Spilt Milk was recorded in London with Jimmy Hogarth, the sought-after British producer whose recent credits include Duffy, Corinne Bailey Rae and James Blunt. Powerhouse songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and arranger Eg White – Grammy Awards Record of the Year nominee for Adele’s “Chasing Pavements” – co-wrote most of this material. Singer and pianist Ed Harcourt also co-wrote two, including the climactic “Far From the Country,” an especially poignant and personal conclusion to the disc, about the physical and emotional distances one must bridge to keep love alive
For inspiration, Train turns to Aretha Franklin – “There is not a song that Aretha has sung or will ever sing that doesn’t just melt me” – along with blues/R&B cult figures like former Stax star/Raelette Mable John and Bob Dylan-favorite Karen Dalton. Says Train, “I wanted my album to offer glimpses of my influences, not sound like my influences. Jimmy, Eg and I are of similar backgrounds, we appreciate the same music; we have similar tastes. The arrangements are just what we felt the songs needed, they give the songs flavor but don’t try to steal anybody else’s style. I hope the album is a nod to the music I love, while still being modern.”
Music has been at the center of Train’s world since she was a toddler, when her mother encouraged her to play the violin. Train took to the instrument, but, more importantly, she also discovered an innate aptitude as a singer, with unerring pitch and a preternaturally mature delivery from a very young age. Says Train, “There’s depth to my voice and I think it comes from a lot of different places. But the way I sound today is the way I always sounded -- except in a tinier body.”
As an artist, Train could never simply be described as a product of her times and that has allowed her, on Spilt Milk, to create music that can arguably be called timeless. Her mom, who raised Train alone, fashioned what some might view as a sheltered existence for the young Train, keeping her away from television and pop radio. But what she really did was provide a fertile laboratory for Train to freely grow as a young woman and a singer, apart from the vagaries of trends. Train took music and ballet lessons and listened to classical music and opera, along with jazz and blues. Her violin training definitely came in handy: Train has arranging credits on three of her tracks and overdubbed strings on two of them.
Though born in New York City, Train was raised in Savannah, Georgia, and southern soul and gospel, which she sang in church and school choirs growing up, has had the most profound effect on her work. Almost as significant was the moment when, as a teenager, she unearthed her mom’s tucked-away stash of vinyl albums from the sixties and seventies: Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin. Say Train,” I remember hearing Janis Joplin’s records and thinking, what is that all about? We lived in downtown Savannah, in a house kind of like a New York City brownstone. When we had thunderstorms I would go up to the roof and scream at the top of my lungs because I wanted to make my voice raspier. God only knows what that’s done to me!”
By the time Train was 19, she was already singing professionally, albeit locally. A producer based in the south who’d spotted Train arranged to bring her up to New York City to showcase for Blue Note. The label chiefs offered Train a development deal – but her mom had other ideas. She insisted her daughter go to college first. Many a confident and headstrong young artist would rebel and go it alone, accept the deal and take their chances. But Train – reluctantly, she now admits – listened to her mom. She agreed to attend college in Athens, Ga., keeping her hand in music by joining a band and spending far more time rehearsing and gigging than hitting the books. And when she was ready to return to her career full-time, Blue Note was still waiting.
It was time well-spent, Train now realizes: “I know that at 19, I would not have made this record, which is the record I always wanted to make. This is the album that defines who I am. At 19, I don’t know what I would have put out. I believe everything happened for a reason. It took this amount of time for me to get here and to make this record. I always knew it would happen. “
Train made several trips to London over the course of two years, to write with Hogarth and White, but the actual recording moved quickly. In fact, Train was such a natural that some of the vocal performances they chose came straight from the song demos they’d originally done. Right before they were about to embark on their final sessions, though, a disastrous computer glitch during file back-up resulted in the loss of much of what they’d already completed. As Train recalls, “It was the perfect electronic storm.” Undaunted, she and her cohorts went back in and re-cut the vanished material with even more passion and determination, the setback turning out to be far more inspiration than challenge. Looking back, Train says, “I don’t think anything was lost. I don’t think there was this one magic moment that we could never recapture. I love what it is today.” And the experience provided her with an album title. “Don’t cry over spilt milk.”
Train’s confidence and faith in what she has created is part of what makes Spilt Milk so thrilling: “There’s just this magic thing that happens sometimes and you think, I want to sing this song for the rest of my life – I want to live in it, I want to bury myself in it, I want to wriggle around in it.. Every time I finished one, it was like, I can’t believe that, at this point in my life I finally have a song I would fight for, that I believe in 100% percent. And now I have all these songs together on an entire album that I feel this way about. For me, that’s my college degree.”
Don’t Beg for Love
Kristina Train Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When I tell you what I see, don't punish me
Just smile as you fall in love
You'll find somebody (don't beg for love)
There'll be somebody (don't beg for love)
Tired and I'm still here but I'm not yours anymore.
No more.
But the ship we're in was no good for me
Just smile as you blow away
And you'll find somebody (don't beg for love)
There'll be somebody (don't beg for love)
I'm tired and I'm still here but I'm not yours anymore.
No more.
Just smile as you're giving up
Go and dance on your own, don't beg for love
On the floor let me go, it's too late for love
I'm tired but I'm still here but I'm not yours anymore.
No more.
No more.
In Kristina Train's song "Don't Beg for Love," the lyrics express a complicated mix of emotions in a relationship that has fizzled out. The song is narrated by someone who has been hurt, but is asking their partner to be good to them when they hurt them, and not punish them when they express their feelings. The singer is aware that they are no longer in love with their partner, but the partner may still be holding on to something that is no good for them. Despite this, the singer wants their partner to be happy and to find someone else to love. The repeated phrase "don't beg for love" seems to be directed at the partner, telling them not to cling to something that is no longer there and to let go.
The chorus of the song seems to be a bittersweet acknowledgement that the relationship is over, but that there is hope for the future. The singer is tired and no longer wants to be in the relationship, but still cares for their partner and wants them to find happiness. The use of the phrase "smile as you fall in love" suggests that the singer is resigned to the fact that their partner may move on, but that they should do so with grace and without resentment.
Overall, the lyrics to "Don't Beg for Love" are about the end of a relationship, and the complicated mix of emotions that can come along with that. The singer is trying to be kind and understanding towards their partner, but also aware of their own needs and desires.
Line by Line Meaning
When I hurt you, be good to me
If I ever hurt you, please forgive me and treat me well
When I tell you what I see, don't punish me
If I share my thoughts with you, please don't get angry or punish me for it
Just smile as you fall in love
Be happy and enjoy falling in love
You'll find somebody (don't beg for love)
You will find someone to love without having to beg for it
There'll be somebody (don't beg for love)
There is someone out there for you, don't have to beg for love
Tired and I'm still here but I'm not yours anymore.
I may be exhausted, but I am moving on and I am no longer yours
There were nights when you held on to me
I remember the times when you held onto me tightly
But the ship we're in was no good for me
Our relationship was not good for me, despite your love
Just smile as you blow away
Be happy as you leave my life
Just smile as you're giving up
Be graceful and positive as you give up on our relationship
Go and dance on your own, don't beg for love
You should enjoy life on your own rather than constantly seeking love
On the floor let me go, it's too late for love
Release me from our relationship, it's too late for love between us
No more.
I am done with this relationship
No more.
I am finished with this relationship
Writer(s): Francis Anthony White, Kristina Train, Francis Eg White, James Dearness Hogarth
Contributed by Avery F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.