Darryl Lalach was watching an old favourite movie, Groundhog Day, when something occurred to him.
“There aren’t any songs about Groundhog Day,” he said to his daughter.
There are songs associated with various other days and celebrations. Christmas alone has hundreds of them. So why not Groundhog Day?
“You should write one,” she said.
Music has always been a part of Lalach’s life. He was in his high school band. He took piano lessons as a kid and continued to dabble through the years, though his career didn’t leave him much time.
Having recently retired though, he started playing more and invested in some recording equipment to set up his own studio in his basement. The song would prove to be an ideal first project.
Lalach sat down at his piano and had the framework of the song in a few hours. He then called in some fellow Georgetown musicians to help out. Dino Arsenault and his sons Pierre and Joseph joined in the process to help round the song into a finished product.
“Their roots are in PEI and they brought this great, lively, east coast lilt to it,” Lalach said. “We just had fun with it. We wanted to see what we could put together and had a great time doing it.”
Daryll Hillier was recruited to record the drums for the song. The Arsenaults, Dino (guitar), Pierre (violin) and Joseph (piano) handled the rest of the instruments while Lalach provided the vocals.
Their finished product is now available on all streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music. Lalach said he has also received interest from some radio stations.
Lalach said the song will appeal to the young at heart.
“I think Groundhog Day is unique,” Lalach said. “So many people make pilgrimages to it. It’s an attraction. There’s an anticipation – will it be good news, bad news? It’s a time we start to see longer days, see more sunshine. It’s a hopeful time.”