Songfacts®:

• "Looking Back" is an elegant, devastating dirge sung by Laura Marling from the perspective of an elderly person confined to their chair, left to sift through a lifetime of memories. As they reflect on past relationships and choices, they lament how all they can do now is look back.
• The song was written by Laura Marling's father, Charlie Marling, long before she was born. "He's quite reserved," Marling told Mojo magazine. "He played it one day when I was pregnant. We sang it together, and I said, 'I think I'm going to put that on the record.' He was like, 'Don't tell anyone I wrote it; just put your name down.'"
• The song reflects themes that had been occupying Marling's mind as she navigated motherhood and the inevitability of aging. "It was just the perfect subject matter for what I was thinking about - looking back over your life," she explained. "One tries to anticipate what one's regrets might be when the time comes, and now he is an old man, but he wrote it when he was in his 20s."
• Marling recorded "Looking Back" for Patterns in Repeat, her eighth album, which explores motherhood, aging, and the familial patterns that ripple through generations. Including her father's song creates a multi-generational dialogue connecting her newfound role as a mother with her father's youthful reflections.
• And how did Charlie react to his song being included? "He was grumbling," Marling told The Guardian with a smile, "but I think he was secretly quite chuffed."