In 2006, The Weepies big label debut Say I Am You came out on Nettwerk Records. After an initial hard-scrabble tour in their compact car as a duo, Deb Talan & Steve Tannen’s music appeared in more than a dozen TV shows, as well as several major motion pictures.
Their iTunes sales topped the folk charts in eight countries. Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol nominated them for a Short List Music Prize, and Mandy Moore asked them to write with her and sing on her album. They were invited to open for the Indigo Girls and invited onto the Hotel Café Tour; they played the Oxegen Festival in Ireland, the Hurricane Festival in Germany, and T in the Park in Scotland. Their MySpace player hit 2 million plays. JCPenney and Old Navy used their tunes as the theme songs for their major holiday TV campaigns.
When The Weepies returned home in 2007, they were exhausted.
“2006 was amazing. Coming off the road in 2007 should have been this blissed-out time with so much to celebrate, but it was totally depressing. Our rented shack in the California hills was cold, it had a leaky roof and there were mice living in it. Our electric guitar had been destroyed on the last plane flight of the year. We hadn’t seen most of our close friends in months.”
“We were empty,” says Talan. “We both felt dark after being in the bright lights for a year. We were looking to reconnect with what moved us about music in the first place. We needed to hide out and write.”
Hideaway was the result of their year-long struggle to get tapped in again, released in 2008. Another homemade gem, Hideaway is a darker companion to their first album, with 14 new tunes ranging from the upbeat title track to the jangly rock of Not Dead Yet to gorgeously arranged meditations like How You Survived the War and Little Bird.
As with most of The Weepies’ music, there is a happy ending to all the struggle: Deb and Steve were married in 2007, and they had a baby boy, Theo, in October.
The Weepies sound on Hideaway remains rooted in their unique writing and unusual harmonies. Their distinctive production was filled out again by bass player and guitarist Whynot Jansveld, guitarist Meghan Toohey and drummer Frank Lenz. Additional musicians on this album include string player Oliver Kraus, keyboardist John Deley, guitarist Steve Walsh, and horn player/keyboardist Brad Gordon.
The Weepies' fourth full-length album, Be My Thrill, was released in August 2010.
World Spins Madly On
The Weepies Lyrics
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The Weepies' song "World Spins Madly On" is a poignant musing on the experience of feeling lost and stuck in the midst of life's everyday chaos. The song opens with the singer revealing their feeling of complete despair and emptiness as they wake up in the morning with not just an aching head but a sense of hopelessness. They then proceed to ruminate on someone they care about, perhaps a key relationship in their life, that's been lost and how the world keeps moving forward even when they cannot. The chorus maintains the sentiment of being stuck while time passes by, as they let the world spins madly on.
The ironic juxtaposition of the singer's personal sense of inertia against the kinetic sense of things progressing in the world creates a visceral feeling of the stagnancy that accompanies periods of depression or grief. Their sense of being unable to engage with the world and overcome their sadness is highlighted in lines like "Everything that I said I'd do, like make the world brand new, and take the time for you. I just got lost and slept right through the dawn," which convey that even the simplest of commitments can feel impossible to accomplish when caught in the grips of a depressed state of mind. Overall, the song provides a raw and unvarnished look at the powerlessness that can come with grappling with tough emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Woke up and wished that I was dead, with an aching in my head, I lay motionless in bed.
I woke up feeling terrible and didn't want to face the day. I felt physically and emotionally drained, so I just stayed in bed and wished I could escape my problems.
I thought of you and where you'd gone, and let the world spin madly on.
Even though you're not here with me, the world keeps moving forward. I can't stop time, so I just have to let go and accept that things are changing.
Everything that I said I'd do, like make the world brand new, and take the time for you.
I had big plans and good intentions, like wanting to change the world and prioritize my relationship with you. But sometimes life gets in the way and we can't always follow through on our promises.
I just got lost and slept right through the dawn, and the world spins madly on.
I lost track of time and slept so long that I missed the sunrise. But even though I feel like I'm missing out on things, life goes on without me and I have to keep moving forward.
I let the day go by.
I didn't do anything productive or meaningful today. I just let the hours slip away without making the most of them.
I always say goodbye.
I'm used to endings and goodbyes. Whether it's saying farewell to someone I love, or to a phase of life, change is a constant and it's become a habit to acknowledge that.
I watch the stars from my window sill.
At night, when everything is quiet and still, I like to gaze up at the starry sky and marvel at the beauty and vastness of the universe.
The whole world is moving and I'm standing still.
Everything around me is in motion and changing, but I feel stuck and unable to keep up. It's like the world is passing me by and I can't keep pace.
The night is here and the day is gone, and the world spins madly on.
Another day has come and gone, and now it's nighttime. No matter what happens, time marches on and we're all just along for the ride.
I thought of you and where you'd gone, and the world spins madly on.
Even though I miss you and wish you were here with me, I know that life doesn't stop because you're not around. The world keeps turning and I have to find a way to keep moving forward, even without you.
Lyrics © STEVE TANNEN MUSIC, DEB TALAN MUSIC
Written by: DEBORAH R TALAN, STEVEN TANNEN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind