Born into a working-class family of Lebanese and Italian heritage in Buffalo, New York, Scibilia left town a month after graduating high school, moving away from the Northeast and resettling in East Nashville. His school guidance counselor had unknowingly set those wheels in motion several years earlier, when she sat down with Scibilia to talk about his future. Frustrated with his lack of conventional plans after graduation, she sarcastically asked him, “What are you going to do? Go to Nashville and write songs?” To the budding musician, that question sounded like a great idea; giving Scibilia the extra motivation he needed to head south. At 18 years old, he became one of the first members of his family — a family that includes several part-time musicians — to leave the Buffalo area.
Nashville — a town rooted not only in country music, but pop, rock, and dance, too — has become an appropriate home base for Scibilia’s music. He doesn’t limit his songwriting to one genre. Instead, he writes songs that spread themselves wide, mixing pop hooks, rock & roll energy, and dark storytelling into the same pot. Taking cues from the artists he grew up with — including the Beastie Boys, Lauryn Hill, and Bob Dylan — he sings about the greatness of ordinary life, filling his songs with regular characters who resembled Scibilia, his family, and his friends. He tours heavily, too, opening for everyone from James Bay to the Zac Brown Band. Every night, the audiences are different but they all respond to Scibilia’s music.
Eventually, his growing success earned him a record deal with Capitol/IRS Records. With Butch Walker serving as his producer, he recorded Out of Style, a major-label debut album whose title hinted at the music’s broad, multi-genre appeal. “I wanted it to feel like a mix-tape,” Scibilia explains, and he succeeded, creating an album that seemed poised to create just as much buzz as his cover of the Woody Guthrie song “This Land Is Your Land,” which had appeared in the most Shazam-ed commercial of Super Bowl 2015. Then, one week after the album’s release, the label closed and Scibilia was on his own once again.
Fortunately, Scibilia had always thrived on independence. Wholly in charge of his career once again, he began making new music at his own studio, embracing the freedom to record and release songs whenever he wanted. There was nothing standing in his way: no boardroom meetings in Nashville skyscrapers, no focus groups, no record executives weighing in on his marketability. Even better, Scibilia’s fans were just as supportive as ever, turning his cover of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” — recorded as a duet with fellow songwriter and Nashville TV star Lennon Stella — into a viral smash. Released during the 2016 holiday season, the song racked up more than a million Spotify streams during the week before Christmas.
Scibilia kicked off 2017 with another viral hit, “Summer Clothes,” a nostalgic single. “I was 18 when I moved from Buffalo to Nashville,” he reflects, “and my dad would call me once a week and end every conversation with, ‘One more time, what’s your address?’ But he would never send me any mail. The song is a little bit about my hometown, my family, but mostly just someone looking for an excuse to call someone they miss.” Scibilia released the song as a double-sided single: the first featuring synthesizers, acoustic guitars, and drum loops, and the second fueled by a stripped-down combination of vocals and unplugged guitars. Then, while the song gathered steam on the Spotify and iTunes charts, Scibilia did what he’s always done—continued writing and creating from his life experiences out on the road and at home in East Nashville.
Rather Be
Marc Scibilia Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We have traveled land and sea
But as long as you are with me
There's no place I'd rather be
I would wait forever
Exalted in the scene
As long as I am with you
My heart continues to beat
With every step we take
Kyoto to The Bay
Strolling so casually
We're different and the same
Gave you another name
Switch up the batteries
If you gave me a chance I would take it
It's a shot in the dark but I'll make it
Know with all of your heart, you can't shame me
When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be
We staked out on a mission
To find our inner peace
Make it everlasting
So nothing's incomplete
It's easy being with you
Sacred simplicity
As long as we're together
There's no place I'd rather be
With every step we take
Kyoto to The Bay
Strolling so casually
We're different and the same
Gave you another name
Switch up the batteries
If you gave me a chance I would take it
It's a shot in the dark but I'll make it
Know with all of your heart, You can't shame me
When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be
There's no place I'd rather be
There's no place I'd rather be
There's no place I'd rather be
There's no place I'd rather be
The song "Rather Be" by Marc Scibilia is about a couple who are deeply devoted to each other, even though they may be far from home and everything familiar. The opening lines suggest that the couple has gone through a challenging journey together and have traveled a long distance to be where they are. However, as long as they are together, they feel at home and are content. The line, "But as long as you are with me, there's no place I'd rather be," emphasizes the importance of the relationship to the singer.
As the song progresses, the couple is depicted as traveling together through different places (Kyoto to The Bay). Regardless of where they are, their connection to each other remains strong. The line, "We're different and the same, gave you another name, switch up the batteries," suggests that they are unique individuals but still have a strong bond. The singer believes that they have found something special and everlasting, which is enough to make them feel complete.
The chorus repeats the lines "If you gave me a chance I would take it, it's a shot in the dark but I'll make it, know with all of your heart, you can't shame me, when I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be." This repetition is a testament to the depth of the couple's love and devotion to each other. The song ends with the repeated line, "There's no place I'd rather be," which ties together the theme of the song and the idea that the singer finds joy and peace in being with their loved one.
Line by Line Meaning
We're a thousand miles from comfort
Despite being far from what we know and feel comfortable with, we're together and that's enough
We have traveled land and sea
We've been through a lot to get here, but it's been worth it because we're together
But as long as you are with me
Your presence in my life has a profound impact on me and makes everything so much better
There's no place I'd rather be
Being with you is the best place to be, no matter where we are
I would wait forever
I'm willing to wait as long as it takes for us to be together, because you're worth it
Exalted in the scene
I feel like I'm on top of the world when I'm with you, and nothing else matters
As long as I am with you
Your presence in my life is what keeps me going and makes everything feel right
My heart continues to beat
You make my heart skip a beat and fill me up with love and happiness
With every step we take
We're moving forward and growing together as we take each step in life
Kyoto to The Bay
We're traveling together, from one part of the world to another, experiencing new things
Strolling so casually
Even though we're doing something new and different, we're still comfortable and at ease with each other
We're different and the same
We may have our differences, but we're both on the same page when it comes to our relationship
Gave you another name
I gave you a nickname, a special term of endearment that only we share
Switch up the batteries
Let's recharge and keep our love going strong
If you gave me a chance I would take it
I'd do anything to be with you and make our love work, no matter what
It's a shot in the dark but I'll make it
Even though the future is uncertain, I'm willing to take the risk and put in the effort to make our love last
Know with all of your heart, you can't shame me
I'm committed to you and our relationship, and nothing you say or do can bring me down
When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be
Being with you is everything to me, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world
We staked out on a mission
We've committed to each other and set our sights on building a life and a future together
To find our inner peace
We're on a journey to uncover our true selves and find happiness within ourselves and with each other
Make it everlasting
We want our love to last forever, and we're willing to put in the work to make it happen
So nothing's incomplete
We want to fill each other's lives with love and happiness, and complete each other in every way
It's easy being with you
Being with you comes naturally and effortlessly because we're meant to be together
Sacred simplicity
Our love is pure, simple, and genuine – nothing more, nothing less
As long as we're together
Our love will continue to grow and flourish as long as we have each other in our lives
There's no place I'd rather be
Being with you is everything to me, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world
Contributed by Anthony L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.