2020s songs, heartbreak

Freya Ridings- I Can’t Keep it Open (From Archane)

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I just watched as the door closed for good
‘Cause I couldn’t keep it open

“I Can’t Keep it Open” is a beautiful ballad by Freya Ridings that appears in the Netflix show Archane (Season 2, episode1). Few soundtracks are able to transcend a show in the way this song can. You sit up, rewind, and ask yourself “what did I just hear”?!

The song expresses feelings of loss, sadness and regret in such simple and powerful terms. There are several highlights in “I Can’t Keep it Open”. The melody is amazing, delicate and haunting. Ridings’ piano arrangement is sparse but is perfect for the piece. The narrator’s unfiltered raw emotion comes across in this stripped-down arrangement that simply has a piano accompanied by her voice.

Freya Ridings- Archane soundtrack

And Ridings sings the song beautifully. This is the most outstanding aspect of the song. Her voice—and the haunting delivery– transcends the show. How many songs have you heard that truly elevate a scene? When it happens, it is something special. Like a fusion of the senses. Whether you are a fan of Archane or not, “I Can’t Keep it Open” is a fantastic song–it might be the best in Ridings considerable catalogue.

I Can’t Keep it Open Lyrics

There is an ocean so dark down below the waves
Where you watch while these dreams gently float away
And there is a silence so soft it’s only memory
Like the way your voice always sounds when you sing to m

But I can’t hear it now
Just tell me how to keep breathing
While pretending I’m not drowning
I don’t know if I could
I watched a door close for good
‘Cause I couldn’t keep it open

I just watched as the door closed for good
‘Cause I couldn’t keep it open

Just tell me how to keep breathing
Whilе pretending I’m not drowning
I don’t know if I could
I watched a door closе for good
‘Cause I couldn’t keep it open

written by Freya Ridings

1970s songs, depression

Rainy Days & Mondays-The Carpenters

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Nothin’ to do but frown/
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

Mental health is no joke. Watch this performance of The Carpenters playing Rainy Days and Mondays and see what a beautiful, strong, fun, talented woman Karen Carpenter is. In less than ten years she would be dead. She didn’t see herself the way others did. We see her as the beautiful singer and talented drummer with the beautiful voice. And she didn’t see that beauty in herself. She died at 32 of Anorexia.

This song is an introduction to depression or “the blues”. You know how Mondays always make you feel down even when technically you could be having a really good day? Depression is like that too. Only worse. For someone with depression, most days are rainy and Mondays. Speaking openly about depression wasn’t really done back then.

Rainy Days and Mondays Meaning
Richard & Karen Carpenter

Karen’s voice is at times deep and her vibrato is elongated and slow and used minimally. Every note she chooses is perfect. And she does it while drumming! She is simply a stud. This is a live performance! She has great range and control.

Richard and the band really show their chops in this song. The introduction of a background harmonica to simulate a lazy, rainy Monday is a brilliant choice. The other thing to notice is how amazing and layered their harmonies are. The Carpenter’s harmonies are A-level, but they use them judiciously-as they have the best lead singer in the world.

Karen has the most beautiful voice- male or female- that I have ever heard. The Carpenters are continually under-supported by the critical music press for reasons that are suspicious at best. They belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Keeping them out is just ignorant.

The Rock Hall has a lot of things it needs to fix before it is taken seriously but The Carpenters are the most egregious omission. If there is room in the Hall for Nina Simone and Joan Baez, (both deserving) and all the hip hop artists, there is a place for The Carpenters. Rainy Days and Mondays demonstrates this.

More by The Carpenters. And Here. Watch the live performance above if you have not seen it.

Rainy Days & Mondays Lyrics

Talkin’ to myself and feelin’ old
Sometimes I’d like to quit
Nothin’ ever seems to fit
Hangin’ around
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

What I’ve got they used to call the blues
Nothin’ is really wrong
Feelin’ like I don’t belong
Walkin’ around
Some kind of lonely clown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Funny, but it seems I always wind up here with you
Nice to know somebody loves me
Funny, but it seems that it’s the only thing to do
Run and find the one who loves me (the one who loves me)

What I feel has come and gone before
No need to talk it out (talk it out)
We know what it’s all about
Hangin’ around (hangin’ around)
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Funny, but it seems that it’s the only thing to do (only thing to do)
Run and find the one who loves me (ooh)

What I feel has come and gone before
No need to talk it out (to talk it out)
We know what it’s all about
Hangin’ around (hangin’ around)
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
Hangin’ around (hangin’ around)
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get
Me down

Written by Paul Williams & Roger Nichols

1990s songs, infatuation

Unintended- Muse

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I’ll be there as soon as I can;
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before.

The narrator of “Unintended” by Muse is not in the best headspace. He tells us he is “busy mending a broken heart” and has identified a new candidate to be something more than a rebound. This surprises him. How should one handle a situation when you are clearly in love with your ex, but you meet someone you are really into? The narrator chooses to spell out everything he is feeling and thinking. He tells the new woman what he has to offer. At least he is honest.

He doesn’t promise her summers in the Hamptons, or 2.2 kids and marriage—he “offers” her his “deepest inquisitions.”  In other words, after he is done obsessing about his ex, he will turn his attention to her.  He probably thinks this is a good offer and something synonymous with love.

Muse Unintended
Muse

He “knows” this woman will be better than his ex. He just feels it. I am certain we all expect our next relationship to be better than our last, but there is something about the way he expresses it that makes it all about him. And in a way it is. This is not a real person he has a relationship with. It is an ideal woman or an attractive woman he saw on the street. The feelings and desires are unintended.

The song is an amazing example of how we can sometimes lose ourselves during a breakup. The narrator does not seem to be his best self or ready to date. He is infatuated with a woman he saw and is projecting characteristics onto her that she may not have. The narrator at least has the self-awareness to realize that he might not be ready for this new woman yet, since he is still picking up the pieces of his last relationship. He probably thinks he is closer to moving on than he really is.

Is his offer to her that great? He is basically saying, “If you stick around until I get my shit together, I might then turn my attention to you. Her timeline, wants and desires are irrelevant. Hopefully he has a lot of redeeming qualities that makes him worth the trouble. It is not clear that he sees how big of an ask this truly is.

This is great writing. The songwriter writes in the first person and knows that he probably will not come off as a sympathetic character but takes the risk—and it pays off. Breakups can bring out the worst in us and lead us to say and do things we otherwise might not.

The combination of the weary sound that leads into a wailing falsetto creates the sound of an unstable mind perfectly. The sound is created by a verse that slowly mopes along with a sparsely added acoustic guitar and a synthesizer with slight reverb to add that haunted feeling. The sound coupled with the lyrics paints a picture of a man that is not in the best frame of mind, is not making the best decisions, and is not ready for a relationship. Hopefully the new woman will recognize this and run. Or wait.

Unintended Lyrics

You could be my unintended
Choice to live my life extended.
You could be the one I’ll always love.

You could be the one who listens
To my deepest inquisitions,
You could be the one I’ll always love.

I’ll be there as soon as I can;
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before.

First there was the one who challenged
All my dreams and all my balance.
She could never be as good as you.

You could be my unintended
Choice to live my life extended.
You should be the one I’ll always love.

I’ll be there as soon as I can;
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before.

I’ll be there as soon as I can;
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before.

Before you
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh

Songwriter: Matthew James Bellamy