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
Rubbed Out
Duncan Sheik Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She may well justify forever
She figures it's the only way
To keep herself together
Something about hotel rooms and horses
And losing all here friends
And hearing all their voices
She rubs it out, she covers it over
She rubs it out
She makes a little money
And sends it to her mother
She's living with some guy
Who's fighting off the sharks
She hopes some day
She'll get some kind of letter
Well you don't hold much
If you haven't got the heart
She rubs it out, she covers it over
She's harder by far, than a war-torn solider
She rubs it out
Some time ago, I thought that she was trying to move on
I thought wrong
She rubs it out, she covers it over
She's harder by far, than a war-torn soldier
I'd die for her gladly
Lord knows I've told her
But she rubs it out
I justified it then
I may justify, forever
The song 'Rubbed Out' by Duncan Sheik tells the story of a woman who is trying to carry on with her life despite the pains of her past. She has been hurt so many times that she finds it difficult to trust anyone, and as a result, she has lost all her friends. She has to make a living by sending money to her mother and living with a man who is not really good for her. The lyrics explore the concept of covering up the pain and suffering that we all go through in our lives. The woman in the song does this by 'rubbing out' the memories of her past and focusing on the present.
The lines 'She's stronger by far, than a war-torn soldier' and 'She's harder by far, than a war-torn soldier' show how resilient the woman is, despite all she's been through. The song also hints at the idea that the singer might have been in love with this strong woman, as evident in the line 'Lord knows I've told her/But she rubs it out'. The song paints a vivid picture of someone who, despite all of life's challenges, keeps pushing through, trying to make a better life for herself.
Line by Line Meaning
She justified it then
She rationalized her actions in the past
She may well justify forever
She might continue to make excuses and justify her behavior indefinitely
She figures it's the only way
She believes that her current actions are the only way to cope with her problems
To keep herself together
To maintain her emotional stability
Something about hotel rooms and horses
There is some undisclosed information about hotel rooms and horses in her life
And losing all here friends
She has experienced the loss of all her friends
And hearing all their voices
She hears the voices of her lost friends in her mind
She rubs it out, she covers it over
She tries to erase or hide her pain and problems
She's stronger by far, than a war-torn soldier
She possesses immense strength and resilience despite all the struggles she has faced
She makes a little money
She earns a meager income
And sends it to her mother
She supports her mother financially
She's living with some guy
She is in a relationship with a man
Who's fighting off the sharks
The man she is with is struggling to overcome his own challenges
She hopes someday
She dreams of a better future
She'll get some kind of letter
She awaits a particular letter or message
Well you don't hold much
You don't have many options
If you haven't got the heart
If you don't have the courage and determination to face adversity
Some time ago, I thought that she was trying to move on
In the past, he believed that she was trying to overcome her struggles and move forward in life
I thought wrong
His previous belief about her progress was incorrect
I'd die for her gladly
He loves her dearly and is willing to make sacrifices for her
Lord knows I've told her
He has expressed his love and devotion to her on multiple occasions
But she rubs it out
She doesn't reciprocate his affections and tries to ignore or forget his feelings for her
I justified it then
He also rationalized his behavior in the past
I may justify, forever
He might continue to make excuses for his actions indefinitely
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DUNCAN SHEIK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind