Establishing himself in the mid-'90s as a singer/songwriter with a knack fo… Read Full Bio ↴Establishing himself in the mid-'90s as a singer/songwriter with a knack for literate adult pop songs with hazy surfaces and a touch of alt-rock grit, Duncan Sheik had a Top 20 hit with the song "Barely Breathing" from his 1996 eponymous debut. He had three more albums land on the Billboard 200 by the end of the next decade, including his fourth full-length, 2002's Daylight. Featuring intricate production and multiple overdubs, it was co-produced with frequent Madonna collaborator Patrick Leonard. After scoring his first feature-length film, 2004's A Home at the End of the World, Sheik's career turned toward Broadway with the success of 2006's Spring Awakening, a hit rock musical. It won him the Tony for Best Original Score as well as a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album, both with lyricist Steven Sater. Sheik continued to juggle adult-alternative albums, film scores, and musical theater in the years to follow, issuing his eighth solo album, the ranging, over-hour-long Legerdemain, in 2015 and moving his musical American Psycho to Broadway in 2016. For that show, Sheik served as composer, lyricist, and orchestrator. Following off-Broadway excursions including 2019's The Secret Life of Bees, he issued the studio album Claptrap in 2022. It sought out a more positive state of mind.

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

Mr. Chess
Duncan Sheik Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

So good to meet you, Mr. Chess
I've always heard that you're the best
At housing knights and castles high up in the air
So I beseech you, Mr. Chess
To let me sleep inside your bed
And would you sleep too, would you sleep too in the chair?

You see, I dream of may things

Of floating, solitary kings
Of pawns and people with blue sequins through their hair

The jesters sings, the bishop brings
The queen a hollow following
And all the pawns and people stop and people stare

So, I too stop
At three o'clock
I stumble to your door
And knock

And ask to see you, ask to be you, Mr. Chess
O, Mr. Chess
Now, I beseech you, Mr. Chess
To let me sleep, to let me rest
To let me dream, to let me sing without a care

And I will dream you things so fair
I'll sing you castles in the air
And I will sleep too
I will sleep too

I will rest
O Mr. Chess, my Mr. Chess

Overall Meaning

The song "Mr. Chess" by Duncan Sheik is a melancholic and contemplative tune about the singer's desire to be able to escape reality and retreat into the world of chess. The lyrics of the song convey a sense of longing for a refuge from the troubles of the real world, and the singer sees chess as a place where he can find solace and escape. The singer begins by addressing Mr. Chess, praising him for his ability to house knights and castles high up in the air. The singer then asks Mr. Chess to allow him to sleep inside his bed and wonders if Mr. Chess would also sleep in the chair. The lyrics are evocative and suggest a sense of vulnerability, as the singer is presumably seeking comfort and safety from the perceived dangers of the outside world.

The second verse of the song delves deeper into the singer's fascination with the world of chess. He dreams of "floating, solitary kings" and "pawns and people with blue sequins through their hair". He imagines the jesters singing, the bishop bringing, and the queen having a hollow following. The singer's language is poetic and surreal, and it suggests a longing for the fantastic and the magical. The song continues with the singer knocking on Mr. Chess's door at three o'clock, asking to see him and to be him. He beseeches Mr. Chess to let him sleep, to rest, and to dream and sing without a care. The singer promises to dream things so fair and to sing castles in the air, and he will sleep too and rest.

The lyrics of "Mr. Chess" are open to interpretation, and one could draw several meanings from the imagery and themes in the song. However, the overall mood is one of yearning for escape and refuge, and the world of chess, with its intricate strategies and fantastical pieces, serves as a symbol for the singer's desire to retreat from the harshness of reality.

Line by Line Meaning

So good to meet you, Mr. Chess
It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Chess.

I've always heard that you're the best
I've heard that you are very skilled.

At housing knights and castles high up in the air
You are very good at positioning knights and castles in strategic positions on the board.

So I beseech you, Mr. Chess
I beg of you, Mr. Chess.

To let me sleep inside your bed
May I stay overnight in your home?

And would you sleep too, would you sleep too in the chair?
Would you join me for a night's rest in the chair?

You see, I dream of may things
I have many dreams.

Of floating, solitary kings
I dream of kings standing alone and moving freely.

Of pawns and people with blue sequins through their hair
There are pawns and people with shimmering, blue sequins in my dreams.

The jesters sings, the bishop brings
The jester sings while the bishop brings something.

The queen a hollow following
The queen leads an empty path.

And all the pawns and people stop and people stare
Everyone watches as the pawns and people come to a halt.

So, I too stop
I also come to a stop.

At three o'clock
At 3 AM.

I stumble to your door
I trip as I make my way to your home.

And knock
I knock on the door.

And ask to see you, ask to be you, Mr. Chess
I request to see you, to become you, Mr. Chess.

O, Mr. Chess
Oh, Mr. Chess!

Now, I beseech you, Mr. Chess
I plead to you again, Mr. Chess.

To let me sleep, to let me rest
Please allow me to sleep and rest.

To let me dream, to let me sing without a care
Let me freely dream and sing.

And I will dream you things so fair
I will dream of beautiful things for you.

I'll sing you castles in the air
I will sing of imaginary, elevated castles.

And I will sleep too
I, too, will rest.

I will sleep too
I will rest with you.

I will rest
I will relax.

O Mr. Chess, my Mr. Chess
Oh, Mr. Chess! My, Mr. Chess!

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: STEVEN SATER, DUNCAN SHEIK

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS