Born Alone

Album: The Whole Love (2011)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song starts as an up-tempo, insistent piece of power pop, before exploding into a thick, distorted wall of noise. Lyrically its a confession of sorts from a man who's been to the edge, and frontman Jeff Tweedy adapts a line from "The Battle Hymn Of The Republic" - "Mine eyes have seen the fury so flattered by fate."
  • During a Mojo magazine interview with Tweedy, it was suggested the song is saying, "Enjoy yourself: it's later than you think." Tweedy responded; "Don't all songs seem to be saying 'Enjoy yourself: it's later than you think.'"
  • When asked regarding the origins of this song, Tweedy explained to The Atlantic that he came up with the riffs, melody and chord progression whilst on vacation over the New Year in Mexico. He recorded it onto his phone and dug it up again whilst writing material at his home in Michigan. Not coming with anything for the lyrics, Tweedy opened up a book of American poetry, "and randomly turned to the Emily Dickinson pages, no one poem in particular." He took a lot of words, mainly verbs, "and put them against words that looked appealing to me from Whittier and other 1800s poetry."

    Tweedy concluded: "It's just looking at the words and writing a little poem trying to use as many of them as possible. If I'm lucky it all starts to settle meter-wise on the melody I have in my head, and then a certain amount of tweaking goes on to coax out a little more feeling. It's an exciting way to write, without trying to steer the ship in any one direction."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Ralph Casale  - Session Pro

Ralph Casale - Session ProSongwriter Interviews

A top New York studio musician, Ralph played guitar on many '60s hits, including "Lightnin' Strikes," "A Lover's Concerto" and "I Am A Rock."

Brenda Russell

Brenda RussellSongwriter Interviews

Brenda talks about the inspiration that drove her to write hit songs like "Get Here" and "Piano in the Dark," and why a lack of formal music training can be a songwriter's best asset.

Glen Burtnik

Glen BurtnikSongwriter Interviews

On Glen's résumé: hit songwriter, Facebook dominator, and member of Styx.

British Invasion

British InvasionFact or Fiction

Go beyond The Beatles to see what you know about the British Invasion.

Dino Cazares of Fear Factory

Dino Cazares of Fear FactorySongwriter Interviews

The guitarist/songwriter explains how he came up with his signature sound, and deconstructs some classic Fear Factory songs.