No one would blame you if your only knowledge of Jeff Daniels is of his being an actor and playwright. He has starred in the book-to-screen drama film Ragtime, the fantasy romance The Purple Rose of Cairo, the adventure comedy film 101 Dalmatians, and of course the comedy classic with Jim Carrey, Dumb and Dumber. He’s won two Emmy Awards and been nominated for Best Actor Tonys three times.
Daniels’ talent as an actor is undeniable, but he’s also a skilled musician and an accomplished songwriter. He’s flexed his musical muscles on his YouTube music channel, released his own music, and toured in his native state of Michigan and beyond as a solo artist. He’s also tried his hand at writing music for others. Here are a couple songs you might not know he penned.
Videos by American Songwriter
1. “Overboard” by The Verve Pipe (2014)
Written by Jeff Daniels and Brian Vander Ark
Also originating from Michigan, The Verve Pipe is a post-grunge rock band best known for the hit ’90s song “The Freshmen,” which made it to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. They released “Overboard” as a single from their fifth studio album of the same name. It was released in 2014 and was followed by a successful tour.
Jeff Daniels wrote “Overboard” with Verve Pipe singer/guitarist Brian Vander Ark. The lyrics document the murder of a girl whom two people are in love with. After they’ve thrown the girl overboard into Lake Superior, they’re happy she’s no longer in their lives at first. However, toward the end of the song, the lyrics reveal that her body has washed ashore, effectively bringing her back into their lives—and now she’s presenting a much bigger problem.
There’s a girl in Michigan
Up in Lake Superior
Who’ll never bother us again
Making our lives easier
With alibis so paper-thin
Now that she is out of sight
And out of mind
And overboard
She was never gonna let us go
Had a hold on me
And a curse on you
As she lay there pale upon that shore
With her eyes gone black
They once were blue
She could see me for the first time
2. “Tomato Puddin’” by Christine Lavin and Jeff Daniels
Written by Jeff Daniels
If you’re a fan of contemporary folk music, you might know the talented New Yorker Christine Lavin. She’s an award-winning singer and songwriter with a particularly rich sense of humor. In 2006, Lavin released One Meat Ball, an album full of featured performances by various friends expounding upon different kinds of food. The tenth track on the album is “Tomato Puddin’,” written for her by Jeff Daniels and featuring Daniels on vocals. The track is based on Daniels’ personal recipe for the song’s title dish.
“Tomato Puddin’” begins with the story of a wife who loves to cook, before fully fanning out into the recipe for making a decent tomato pudding.
My baby’s in the kitchen
With a look in her eye
She’s a woman on a mission
I’m a man who knows why
When my baby gets to cookin’
I get weak in the knees
And she’s pre-heatin’ her oven
To 300 degrees
She takes two cans of tomatoes
Dumps ’em in a pan
And adds enough brown sugar
To kill a normal man
She takes her homemade bread
Breaks it into chunks
She’s a shakin’ and a bakin’
If I was drinkin’ I’d be drunk
Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions