Kept Me Crying
by Haim

Album: Something To Tell You (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The Haim sisters say this track is inspired by the way their generation uses their phones, specifically the phenomenon of the "u up?" text, an abbreviated request for a booty call. "You can preoccupy yourself with all these things, but at the end of the day, you're trying to figure out how you feel," Danielle Haim told Entertainment Weekly.
  • The song was recorded at Los Angeles' legendary Vox Studios and was co-produced by Rostam Batmanglij, formerly of Vampire Weekend. Danielle Haim recalled to Pitchfork:

    "The drums were literally recorded with one mic on the opposite side of the room. Rostam is so awesome in the studio. He's like our cheerleader. He was just playing some chords, and this song came out. He was like, 'At the chorus, sing the highest note you can sing! Keep going! Higher!'"

    "We don't really write with a lot of other people, but we love writing with him," she added. "When it's just the three of us, we can be like, 'This sucks! I don't know about that line!' But with Rostam, he records everything. I'll sing the weirdest little [half-hearted] 'nah nah nah nah,' and he'll be like, 'That's amazing! That's the chorus.' And we're like, 'Really?'"
  • Danielle Haim told NPR the story of the song:

    "This one started off with the music first. We wrote it with Rostam [Batmanglij], who also produced it. He just started playing these simple piano chords reminiscent of '50s, early rock 'n' roll.

    The melody just came out real quick — it was the first thing that came out of our mouths. Rostam has this awesome ability for coaxing something out of you, he's a huge cheerleader when we're writing. It's different with every song, but with Rostam we'll just start with stream-of-consciousness and record everything.

    With the advent of GarageBand, we started writing a lot faster six or seven years ago. You can really just mess around, and it's very easy to go back and hear what you did. It's an easier way to capture ideas."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus WainwrightSongwriter Interviews

Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.

Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds

Jim McCarty of The YardbirdsSongwriter Interviews

The Yardbirds drummer explains how they created their sound and talks about working with their famous guitarists.

Penny Ford of Snap!

Penny Ford of Snap!Songwriter Interviews

The original voice of Snap! this story is filled with angry drag queens, video impersonators and Chaka Khan.

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."

Judas Priest

Judas PriestSongwriter Interviews

Rob Halford, Richie Faulkner and Glenn Tipton talk twin guitar harmonies and explain how they create songs in Judas Priest.

Church Lyrics

Church LyricsMusic Quiz

Here is the church, here is the steeple - see if you can identify these lyrics that reference church.