It
January 20, 2023 4:55 AM Subscribe
I'm writing some lyrics. I have this line:
It's not here now 'cause it wasn't there then
What is It? What is It's backstory?
This line fits really well with the melody I have, so I'm kinda working backwards from it.
I have a couple of ideas about what It is, but I'm interested to hear from others.
What is It? What is It's backstory?
This line fits really well with the melody I have, so I'm kinda working backwards from it.
I have a couple of ideas about what It is, but I'm interested to hear from others.
Perhaps too obvious, but there's a reason it's popular: love. Doesn't have to be romantic love necessarily.
posted by Eyelash at 5:02 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Eyelash at 5:02 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Rosebud.
Yeah like from Citizen Kane.
Character has a specific, cherished childhood memory, and then finds out that the item the memory revolves around never actually existed. It was just a story the parents told the kid and the kid latched onto it as if it were real. Then he finds out when he’s like 32 that it was just a story.
I don’t know who should be the one to tell him. Parent? Sibling? Mean uncle?
posted by kevinbelt at 5:11 AM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Yeah like from Citizen Kane.
Character has a specific, cherished childhood memory, and then finds out that the item the memory revolves around never actually existed. It was just a story the parents told the kid and the kid latched onto it as if it were real. Then he finds out when he’s like 32 that it was just a story.
I don’t know who should be the one to tell him. Parent? Sibling? Mean uncle?
posted by kevinbelt at 5:11 AM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's like looking on the coffee table for my keys for the fifth time. I should try somewhere else!
posted by transient at 5:14 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by transient at 5:14 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Luck? Mojo? Creative groove?
posted by tomboko at 5:19 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by tomboko at 5:19 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
A dream? (as in an ambition or desire)
posted by JanetLand at 5:25 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by JanetLand at 5:25 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
safety
posted by xo at 5:31 AM on January 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by xo at 5:31 AM on January 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
could it be two "it"s? As in, the new thing isn't here now, because the old thing wasn't there then. That might be too broad, but maybe some of the above ideas could be used that way.
Or never clarifying what "it" is, and writing a whole song about it, is a noble tradition as well. People listening to a song that's a little open-to-interpretation will find a meaning.
posted by adekllny at 5:44 AM on January 20, 2023 [7 favorites]
Or never clarifying what "it" is, and writing a whole song about it, is a noble tradition as well. People listening to a song that's a little open-to-interpretation will find a meaning.
posted by adekllny at 5:44 AM on January 20, 2023 [7 favorites]
You have a natural rhyme with "when" going for you.
I don't know where and I don't know when
But it isn't here now 'cause.........
I'd be trying to figure out what "it" stands for. Could be anything: a love relationship, a house, a stairway to heaven. But you don't have to define it in the final lyric. A little ambiguity can be a good thing in a song.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:47 AM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
I don't know where and I don't know when
But it isn't here now 'cause.........
I'd be trying to figure out what "it" stands for. Could be anything: a love relationship, a house, a stairway to heaven. But you don't have to define it in the final lyric. A little ambiguity can be a good thing in a song.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:47 AM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
Home?
posted by unicorn chaser at 5:59 AM on January 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by unicorn chaser at 5:59 AM on January 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
Memory? Experience?
But I like the Rosebud idea not literally but metaphorically: by which I mean, don't define the thing, let people project whatever they want onto "it". Leave us guessing. These are song lyrics, ambiguity is practically a requirement.
posted by MiraK at 6:04 AM on January 20, 2023 [6 favorites]
But I like the Rosebud idea not literally but metaphorically: by which I mean, don't define the thing, let people project whatever they want onto "it". Leave us guessing. These are song lyrics, ambiguity is practically a requirement.
posted by MiraK at 6:04 AM on January 20, 2023 [6 favorites]
Kindness. Motivation. Desire. Authenticity or realness. Trying to muster something from nothing. Blood from a stone. Feeling nostalgic or wistful for something or someone that never really was.
posted by iamkimiam at 6:21 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by iamkimiam at 6:21 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Maybe giving a damn? Like you never cared about the thing before, why would you care about it now?
posted by jabes at 6:24 AM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by jabes at 6:24 AM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
It's a sad song/cautionary tale about a person who settled in their life. They aren't unhappy, really, because things have gone fine. But instead of following their passion for art they got an office job because it was there. And instead of going on that spontaneous trip to South America they went to their parents' place in Florida. And instead of thinking about what their family would and could look like they just starting having kids when their friends did. And instead of investing in the romantic part of their marriage they were happy to rely on the everyday sturdiness of it. They were living a high resolution life but it was mostly in shades of gray or muted colors. But they always thought in the back of their head that just as soon as life slowed down a little bit - when the long hours of their job started to ease, when their kids were off to college, when the debts were more manageable - they could pick all that up and make up for lost time.
And now they are getting to that point in their life and they are looking around and realising that it's mostly just the same dull day-to-day existence and they left all that stuff behind so long ago that it's gone forever. Passion and love and creativity and friendship and spontaneity and [fill in what you will surely start to do once you can just get through this thing] aren't something you can set aside and then pick back up.
And the saddest realization hits them: It's not here now 'cause it wasn't there then.
posted by AgentRocket at 6:54 AM on January 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
And now they are getting to that point in their life and they are looking around and realising that it's mostly just the same dull day-to-day existence and they left all that stuff behind so long ago that it's gone forever. Passion and love and creativity and friendship and spontaneity and [fill in what you will surely start to do once you can just get through this thing] aren't something you can set aside and then pick back up.
And the saddest realization hits them: It's not here now 'cause it wasn't there then.
posted by AgentRocket at 6:54 AM on January 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
Home is where the heart is, therefore if the heart isn't there, it isn't your home and never was.
posted by rollick at 8:22 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by rollick at 8:22 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Fear.
As in, "You weren't afraid when you were young, so you can shed your fears now."
posted by booth at 9:56 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
As in, "You weren't afraid when you were young, so you can shed your fears now."
posted by booth at 9:56 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Time / "extra" time in life
posted by hydra77 at 10:50 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by hydra77 at 10:50 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
It might be more interesting if you don't define it. My first thought was that it referred to love, that the character is missing love now and realizing it was never really there, but the "it" could mean different things to different people and that's kind of the beauty of it. It's intriguingly ambiguous.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 12:55 PM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Ursula Hitler at 12:55 PM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Author feels no attachment to family because when they were little they weren’t shown it?
Or if not love, understanding?
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:56 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Or if not love, understanding?
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:56 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Love, because that line sounds like someone rebuffing an ex they'd dumped who wants to try to rekindle a relationship that wasn't good in the first place.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:38 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:38 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
It’s something about reciprocation. Alice wants support from Bob, but (previously) failed to give support to Bob. Bob says,
You ghosted me before /
and now you need a friend /
well it isn’t here now /
‘cause it wasn’t there then
Hmmm, gotta depersonalize it.
You’re calling in a favour /
for all your help, way back when /
well it isn’t here now /
‘cause it wasn’t there then
posted by sixswitch at 3:40 PM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
You ghosted me before /
and now you need a friend /
well it isn’t here now /
‘cause it wasn’t there then
Hmmm, gotta depersonalize it.
You’re calling in a favour /
for all your help, way back when /
well it isn’t here now /
‘cause it wasn’t there then
posted by sixswitch at 3:40 PM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Money. (It's a gas.)
posted by desert exile at 7:34 PM on January 20, 2023
posted by desert exile at 7:34 PM on January 20, 2023
Confidence/self-esteem. The youthful illusion that everything will be ok. "Fake it till ya make it" buckled under the weight of the world.
posted by raider at 7:39 AM on January 21, 2023
posted by raider at 7:39 AM on January 21, 2023
If I wrote a song with that line, it would probably be about forgetting where/when I parked the time machine.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 10:10 AM on January 22, 2023
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 10:10 AM on January 22, 2023
Trust. It's about not being able to trust someone you (used to?) care for (romantically or otherwise) anymore because they lacked trust in you when it really mattered.
posted by Night_owl at 12:12 PM on January 22, 2023
posted by Night_owl at 12:12 PM on January 22, 2023
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Another emotion?
A specific relationship?
An idealised memory of the past/a childhood hometown/the world as it was through rose-tinted memory glasses?
posted by penguin pie at 5:02 AM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]