Songfacts®:

• Heidi Talbot is joined by her producer Dirk Powell and guitarist Mark Knopfler on this post-breakup reflection from her eighth solo album. Talbot recalled how the duet came together in a Songfacts track by track:
  
  "When Dirk first sent this to me it was called 'I Found My Old Diary.' Written by Dirk many years ago but never recorded, it fitted perfectly with the other songs we had gathered and written. The lyrics really leant themselves to a duet so we decided to sing it that way, with Dirk taking the male lead. It dramatizes the end of a relationship, male and female voices reaching a shared place of resignation: 'This woman whose life is boiling underneath her skin, This lonely man who's just longing for his dreams again.' Featuring Mark Knopfler whose guitar sings like a dobro."
• The subject matter was close to Talbot's heart: Her 11-year-marriage with fellow folk singer John McCusker ended before she started work on the album. The split also left her in a professional bind, considering McCusker was also her longtime producer. She turned to Powell, who played on her debut, Distant Future, in 2002 to fill the role. She found her groove with her new producer by sharing her favorite "tacky '80s songs that weren't cool. He was very open to different styles."