Born in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1969, Duncan Sheik grew up in South Carolina but spent many of his early years staying with his grandparents in New Jersey. Inspired to play the piano while there, he later switched to electric guitar and performed in bands throughout high school. A fan of musical theater from a young age, he also acted in school plays and attended the occasional Broadway show with his mother. While studying at Brown University, he played in a band with Lisa Loeb but began shopping his own demo tape soon after graduation. After moving to Los Angeles, he appeared with His Boy Elroy on a 1993 album for Epic, and spent several years writing songs before he signed a solo deal with Atlantic.
Atlantic released his debut album, the Rupert Hine-produced Duncan Sheik, in mid-1996, with the single "Barely Breathing" following later in the year. The song reached number 16 on the Hot 100, and after another single, "Reasons for Living," appeared on the soundtrack to the hit TV show ER in late 1996, the debut peaked at number 83 on the Billboard 200. Also produced with Hine, the follow-up, Humming, arrived on Atlantic in 1998 and reached number 163.
Nonesuch issued 2001's self-produced Phantom Moon, a more orchestral collaboration between Sheik and poet/playwright/lyricist Steven Sater, who provided its lyrics. It featured appearances by the London Session Orchestra and guitarist Bill Frisell. Though it failed to reach the Billboard 200, Sheik returned to the chart with his fourth album, 2002's Daylight, which reached number 110. It would be his final release with Atlantic. In 2002, Sheik also composed music for a New York Shakespeare Festival's production of Twelfth Night.
Continuing to split his focus between songwriting and composition, Sheik wrote the film score for the 2004 romantic drama A Home at the End of the World as well as music for the 2005 documentary Through the Fire. He offered up his fifth studio LP, While Limousine, on the Zoë label in 2006. Its insightful lyrics didn't shy away from sociopolitical territory. In the meantime, he had collaborated with Sater on a rock musical based on the 19th century German play Spring Awakening, a story concerned with teenaged sexuality. With a book and lyrics by Sater and music by Sheik, Spring Awakening opened off-Broadway in May 2006 before moving to Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre in December of that year. The show ran for over two years and took home eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score. The Decca-issued cast album won a Grammy for Sheik and Sater.
Sheik composed the scores for projects including the Mary Stuart Masterson-directed film The Cake Eaters (2007) and the animated TV movie Little Spirit: Christmas in New York (2008) before presenting his next pop album, 2009's Whisper House. Featuring several duets with Holly Brook (Skylar Grey), the RCA Victor release spent a week at the number 181 spot on the Billboard 200. He scored the movie dramas Dare (2009) and Harvest (2010), then returned in 2011 with the covers album Covers 80s, which included backing vocals by Rachael Yamagata and Brook. Covers 80s Remixed appeared in 2012.
Next up for Sheik was a musical adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho featuring a book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and music, lyrics, and orchestrations all by Sheik. It opened in London in 2013. He released another solo album, a song cycle titled Legerdemain (2015), and premiered the musical thriller Noir (2015) at Vassar College before American Psycho had its Broadway premiere in March 2016. The original London cast recording arrived on Concord Records the same month. Based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, another Sheik-Sater musical collaboration, Alice by Heart, opened off-Broadway in early 2019. The original cast recording was released by Ghostlight later in the year. 2019 also saw the off-Broadway opening of the musical The Secret Life of Bees, featuring music by Sheik and lyrics by Tony nominee Susan Birkenhead (Working, Jelly's Last Jam).
His first concert album, Live at the Cafe Carlyle, followed on Sneaky Studios/Missing Piece in late 2020. Compiled from a week of shows in October 2017, its set list spanned "Barely Breathing," songs from Spring Awakening, and previously unreleased covers of Radiohead and Tom Petty. An HBO documentary about the 15th anniversary concert of the hit musical, Spring Awakening: Those You've Known, premiered in May 2022 and was followed in June by Claptrap, Sheik's first solo studio album in seven years. It arrived on the New York-based Antifragile Music label.
Biography by Marcy Donelson
Half-Life
Duncan Sheik Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I fell asleep in the living room
And it's one of those moments
When everything is so clear
Before the truth goes back into hiding
I want to decide 'cause it's worth deciding
To work on finding something more than this fear
It takes so much out of me to pretend
Tell me now, tell me how to make amends
Maybe, I need to see the daylight
To leave behind the half-life
Don't you see I'm breaking down
Lately, something here don't feel right
This is just a half-life
Is there really no escape?
No escape from time
Of any kind
I keep trying to understand
This thing and that thing, my fellow man
I guess I'll let you know
When I figure it out
But I don't mind a few mysteries
They can stay that way it's fine by me
And you are another mystery I am missing
It takes so much out of me to pretend
Maybe, I need to see the daylight
To leave behind the half-life
Don't you see I'm breaking down
Lately, something here don't feel right
This is just a half-life
Is there really no escape?
No escape from time
Of any kind
Come on lets fall in love [Repeat: x3]
Again
Cause lately something here don't feel right
This is just a half-life,
Without you I am breaking down
Wake me, let me see the daylight
Save me from this half-life
Let's you and I escape
Escape from time
Come on lets fall in love [Repeat: x3]
Again
Duncan Sheik's song "Half Life" is an introspective look at a moment of clarity when the singer is contemplating life and the many uncertainties it presents. The song is an emotional plea to escape the half-life, a state of being where things are merely existing while not quite living. The song opens with the singer acknowledging the clarity he feels at that moment before truth goes back into hiding.He contemplates finding more than fear by working on finding something specific. The line "It takes so much out of me to pretend" highlights that he has been pretending for a long time and does not have the strength to continue with it. The singer acknowledges that there is something not feeling right in his life and this creates a sense of breakdown. He explains that there is no escape from time, no matter the kind.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm awake in the afternoon
I'm conscious during a time when most people rest.
I fell asleep in the living room
I dozed off in the lounge area of my home.
And it's one of those moments
It's one of those times in life.
When everything is so clear
When everything is obvious and lucid.
Before the truth goes back into hiding
Prior to what's correct being concealed again.
I want to decide 'cause it's worth deciding
I want to choose because it's important to make a decision.
To work on finding something more than this fear
To search for something beyond the emotion of being afraid.
It takes so much out of me to pretend
It takes a lot of energy for me to pretend.
Tell me now, tell me how to make amends
Tell me now, and also explain how to make things right.
Maybe, I need to see the daylight
Perhaps, seeing the light of day is necessary.
To leave behind the half-life
To abandon something that is incomplete or temporary.
Don't you see I'm breaking down
Can't you see that I'm falling apart?
Lately, something here don't feel right
Recently, something seems wrong.
This is just a half-life
This is merely an existence that is incomplete.
Is there really no escape?
Can we not find a way out?
No escape from time
There is no means of avoiding the passing of time.
Of any kind
In any way.
I keep trying to understand
I persist in attempting to comprehend.
This thing and that thing, my fellow man
Various concepts and humankind.
I guess I'll let you know
I suppose I will inform you.
When I figure it out
Once I solve it.
But I don't mind a few mysteries
But I don't object to a few enigmas.
They can stay that way it's fine by me
It's acceptable to me if they remain that way.
And you are another mystery I am missing
You are an unidentified, confusing facet that I am lacking.
Come on lets fall in love [Repeat: x3] Again
Let's fall in love again.
Wake me, let me see the daylight
Wake me up and allow me to have clarity.
Save me from this half-life
Deliver me from this incomplete existence.
Let's you and I escape
Let's escape together.
Escape from time
Flee from the passing of time.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DUNCAN SHEIK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind