Straight out of a Sacramento high school, Rose Melberg entered the indiepop 7-inch scene in 1992 with her first of many successful bands, Tiger Trap. Crunchy guitars and punk attitudes couldn't hide Rose's velvet voice and painfully-honest lyrics, and the all-girl foursome quickly became stars of a burgeoning indiepop/punk movement centered around Olympia, WA, and record labels like K and Kill Rock Stars. Too good to last, Tiger Trap split after their second U.S. tour, leaving one classic album and an EP on K Records. Wondrously prolific, Rose quickly teamed with uber-fan Jen Sbragia to form the The Softies, possibly her best-known project. With just two guitars and two angelic voices, from 1994 to 2001 The Softies debuted with a 7-inch and mini-LP on the wonderful Slumberland Records, toured the U.S. five times (once with Elliott Smith), released three amazing albums on K Records, and recorded several singles and compilation tracks.
At the same time, Rose somehow managed to front Go Sailor, who collected their sold-out and sought-after pop singles on Lookout! Records in 1997, and had two songs featured in the campy film, But I'm a Cheerleader. Never stopping, Rose also played drums on two albums with Gaze and recorded various duets and solo tracks while on tour. Those stray tracks were compiled on Portola, released by Double Agent Records in 1998. All Music Guide gave it four stars and declared: "Even in light of the uniform brilliance of Rose Melberg's past work with Tiger Trap and the Softies, her solo debut is still revelatory -- never before has her voice been so disarmingly honest and vulnerable ... Portola is a small miracle."
After giving us an avalanche of mellifluous albums to treasure, Rose kept quiet for five years while she started a family on a small Canadian lakeside town. In 2006, she came back with her solo masterpiece. Rose's maturity is immediate on Cast Away the Clouds -- long after graduating from Indiepop University, she emerged as a developed singer/songwriter akin to Nick Drake, Tracey Thorn, Elliott Smith, and Isobel Campbell (of Belle & Sebastian). With lyrics like a deeply personal journal, Cast Away the Clouds is an album Rose made for herself.
The newest album Homemade Ship was released in 2009
Truly
Rose Melberg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
What would you say
If you knew how truly I love you
Come near
Better to hear me sing
Forget everything
How I made you cry
Ooh
Ooh
I cried too many times today
The first line of the song "I cried too many times today" sets the emotional tone for the rest of the lyrics. From the very beginning, the listener understands that the song is about heartbreak and the tears that come with it. The next line, "What would you say, if you knew how truly I love you" shows that the singer is deeply in love with someone, but for some reason, that love is not being reciprocated, leading to the crying that is mentioned in the opening line.
The next lines, "Come near, better to hear me sing, forget everything, how I made you cry" show the singer's desire to reconcile with their lover. The reference to singing implies that the singer is coming from a musical background or has a talent for singing, and is using that talent as an attempt to win their lover back. However, the line "how I made you cry" hints that there may have been some wrongdoing on the singer's part that led to the break-up or rejection.
Overall, the song "Truly" is a poignant representation of the pain of heartbreak and the desire to reconcile with someone you still love. It is a raw and emotional song that many listeners can relate to.
Line by Line Meaning
I cried too many times today
Today, I have wept excessively
What would you say
If I revealed my feelings to you, what is your response?
If you knew how truly I love you
If you comprehended the sincerity of my affection for you
Come near
Draw near to me
Better to hear me sing
It is preferable to listen to me singing
Forget everything
Disregard all that transpired
How I made you cry
Recollecting how I caused you to weep
Ooh
Vociferation of emotion
Ooh
Vociferation of emotion
Ooh
Vociferation of emotion
Writer(s): Rose Melberg Copyright: Sunny And Moonbeam Music
Contributed by Ruby L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.