My Oh My

Album: Cedar + Gold (2012)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The Cedar + Gold album was inspired by Prettyman's high-profile split from Jason Mraz. The couple dated on-and-off for years before getting engaged in 2010. When they split up the following year, Prettyman channeled her frustrations into songs like "I Was Gonna Marry You" and "Say Anything," which was cathartic for her.

    On "My Oh My," she explains how Mraz had her "heart on a string," which was why she kept letting him come back to her:

    You're getting under my skin
    Don't know why I’m always letting you in
    Just when I got my life together again,
    Here you are standing there
  • Prettyman wrote this song with Better Than Ezra lead singer Kevin Griffin. In our interview with Griffin, he said, "When I was working with Tristan, she was going through some emotional stuff, famously with Jason Mraz. She wanted to address the 'love is a battlefield' kind of thing, so that's where we went."

    When Griffin writes with an artist, he comes in with different song ideas that suit that person's style and mood. In this case, he came in with the rhythm and they hashed out the song in about 30 minutes. "The whole song is this journey through your first love and breaking up and thinking you'll never see him again and there's no chance and then they come back into your life," she explained to CBS. "And you're like, 'Oh man, I still like you. What's the deal with that? Then it ends up being this amazing thing. And then you're back together and then you're broken up again. Why do we keep going back to things that aren't good for us? How much is going to be enough? How hurt do we have to get to get over it finally?"
  • The upside to Prettyman's split with Mraz was that it triggered a burst of creativity. After about four years of writer's block, she came up with an album's worth of songs pretty quickly after the breakup.
  • The video, directed by Jay Martin, features a white Bengal tiger to represent the "cat and mouse" game of love that plays out in this song.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New York

Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New YorkSong Writing

Can you be married in one country but not another? Only if you're part of a gay couple. One of the first famous singers to come out as a lesbian, Janis wrote a song about it.

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?Song Writing

A big list of musical marriages and family relations ranging from the simple to the truly dysfunctional.

Jonathan Cain of Journey

Jonathan Cain of JourneySongwriter Interviews

Cain talks about the divine inspirations for "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Faithfully."

U2 Lyrics

U2 LyricsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the lyrics of U2?

JJ Burnel of The Stranglers

JJ Burnel of The StranglersSongwriter Interviews

JJ talks about The Stranglers' signature sound - keyboard and bass - which isn't your typical strain of punk rock.

Bill Withers

Bill WithersSongwriter Interviews

Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."