Memorial Day

Album: Remind Me Tomorrow (2019)
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Songfacts®:

  • Sharon Van Etten gave birth to her first child in 2017. This brooding meditation finds her addressing her little boy.

    Will you ever hold your ground?
    Will I ever pull your teeth?
    If you barely stand
    How do I let you leave?


    The singer told Uncut magazine that "Memorial Day" is "really about looking at my son growing up, looking to the future and what that will bring."
  • The song first took shape before Van Etten even knew she was pregnant. Once she found out, she added lyrics about her fears in becoming a first-time mother.

    "I went back to the demo and then started to think thinking in a weird dark way," she recalled. "I'm going to f--k this up somehow. Like, am I gonna pull your teeth?! I dunno! Am I going to have to do that stuff?"

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