Born in Los Angeles in 1987, Robert Francis grew up surrounded by music. Hi… Read Full Bio ↴Born in Los Angeles in 1987, Robert Francis grew up surrounded by music. His father is a classical music producer and eccentric owner of one of the largest collections of sheet music in the U.S. One of Francis' earliest memories is his father "blasting music at full volume in his cluttered office under fluorescent lights until 4 a.m. while I was trying to sleep in the room next door." His mother, one of nine sisters, grew up in Mexico in a town so small that "it's just dirt, clay huts, boarded-up buildings, and a town drunk who walks around in the beating sun with a jug of Bacardi," Francis says. After Robert studied piano for several years, his mother encouraged her then seven-year-old son to learn guitar so he could play the traditional ranchera songs she grew up singing with her sisters. When Francis was nine, family friend Ry Cooder gifted him his first National Slide guitar. He also fell in love with Wim Wenders' 1984 film Paris, Texas, for which Cooder composed the soundtrack. "It inspired me," Robert remembers. "I got the idea in my head that I wanted to drop out of school and travel when I was 10 years old."

By the time he reached eleventh grade, he decided school was not for him and left. He spent a little over a year living dangerously and upsetting all those close to him until he met a girl who would then change his life. "It was a really tumultuous romantic relationship that lasted on and off for a few years," he says. "Then it just sort of fizzled out. I started writing songs the first time I figured out how to pinpoint that feeling of loss. I guess I was just waiting to make music until I had something to say. From then on, I realized I could write songs that really meant something to me."

The result was One By One, which Francis recorded at a friend's recording studio and released in August 2007 on Aeronaut Records. It didn't sell much, but it earned positive reviews from critics who compared Francis to a young Townes Van Zandt. The attention led to a record deal with Atlantic Records, which is releasing Before Nightfall.

Written over the summer of 2008 and recorded in March 2009, Before Nightfall is a snapshot of where Francis is now. "When people listen to the album, I want them to feel happy," he says. "I feel uplifted when I hear these songs; they don't bring me down. I hope people will be able to relate to them and feel as though whatever is going on in their lives is going to be okay."

!! There is other Robert Francis, author of cd: The Sitting Bull Suite

Alibi
Robert Francis Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I won't forget the reasons
I went so far to love you
A man is most important
When he's unmoved by separation
And tries to match the tempo
In which death succeeds creation
Burning there to keep you
All I needed was some patience

When you turned into a woman
When I loved you as a child
I wanted to protect you
From the things that made you smile

My little alibi
Time couldn't change us
But we tried
My little alibi
I wanna see you cry

I won't forget the reasons
I went so far to love you
The patterns in the trees and winds
Forgot themselves inside you
But I was not the wind
I was an anchor just to keep you
As clean, never fleeting
Like the innocence that bound you

And I hate to say it
But you were bad in every way
I guess I had it coming
I feel it still today

My little alibi
Time couldn't change us
But we tried
My little alibi
I wanna see you cry

I won't forget the reasons
I went so far to love you
A man is most important
When he's unmoved by separation
And tries to match the tempo
In which death succeeds creation
Burning to keep you
All I needed was some patience

As you turned into a woman
When I loved you as a child
I wanted to protect you
From the things that drove you wild

My little alibi
Time couldn't change us
But we tried
My little alibi
I wanna see you cry

I wanna see you cry

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Robert Francis's "Alibi" describe a complex and long-lasting passion for a woman who grew up with the singer. He highlights the reasons why he went so far to love her and how his deepest devotion did not waver despite separation and growing up. He emphasizes his protective role as they both grew up, wanting to keep her safe from things that brought her happiness and offered her freedom. He describes himself as an anchor, a steadying force to keep her secure, clean and unchanging like the "innocence that bound" her. He seems to acknowledge a sense of guilt about his love for her, knowing that it caused him pain and she was "bad in every way," but still acknowledging that his love is unconditional.

The song's central theme seems to be the desire to preserve a childhood memory and protect it from negative influences as they both grew up. The singer tries to remain unchanged and devoted despite the passing of time and their different paths in life. The lyrics express a delicate balance between the desire to hold on to something that is slipping away and the need to let go of something that is causing pain. It's a beautiful and bittersweet ode to the innocence of childhood and the power of love despite time and trials.

Line by Line Meaning

I won't forget the reasons
I will always remember why I loved you so much and what led me to go this far for you.

I went so far to love you
I have gone to great lengths to love you and make this relationship work.

A man is most important
A man is at his best when he is not affected by distance or separation and can still match the rhythm of creation and death.

When he's unmoved by separation
When a man can stay strong and steadfast even in the face of separation or distance.

And tries to match the tempo / In which death succeeds creation
A man who tries to keep up with the pace of life and death and still stay grounded and stable.

Burning there to keep you / All I needed was some patience
I always had the passion and desire to keep you close, and all I needed was some patience to make it work.

When you turned into a woman / When I loved you as a child
As you grew up and became a woman, I still saw you as the child I fell in love with.

I wanted to protect you / From the things that made you smile
I wanted to shield you from anything that could take away your happiness or make you sad.

My little alibi / Time couldn't change us / But we tried
You were the one constant in my life, but despite our efforts, time and circumstances have still affected our relationship.

I wanna see you cry
I want to see the raw emotion that comes out of you during a vulnerable moment.

The patterns in the trees and winds / Forgot themselves inside you
You are so in tune with nature that it has become a part of you, and you have a special connection with it.

But I was not the wind / I was an anchor just to keep you
I was not able to be as free and fluid as the wind, but instead, I was a steady force to keep you grounded and stable.

As clean, never fleeting / Like the innocence that bound you
The love and connection we shared were pure and steadfast, just like the innocence of our youth that brought us together.

And I hate to say it / But you were bad in every way / I guess I had it coming / I feel it still today
I don't like admitting it, but you were not good for me in any way, and I should have seen it coming. I still feel the pain from that realization today.

From the things that drove you wild
I wanted to protect you from anything that could cause you to lose control or become reckless.

Contributed by Josiah H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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