Together, Alone

Album: Sincerely, E (2021)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • It sometimes feels like our phones are appendages, and if we use them right before bed they could even seep into our dreams. That's what happened to Elizabeth And The Catapult (Elizabeth Ziman): She had a dream where she had phones for hands.

    The dream gave her inspiration for this song, where she sings about - for better or for worse - her phone is a part of her:

    You're never alone even when you are sleeping
    My brain is connected to my hand is connected to my phone
  • "Together, Alone" isn't trying to condemn technology or warn against phone addition, but is more a look at how loneliness has evolved in the digital age. When she appeared on the Songfacts Podcast, Elizabeth Ziman said: "You can be lonely within a relationship, you can be lonely surrounded by people on tour, and you can be lonely being on your phone or being online too much. It's a song about our addiction to our phones, but also the good, the bad, the ugly, the entertaining, the foolish - all this other stuff that comes along with that."
  • The video, directed by Robert Dean, is a day in the life of Elizabeth Ziman's iPhone. As we see her texting, recording, livestreaming and twiddling with various apps, we come to understand how critical the device is to her creative process.
  • Ziman Recorded this song in her New York City apartment with just piano and voice. She considers it "the cornerstone" of her fifth album, Sincerely, E, which she wrote mostly during the summer of 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Best Band Logos

Best Band LogosSong Writing

Queen, Phish and The Stones are among our picks for the best band logos. Here are their histories and a design analysis from an expert.

Jonathan Cain of Journey

Jonathan Cain of JourneySongwriter Interviews

Cain talks about the divine inspirations for "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Faithfully."

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.

Chris Isaak

Chris IsaakSongwriter Interviews

Chris tells the story of "Wicked Game," talks milkshakes and moonpies at Sun Records, and explains why women always get their way.

80s Video Director Jay Dubin

80s Video Director Jay DubinSong Writing

Billy Joel and Hall & Oates hated making videos, so they chose a director with similar contempt for the medium. That was Jay Dubin, and he has a lot to say on the subject.