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.

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

Alone again…naturally.

Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again” is one of the most disorienting songs in pop music. The music is slightly bright and happy—it sounds like a love song or a light ditty by Donovan or Paul McCartney. But the lyrics are downright traumatic!

We recognize that the light sound is to hide the sad story. It is an attempt by the narrator to get through the day. The only thing he can do to prevent himself from jumping off the nearest cliff is tell his story and sing it in a slightly off-handed way.

The narrator has experienced this kind of pain and loss before. He remembers the loneliness he felt when his father died. He cried—he is not ashamed to say it. And then there is his mother. He attempted to console her about the death of his father but there was nothing he could do. Eventually she died too—he thinks she died of a broken heart. Leaving him alone again.

Things were just starting to look up for him after the loss of his parents. He met a woman who made him happy. He proposed and she accepted. However, his happiness was short-lived. O’Sullivan tells us that she just left him at the altar. In addition to losing the love of his life, he has to deal with the guests who are whispering “that must be horrible”. He is alone again. Naturally.

He tells us that if his mood doesn’t improve soon, he will probably jump off the nearest tower. The way he says it so casually and is disconcerting—the song is slightly upbeat and nonchalant. But what we don’t understand is that death would be an improvement to his current condition (in his mind). And what is the difference? Either way he would be alone.

The contrast of the music with the solemnity of the lyrics is what makes the song. The melody is beautiful on its own, but the combination of the two adds up to make a great all-time song. The acoustic classical guitar solo is the only time we really feel a slight shift to the heaviness of the story.

Are O’Sullivan’s thoughts about suicide serious or a tongue-in-cheek exaggeration to express his point? Perhaps a little of both—his feelings probably change moment to moment. There is certainly enough tragedy in the story that we could understand him feeling either way.

Alone Again (Naturally) Lyrics

In a little while from now
If I’m not feeling any less sour
I promise myself to treat myself
And visit a nearby tower
And climbing to the top
Will throw myself off
In an effort to
Make it clear to whoever
Wants to know what it’s like when you’re shattered

Left standing in the lurch at a church
Were people saying, My God, that’s tough
She stood him up
No point in us remaining
We may as well go home
As I did on my own
Alone again, naturally

To think that only yesterday
I was cheerful, bright and gay
Looking forward to who wouldn’t do
The role I was about to play
But as if to knock me down
Reality came around
And without so much as a mere touch
Cut me into little pieces

Leaving me to doubt
Talk about, God in His mercy
Oh, if he really does exist
Why did he desert me
In my hour of need
I truly am indeed
Alone again, naturally

It seems to me that
There are more hearts broken in the world
That can’t be mended
Left unattended
What do we do
What do we do

Alone again, naturally

Looking back over the years
And whatever else that appears
I remember I cried when my father died
Never wishing to hide the tears
And at sixty-five years old
My mother, God rest her soul
Couldn’t understand why the only man
She had ever loved had been taken
Leaving her to start
With a heart so badly broken
Despite encouragement from me
No words were ever spoken
And when she passed away
I cried and cried all day
Alone again, naturally

Songwriter Gilbert O’sullivan

You’ll never know dear/
How much I love you.

“Lovin’s For Fools” by Sarah Siskind has this unique quality that I have only experienced with a few other songs. I get the feeling that “this song has to be a cover because I swear I’ve heard it before”. It’s a type of Déjà vu. Paul McCartney described that he had difficulty completing Yesterday because he was certain that that melody must already have been written already. I get that feeling with Siskind’s Lovin’s For Fools—“I must have heard this before”. A couple other songs I experienced this with is Sea of Love and The Pretender’s I’ll Stand By You. It speaks to a song’s timeless quality.

“Lovin’s For Fools” tells the story of a woman who is experiencing her home for the first time without her ex in it. They built the house together, but he left her for someone else. All her memories of this place contain memories of him. This is a fresh start for her, and it is bittersweet. She recognizes that things were not working between them, however, once there was a strong love. Who would put themselves in the position to feel this pain? Only fools.

Siskind’s voice trembles slightly as she sings. Her voice very clearly betrays her feelings of hurt and confusion. She could have very easily belted out this song and made it sound more ‘pretty’: that would have been the wrong choice. This song is a country song: it has an acoustic guitar with a piano for background with a perfect amount of slide guitar. (Most songs that use slide guitar use way too much). I believe it would sound equally good with just an acoustic guitar and I would love to see her solo acoustic.

Lovin’s For Fools Lyrics

Crazy how I feel
Living without you
Inside this house that we built.
Seems like the window’s
Finally open
Letting the memories out.

Go on and love her,
Love her forever
I will not tell her
You told me too
You’ll never know dear
How much I love you.
Lovin’s for fools
Lovin’s for fools

Maybe you’ll find me
walking in the garden
Looking for something pure
Roots that are growing
deeper and deeper,
maybe you’ll pull them too.

Well go on and leave here
Leave here forever
No one can make you
Do what you do
You’ll never know dear
How much I love you
Lovin’s for fools
Lovin’s for fools

Written by Sarah Siskind