Songfacts®:

• In 2009 English folk band Noah and the Whale released The First Days of Spring, a concept album based on main man Charlie Fink's relationship and break-up with Marling. Some of the tracks on I Speak Because I Can appear to have been influenced by the affair, though not to the same extent as The First Days of Spring, and Marling veils her emotions more. This track's couplet, "It's hard to accept yourself as someone you don't desire / As someone you don't want to be," backed by members of Noah and the Whale as well as Mumford & Sons, shows an uneasy sense of self in the wake of events.
• When asked about the lyrics, "It's funny how the first chords you come to are minor notes that come to serenade you," Marling told interviewer Daniel Rachel (The Art of Noise: Conversations with Great Songwriters): "Once you do indulge in melancholy it's addictive. It's much easier to be unhappy than happy. But that lyric, I wasn't consciously talking about myself. I project a lot of the confusion of songwriting and who I am into other people and characters."