Harmer gained her first exposure to the musician's lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sister Mary started taking her to concerts by the then-unknown The Tragically Hip. At the age of 17, she was invited to join a Toronto band, The Saddletramps. For three years, she juggled The Saddletramps with her studies in philosophy and women's studies at Queen's University.
After leaving The Saddletramps, Harmer put together a band of her own with several Kingston, Ontario musicians, and settled on the name Weeping Tile. The band released its first independent cassette in 1994. Soon afterward, they signed to a major label, and the cassette was re-released in 1995 as eepee. The band quickly became a popular draw on the rock club circuit and on campus radio with their subsequent albums, but never broke through to the mainstream, and broke up in 1998 after being dropped from their label.
Also in 1998, Harmer recorded a set of pop standards as a Christmas gift for her father. After hearing it, her friends and family convinced her to release it as an album, and in 1999 she released it independently as Songs for Clem. Harmer quickly began working on another album, and in 2000, she released You Were Here.
A poppier, more laid-back effort than her work with Weeping Tile, You Were Here became Harmer's mainstream breakthrough, spawning the hits "Basement Apartment" and "Don't Get Your Back Up". The album also appeared on many critics' year-end lists, including TIME magazine, which called it the year's best debut album. It was eventually certified platinum for sales of 100,000 copies in Canada. Almost half of the album (including both of its major hits) consisted of songs she had previously recorded with Weeping Tile or The Saddletramps.
In 2004, she released All of Our Names. The album included the singles "Almost", which made the top 20 on Canadian pop charts, and "Pendulums". The album has a rustic earthy live-of-the-floor sound with some of the instrumentation, programming pre-production recording conducted in her home Northeast of Kingston, Ontario. The album was co-produced by Gavin Brown [Metric, Billy Talent, The Tragically Hip,]
Her fourth album, I'm A Mountain, was released in Canada on November 8, 2005. Sarah has performed and canvased in support of the NDP and Marilyn Churley, her friend in the fight for the protection of the Niagara Escarpment. The album states that it has been: "Engineered, mixed and produced by Sarah Harmer and Martin Davis Kinack at her house."
In 2010, Sarah released her fifth release, Oh Little Fire, which was co-produced by Gavin Brown, who assisted with her earlier All Our Names and features Neko Case on guest vocals.
Sarah, during her five year break between her last two recordings, appeared as a guest vocalist on other artists' albums, including Blue Rodeo, Neko Case, Bruce Cockburn, Great Big Sea, Rheostatics, The Skydiggers and The Weakerthans.
Discography
1999 - Songs for Clem
2000 - You Were Here
2004 - All of Our Names
2005 - I'm A Mountain
2010 - Oh Little Fire
Coffee Stain
Sarah Harmer Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Around your eye
And lines that I don't recognize
Everything changed
From being okay
The night that you came home
So late
On the stove
That you were no longer
Mine alone
I guess we're all
Just out on loan
And everybody is only
Their own
Oh I loved you
And I guess I still do
Everything was going so good
That I thought something bad might happen
And then it did
If you know the difference
Bettween bad and good
Thought that I'd know
But I cross my toes
And that's how it goes
Maybe I'm a fatalist
To let it all go at this
Like some balloon
I'll probably miss
Lost in a treetop
Sarah Harmer's song Coffee Stain tells a story of love, loss, and acceptance. It starts off with the recognition of a coffee stain around the eye of a loved one, suggesting that something is wrong. There are lines on their face that the singer doesn't recognize, symbolizing a change that has occurred. The night the loved one came home late was the night everything changed from being okay. The time on the stove suggests that the loved one was no longer the singer's alone, and that they had been unfaithful. The singer comes to a realization that everyone is only out for themselves and that nothing is permanent.
The chorus of the song discusses the singer's continued love for the person despite everything that has happened. They thought that something bad might happen, and it did. The singer questions whether they really understand the difference between good and bad, before admitting that they accept the situation for what it is.
The final verse suggests that the singer has accepted the situation, perhaps in a fatalistic way, and is willing to let it go. They use the metaphor of a balloon that they will probably miss, lost in a treetop. This suggests that the love they had for the person was real, and that it has left a mark on their life.
Overall, Sarah Harmer's Coffee Stain is a poignant exploration of the impermanence of love and the acceptance of its loss. Despite the pain that comes with relationships ending, the song suggests that there is still beauty to be found in accepting that nothing lasts forever.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a coffee stain
The singer notices a coffee stain around their lover's eye and it suggests something happened while they were together
Around your eye
The coffee stain is around the lover's eye
And lines that I don't recognize
The singer notices a change in their lover's face and expressions they cannot recognize
Everything changed
The relationship with the lover and the singer turns sour
From being okay
Things were good between them before, but it changed suddenly
The night that you came home
The night when their lover came home, things changed for the worse
So late
Their lover came home very late at night
And I know by the time
The singer understands by the time they realize something big had changed
On the stove
The time on the stove is how the singer knows something is not right
That you were no longer
By the time, they realize the relationship with their lover is no longer theirs
Mine alone
The relationship the singer thought was only theirs is shared with others now
I guess we're all
The singer realizes that everyone is different
Just out on loan
We just borrow people we love, they don't belong to us forever
And everybody is only
Everyone is only what they are
Their own
They only belong to themselves
Oh I loved you
The singer loved their lover
And I guess I still do
The singer still has feelings for their lover
Everything was going so good
The relationship was going so well for the singer
That I thought something bad might happen
The singer thought things were too good to be true and feared something bad would happen
And then it did
The fear of something bad coming true became a reality
If you know the difference
If you know the difference between good and bad
Bettween bad and good
The difference between bad and good
Thought that I'd know
The singer thought they knew the difference
But I cross my toes
The singer isn't confident that they truly know the difference and hopes that crossing their toes will change the outcome
And that's how it goes
That's just how life goes
Maybe I'm a fatalist
The singer thinks they may be bound to fate
To let it all go at this
The singer is letting go of the relationship because they think it's fate
Like some balloon
Letting go of the relationship feels like letting go of a balloon
I'll probably miss
The singer knows they will probably miss the relationship they had
Lost in a treetop
The singer feels lost like a balloon that got stuck in a treetop
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind