SAW 2009 #5: Only When I'm With You by Chris Devine

I don't know if anybody else has this, but sometimes I'll have an interesting idea or a weird turn of phrase come into my head that's so intriguing I keep looping back to it for weeks or months until I do something with it.

That was the case with this song. The idea of only truly feeling lonely when you're in the presence of the one you're with was just captivating to me. But it took my about six months to do something with the idea.

This song was actually completely written on guitar. It only turned so electronic when I got really bored with the guitar strum I'd recorded. Now, you can barely hear the guitar in most parts. Listening to it now, though, I'm starting to realize what a rut I've gotten into with the electronic stuff ... a bit of a string like pad, some really '80s-sounding lead line that meanders more or less aimlessly through the song, little or no bass line unless it's sort of another pad. I love doing electronic music (as ensuing and past SAWs can attest). I just need to branch out a little.

I love the vocals on this song. If I'd had the time, there'd have been 12 or 15 vocal parts. As it was, I only had time for four. And all the harmony parts were basically improvised on the spot -- I'd have liked to plan them out a little better, because there are spots where they overlap a little too much, weakening the impact of the thick harmonies.

But at its heart, I love how all my basic ideas came together in this song, and I'm looking forward to taking this one and tidying it up and fixing it a little sometime later.

The lyrics:

Whoa ....

(Up the dose)

(Up the dose)

You pour some tea for one,
Stay on your side of the bed,
And it's only when I'm with you that I'm lonely.

I can put my arms around you
And get nothing in return,
'Cause it's only when I'm with you that I'm lonely.

Talking to your friends all night,
Closed up in that little room,
And it's only when I'm with you that I'm lonely.

(Relentless)

(Up the dose)

I can sit in pensive silence,
And take comfort in my thoughts,
Labor night and day to recapture things forgot.

(This is inappropriate)

I can follow thought with deed
And build a temple to myself,
And never feel the faintest twinge of need.

Because it's only when I'm with you,
It's only when I'm with you,
It's only when I'm with you
That I'm lonely,
That I'm lonely,
That I'm lonely,
That I'm lonely.