Making Sense Of A Song Called 'Widow Maker'

Musician Brooke Waggoner was on a 6 a.m. coffee run when she got a worrisome text from a friend, whose husband was apparently dealing with a life-threatening heart problem. The news gave her a shiver — and an idea.

"I don't know if it was the early morning, the kind of fumes of pre-caffeinated mind games," she says, "But that inspired the song. I went back to my studio immediately and started, started fleshing it out."

Waggoner's friend's husband survived, but the momentary scare was reborn as a dense, eerie track called "Widow Maker." She spoke to Weekend Edition Sunday about how the song came together; hear her breakdown at the audio link.

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