And Her Name is Lonely

I consider this song a great triumph.  And my friend, to whom I've been sending these things during the various hiatuses of the blog, said it was his new favourite and "something truly special."

Not to toot my own horn, of course.  Please feel free to disagree.

But sometimes things crash into your mind, and all you can do is listen.  This is one of those things - it just appeared in my head out of nowhere, and all I could do was try to capture it and write it down.  So I'm proud of it, but for some reason don't feel as though I can entirely take all the credit for it (even though it was completely my work).

It happened during the week I had been working on "Left Behind."  And then, on a Thursday (and not just any Thursday - 14 February, Valentine's Day), I was waiting at the bus stop and a phrase flew into my mind: "And her name is Lonely."  With the "and," and the capital "L," and everything, which to me just begged to be used.  And it was like the whole song just spread out before me, and I couldn't wait to start writing it down.

So I won't really describe it too much, because there's not much to say that's not in the song already.  And being too verbose about it beforehand might ruin the effect of it.  Just some technical stuff: there isn't much of a chorus, specifically - a few lines do repeat, but they're mostly attached to the verses, so there's a flow that doesn't necessarily need a chorus.  The way the penultimate line of each verse in my mind sounds is quite dramatic, with cymbals crashing and drums (like in "The Moment I Knew," one of the bonus tracks off of Red).  A sort of escalation in instrumentation, if you will.  Retrospectively, I started thinking that maybe it's my own sort of response to my favourite Sugarland song, "Little Miss."  For instance, response to lines like, "little miss I'll take less when I always give so much more"; and "little miss hid your scars / little miss who you are is so much more than you like to talk about."  It's a genius song, and it hits home every time.  But this was an after-the-fact thought, so my song is just that: mine.

Because, I know this girl.  I am this girl.

And Her Name is Lonely

she's not the kind of girl that you would notice on the street
with a face you can't remember, and her shadow passing quietly
she never ruffles any feathers, always tries so hard to please
and the world that doesn't see her is exactly the one she sees
she comes home every evening, where "Eleanor Rigby" plays on repeat
she hums along with the melody,
and her name, her name, her name is Lonely
and her name is Lonely

she developed a habit of saying "I'm sorry" with every breath that she takes
because someone once broke her by saying she was in the way
now she waits to be asked before she'll open her mouth to speak
and she bites her tongue to keep herself humble and meek
she comes home every evening, where "Eleanor Rigby" plays on repeat
she hums along with the melody,
and her name, her name, her name is Lonely
and her name is Lonely

BRIDGE:
sometimes she searches for something to destroy
when the stillness closes in on her
and she sings in the shower, just to hear her own voice
but the silence is still taking over

(break in music)
she comes home every evening, where "Eleanor Rigby" plays on repeat
she hums along with the melody,
(music escalates, rejoins)
and her name, her name, her name is Lonely
and her name is Lonely

she's fallen in love with a man she likes to pretend is real
because at the very least it gives her something to feel
she stays up late at night thinking 'bout how her life could be
but maybe she'd be something great with just a few more hours' sleep
she comes home every evening, where "Piano Man" plays on repeat
she's uncertain and shy, but mostly, mostly:
her name, her name, her name is Lonely
and her name is Lonely

So there it is.  It's one of the more personal ones, I suppose.  I didn't even need to make anything up, because I know all of this a little too well.  I wonder what you think about it.

Much love, and thank you for the musik,

Just Another Ordinary Girl

You and I know, how the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leaving / you'll be dancing once again, and the pain will end.