moral dilemma correctly, The planet’s a bit of a fixer-upper right now, but the brave new world is just going to have to wait. Why? Because you bravely, noble-heartedly, and completely unselfishly transferred all three of your magical get-out-of-jail-free wishes to a loved one whose delicate health is on the line.

That is top-tier boyfriend/friend material right there. Though I do have to ask: who on earth was that mysterious disappearing person with the bag of money and the yacht? Because if they were one of the wishes, I feel like you might have missed an opportunity for yourself! You’ve definitely left us on a cliffhanger as to whether the magic actually pans out.

That said, the song skips along at a rather chirpy 110 BPM, so I am officially choosing radical optimism. Surely, with a tempo that upbeat, the lovely lady is going to make a full recovery thanks to your holy trinity of benevolent wishes. With that rich Band-in-a-Box indie-folk-worship groove rolling along, how could the universe say no?

Lyrically, can we just take a moment to appreciate the line, "I wish that when you open your eyes, you see me seeing you." Beautiful stuff, Hans.

As for your maiden voyage into the terrifying waters of DaVinci Resolve using the "Ken Burns" technique—bravo! It’s a very clever visual trick. I loved how you’d cut away to the lady lying on her sickbed during the relevant lyrics, only to ruthlessly snap back to the opening city landscape like it was holding the entire space-time continuum together while the wishes were being cashed in.

Overall, this scores exceptionally high on every level: production, story, and vocals (and props to you for keeping it 100% human-voiced, effects aside).
Consider this my formal petition for a sequel, Hans. We need to know if the yacht happened, and more importantly, if she got better!
Brilliant work,

Izzy

Hi Izzy,

Naturally, you’ve written another fantastic, complimentary response to me! I’m always very happy with it. It seems like you can just write these compliments off the cuff, while we all know, of course, how long you toil over such a lyrical story. Not for the compliments themselves, because those are already in your head when you hear and see such a fantastic song, but you still have to find the right words to go with them, right?

By the way, one correction; there wasn't a mysterious guy with money and a yacht involved at all. That was my dilemma; should I spend the 2nd wish on that woman as well, or should I choose for myself; a ton of cash, a nice boat, and get out of here! And naturally, I chose that woman's health again.

My son didn't think that was the right choice either. I still have a moral conversation to have with him...

But thank you so much for your beautiful, wise words. I will enjoy them for a long time to come!

Hans

Hans Berkhout
(Birchwood)
https://soundcloud.com/user-296497130