Prior to his success as Aqualung, Hales was known as the lead singer of mid-1990s, London-based Britpop band Ruth. Ruth had a string of moderately successful hit singles, including "I Don't Know," "Valentine's Day," and "Fear of Flying," and one album, "Harrison," before changing their name in 2001 to The 45's. As The 45s, the band released two more singles and one posthumous album to little attention before splitting so Hales could focus on his new endeavor as Aqualung. Almost immediately after the band's split, "Strange and Beautiful" began climbing the British charts and gaining massive amounts of attention--a dramatic turnabout from the previous year. In 2005, Aqualung would even achieve elusive success in the United States, where they are best known for the song "Brighter Than Sunshine", which had considerable airplay and was used in the film A Lot Like Love and various television spots. He's also known to some for his song, "Easier to Lie", which was featured on the hit television show, Scrubs. His music also went on to feature in another hit television show the OC. His song, "Strange and Beautiful" was also featured on the hit show CSI. Later, the song "Something To Believe In" was also featured at the ending of an episode of CSI: Miami. It was also featured in the movie "Wicker Park". "The Lake" was also featured on the wildly popular television show Grey's Anatomy. Aqualung has also had songs featured on One Tree Hill in various seasons. In 2009, his song "Easier to Lie" was again featured on a television show, this time Lie To Me.
It has been written that Hales took the name "Aqualung" from a Jethro Tull album of the same name. However, he himself says he was not aware of this album, and that it was descriptive of the underwater feeling he felt listening to his debut album.
His debut single, "Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a spell on You)", was released in the UK on the B-Unique label on September 16, 2002, and reached number 7 in the UK Top 40 and was used in the film Wicker Park.
The song "Something To Believe In" from the album "Memory Man" was used during the ending of the former ABC show Eli Stone premiered on Jan 31, 2008.
The song "Good Times Gonna Come" has recently been used on the show Skins on the British channel E4.
On April 20th, 2010 Aqualung released his 6th studio album Magnetic North (2010). The first single released is a song called "Fingertip".
Baby Goodbye
Aqualung Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Only when I turn the key
Only then I really know
Ooh
Love walked out a long time ago
Without a warning
Left me here with you alone
Holding out my empty hand
Spelling out my empty words
Pouring out my empty heart
Ooh
All this time wondering why
My kisses made you cry
Oh I never realized
You could see it in my eyes
Love is blind
Unkind
And always gets its way
And love wont spare
Us joy
Or consequence or pain
And love wont wait for me
To work out how to save
Should've done this differently
Would have seen love slip away
Could have made it stay a while
But love walked out a long time ago
Without warning
Oh I never realized
You could see it in my eyes
Yeah yeah
This love wont wait for me
To work out how to save
Goodbye
Baby goodbye
Goodbye
Baby goodbye
Goodbye
Baby goodbye
Spelling out my empty words
Pouring out my empty heart
Goodbye
Baby goodbye
The song "Baby Goodbye" by Aqualung is a sad yet reflective song that speaks to the pain of losing love. The lyrics begin with the singer finally realizing the closure and the gravity of the lost love only when they close the door and turn the key. The love interest portrayed in the song left without any warning leaving the singer alone, spelling out their empty words and pouring out their empty heart. The singer realizes that love is blind and unkind and can never be controlled or asked to wait for however long it takes for the singer to save or try fixing things. In the end, the singer reluctantly says goodbye without having had the chance to work out how to save the relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
Only when I close the door
I only realize the extent of my loneliness when I am alone.
Only when I turn the key
Only when I turn the key do I feel the true significance of your absence.
Only then I really know
Only then do I understand how much I need you.
Love walked out a long time ago
Our love ended a while ago.
Without a warning
I did not see it coming.
Left me here with you alone
Even though I am with you, I am still alone.
Holding out my empty hand
I am offering you nothing.
Spelling out my empty words
My words have no real meaning or significance.
Pouring out my empty heart
Even though my heart is empty, I am still trying to express myself to you.
All this time wondering why
I have been wondering why we fell apart.
My kisses made you cry
I did not realize the true impact of my actions on you.
Oh I never realized
I did not see the things that you saw.
You could see it in my eyes
My eyes betrayed the emotions that I was trying to hide.
Love is blind
Love makes you overlook the reality of a situation.
Unkind
Love can be cruel and unfair.
And always gets its way
Love always ends up doing what it wants to do.
And love wont spare
Love does not care about the consequences of its actions.
Us joy
Love does not always bring happiness.
Or consequence or pain
Love can bring both good and bad things.
And love wont wait for me
Love will not give me time to figure things out.
To work out how to save
I do not know how to save our relationship.
Should've done this differently
I should have acted differently in our relationship.
Would have seen love slip away
If I had acted differently, we may not have lost our love.
Could have made it stay a while
I could have done things to prolong our relationship.
Goodbye
It is time for us to part ways.
Baby goodbye
I am saying goodbye to the love we once had.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: MATTHEW NICHOLAS HALES, KIM OLIVER, BENJAMIN KEESTON HALES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Michael Sharples
Not heard this in about 8 years. Such a beautiful but heartbreaking song.
adam frankel
I wish this song was on Spotify…
Tesse23
Stunning lyrics. Heartbreaking.
synicalrules
A favourite song. Glad to have downloaded the song way back when.
justaddbutter
A favorite. Thank you for uploading.