Rae was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire to a Kittitian father and an English mother, and she was the eldest of three daughters. She began her musical career at school where she studied classical violin before she turned her attention to singing: "I started off singing in church, I suppose, but people think it must have been a gospel church because of the whole, you know, black assumption", she says in reference to her multiracial background. "But it wasn't gospel at all, it was just your regular Brethren church, very middle-class, where we would sing these harmonies every Sunday. It was always my favourite part of the service, the singing".
Rae later transferred to a Baptist church, where the choir would sing traditional hymns, and Primal Scream tunes. "We changed the words though", Rae states on her website. "We didn't want to offend the regular churchgoers, now did we?"
Performing in church broadened Rae's musical horizons, and her love affair with making music was solidified after a local youth leader offered to buy her an electric guitar. In her mid-teens, she became obsessed with rock legends Led Zeppelin, "I loved that band during my teens; I wanted, somehow, to follow in their footsteps, and to create music of my own".
Rae formed an all-female indie group called Helen, which was inspired by similar acts such as Veruca Salt and L7. "It was the first time I'd seen women with guitars. They were kinda sexy – but feminist. I wanted to be like that, at the front of something".
The group raised eyebrows on several fronts; in the white male-dominated world of indie music, they were an all-female group fronted by a mixed-race singer from Leeds. The moniker "Helen" also drew attention, albeit for not all the right reasons: "What can I say? We were 15 years old, and thought that Helen was a cheeky, indie kind of thing to do. It seemed clever at the time. Admittedly, it seems less so now".
The group played many gigs around Leeds, including a memorable performance at Joseph's Well with Leeds-based band Swift, fronted by wildman rocker Royce Dunston. Despite this, the group became the first indie act to be signed to heavy metal record label Roadrunner Records, home to acts such as Slipknot, in 1995. The venture proved to be short-lived however after the bassist became pregnant and the group disbanded. "[Was I] Disappointed? I was gutted! I had no idea what to do next".
Corinne has often stated that she is a proud Leeds United Football Club fan.
After the disappointment of Helen, Rae went on to attend the University of Leeds where she studied an English Literature degree. While at University, she began work as a hat check girl on an evening in her local jazz club. Permitted to sing on stage with the jazz band when business was slow, it was there that she discovered a different type of music that sent her on a different musical path: "I kept hearing this jazz and soul stuff and I realized I loved that music too". It was there also that she met saxophone player Jason Rae, whom she eventually married in 2001 at age twenty-two. "I was Corinne Bailey. I added on Rae, my husband's name, when I got married. There's no hyphen; stops it being posh!" Jason died in March 2008.
Career
Over the space of the next three years, Rae began working on solo material – this time steering away from her indie past and embarking on a more "soulful" path. She collaborated with Leeds-based funk group The New Mastersounds on the track "Your Love Is Mine", featured on their 2003 album Be Yourself, released via One Note Records. The following year she again worked with another Leeds-based group, Homecut Directive, on the song "Come the Revolution", which was the first single from the group's debut album.
In 2004, Rae got a breakthrough when she was signed by Global Talent Publishing and then approached by Craig David's mentor Mark Hill, from the duo The Artful Dodger, to appear on his new album better luck next time under his new alias, The stiX. The resulting collaboration, "Young and Foolish", was released in April 2005 and brought Rae to the attention of the major record label bosses. Rae released her debut single, "Like a Star", in November 2005 and her first album, Corinne Bailey Rae, in February 2006. In September 2006, Rae scooped two awards at the UK's MOBO Awards: "Best UK Newcomer" and "Best UK Female". Rae recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios in July 2006 for Live From Abbey Road.
Rae also received three nominations at the 2007 Grammy Awards: "Record of the Year", "Song of the Year" (both for "Put Your Records On"), and "Best New Artist". During the ceremony, she performed "Like a Star" and joined John Legend and John Mayer in a collaborative performance, providing accompanying vocals to Legend's "Coming Home" and Mayer's "Gravity". The poll's predictions subsequently came true, as she became only the fourth female British act in history to have her first album debut at number one. She has been nominated for Grammy Awards and BRIT Awards and won two MOBO Awards.
During an interview for the 2011 Mercury Awards, Corinne revealed she is writing a follow-up album to her critically acclaimed The Sea.
In 2013, Bailey Rae was moved from Capitol Records to Virgin Records due to corporate restructuring as a result of their parent company being purchased by Universal Music Group in 2012.
Discography
Albums
* 2006: "Corinne Bailey Rae"
* 2007: Live in London & New York
* 2010: "The Sea"
The Scientist
Corinne Bailey Rae Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart
Tell me your secrets
Oh, let's go back to the start
Running in circles
Coming up tails
Heads on, a science apart
Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start
I was just guessing
At numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science
Science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart
Tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh, and I rush to the start
Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start
Oh, take me back to the start
Oh, oh, take me back to the start
Oh, take me back to the start
The song "The Scientist" by Corinne Bailey Rae is a cover of Coldplay's original song. "The Scientist" is a love song about trying to fix a relationship. The opening lines "Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry" reveals the lead character's regret and desire to apologize for his actions. The following lines, "You don't know how lovely you are / I had to find you / Tell you I need you / Tell you I set you apart," expresses his deep affection for his partner.
The chorus, "Nobody said it was easy / It's such a shame for us to part / Nobody said it was easy / No one ever said it would be this hard / Oh, take me back to the start," reveals the struggle in their relationship and the desire to start over again. The lead character is realizing that their separation was not easy and is expressing their longing to start over from the beginning.
The lines "Questions of science / Science and progress / Do not speak as loud as my heart" reveals that the lead character is aware that his head and heart may be in conflict. He acknowledges that science and progress may not be useful in fixing his relationship since their relationship requires more emotional understanding.
Line by Line Meaning
Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry
I want to make things right between us, so I'm coming forward to apologize.
You don't know how lovely you are
You are beautiful, and I want you to realize that.
I had to find you
I searched for you because I needed to talk to you.
Tell you I need you
I want you to know that I truly need you in my life.
Tell you I set you apart
You are special to me, and I want to make sure that you know that.
Tell me your secrets
I want you to trust me enough to share your deepest secrets with me.
And ask me your questions
Feel free to ask me anything you want to know, and I'll do my best to answer honestly.
Oh, let's go back to the start
Let's forget everything that's happened and start fresh from the beginning.
Running in circles
We're going around and around, not really getting anywhere.
Coming up tails
We keep losing, things aren't going our way.
Heads on, a science apart
We are not on the same page, we have different ways of thinking.
Nobody said it was easy
Life is hard, and nobody promised otherwise.
It's such a shame for us to part
It's unfortunate that things aren't working out between us.
No one ever said it would be this hard
I didn't expect things to be this difficult between us.
I was just guessing
I didn't really know what I was doing, I was just trying my best.
At numbers and figures
I was trying to analyze and understand our relationship logically.
Pulling the puzzles apart
I was trying to solve the puzzles of our relationship, but it was more complicated than I thought.
Questions of science
Facts and logic don't always explain the complexities of human emotions.
Science and progress
Knowledge and advancement in technology can't always fix the problems in our personal lives.
Do not speak as loud as my heart
My emotions and feelings are louder and more important to me than logical analysis.
Tell me you love me
I want to hear you say that you love me and mean it.
Come back and haunt me
If we can't be together, at least make your presence known and don't completely disappear from my life.
Oh, and I rush to the start
I want to go back to the beginning with you and start over.
Oh, oh, take me back to the start
I want to reset our relationship and start fresh from the beginning.
Oh, take me back to the start
I want to go back to the beginning and start over again with you.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Christopher Anthony John Martin, Guy Rupert Berryman, Jonathan Mark Buckland, William Champion
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@pauly5928
Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart
Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh, let's go back to the start
Running in circles
Coming up tails
Heads on, a science apart
Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start
I was just guessing
At numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science
Science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart
Tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh, and I rush to the start
Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start
Oh, take me back to the start
Oh, oh, take me back to the start
Oh, take me back to the start
@judeannethecandorchannel2153
My fiancee and love of my life
He keeps Hurting me.
TBI & PTSD need *treatment,* meds, therapy.
Then: Maybe.
Almost six years...
Not wasted but, barely survived.
He has to learn to *truly* care.
🌾😪🥀
.
@ramchurnayushi2427
She is one of the best ..
One of the most amazing covers of the songs by #coldplay #goodmusic #scientist
#oh take me back yo the start
#i was just guessing at numbers and figures......not speak as loud as my heart ..
Anybody out there in 2019 ? This song never fails to give me goosebumps ..best song ever...such a peaceful amazing music the best lyrics ..
#fiftyshadesdarker#jamiedornan#dakotajohnson#anastasia
@AnaRamirez-wp2tt
The way she sings the phrase: " Nobody said it was easy". I never thought someone can make a cover of this song without messing it up but wow simply wow she did such a great job
@shaniazimmerman3922
Ana Ramirez Yeah! and the first time when she says "Oh take me back to the start." I get chills
@AnaRamirez-wp2tt
i know me too! i would like to hear the song Believe from Cher in her voice (Ella Henderson's style) i think she it would be a nice song for her.
@shaniazimmerman3922
Ana Ramirez That would honestly be AMAZING
@lavonnewhite2467
Ana Ramirez right
@sah454
For me it was when she first sang "No one ever said it would be this hard"
@hollybeat6901
The power she puts behind "nobody said it was easy" So young with so much sadness ...but such power..great cover..may be better than the original..by a good bit
@davidnwaohuocha
Sometimes a song can fully express ones soul. This song does just that for me time and time again. I love the fact that Corrine lent her truth to these melodies and lyrics and gave it absolute justice. Thank you 🙏🏽 . #liveyourtruth #findyoursong
@paigeproctor4346
Absolutely beautiful and Absolutely true. When I left my abusive partner I was like I have to make a big change. I had to change my life and I remember sitting in the hospital with broken ribs. I knew that leaving him and my home town was going to be the hardest thing to do when that is all I knew. And it was very difficult and still is. But I changed my life. And when I heard this song 🎵 😭 I was like this song is exactly how I felt about that decision.
@OscarGonzalez-lc4dn
I really love this version of the scientist. when i first heard it in the movie, it gave me so many chills and i had so many feelings toward this song