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
The City
Sarah Harmer Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I got there and you wanted to get away
The city was too grey for us
We slept through the blue skies under clouds of the duvet
And the streets were all to straight for us
A parade of nobility seen from above
But the city is to blame for us and what was our love
It's places to meet up under the light
The city's got its stake in us
It's keeping receipts of our hello's and our hi's
And everything is made of dust
From the backs of the comets to the little street mice
The city takes so long to get quiet and lust wasn't sleeping that night
Before we knew it we knew it was right
Before we blew it I didn't know that we might
And now it's somebody's story and I'm not sorry that it's mine
Before we knew it we were out of time
The city says 'oh if I could'
But the rain-soaked battered view makes you not sure
Am I walking in your neighbourhood?
I was just driving by the rained-out streets where we once were
And even though it's way too late
Time seems to have stopped still where we stood
You ran back in and you're somewhere in the city
You're somewhere in the city and I hope you're good
In the song "The City," Sarah Harmer sings about the relationship between her and her partner being affected by the city they live in. The city was too late for them, indicating that they arrived there at a time that was too little too late. The grey skies, the straight streets, and the fall of their love are all attributed to the city. The city itself is portrayed as having too much stake in their relationship, keeping receipts of their hellos and their goodbyes. The city's effect on their relationship is stressed by the repetition of the phrase "The city was too."
Throughout the song, the lyrics evoke a sense of regret as they deal with what could have been. Harmer sings about how there was a moment when they knew it was right, just before they blew it. She's not sorry that it's her story, and the lyrics suggest that they were meant to be but simply ran out of time.
Line by Line Meaning
The city was too late for us
We had missed our chance in the city
I got there and you wanted to get away
Upon arriving, you wanted to leave the city
The city was too grey for us
The city lacked color and vibrancy for us
We slept through the blue skies under clouds of the duvet
We missed the beauty of the skies while staying in bed
And the streets were all too straight for us
The uniformity of the city's streets was unappealing to us
A parade of nobility seen from above
The city's inhabitants are observed together like royalty
But the city is to blame for us and what was our love
The city had a negative impact on our relationship
The city makes you make a fuss
The city forces one to be social and outgoing
It's places to meet up under the light
The city has lit meeting spots for social gatherings
The city's got its stake in us
The city has influenced and claimed a part of us
It's keeping receipts of our hello's and our hi's
The city remembers our basic social interactions
And everything is made of dust
All things in the city are temporary and fleeting
From the backs of the comets to the little street mice
Everything in the city, from the grandest to the smallest things, is made of the same impermanent material
The city takes so long to get quiet and lust wasn't sleeping that night
It took a long time for the city to quiet down that night, and our desire was active the whole time
Before we knew it we knew it was right
Our relationship felt right before we realized it
Before we blew it I didn't know that we might
I didn't realize that our relationship could end badly
And now it's somebody's story and I'm not sorry that it's mine
Our relationship is now a story that someone else might tell, and I don't regret it
Before we knew it we were out of time
Our relationship was over before we knew it
The city says 'oh if I could'
The city expresses regret for playing a part in our relationship's end
But the rain-soaked battered view makes you not sure
The city's current appearance leaves one uncertain
Am I walking in your neighbourhood?
I wonder if I'm walking where you used to live
I was just driving by the rained-out streets where we once were
I was driving by the streets where we had been together when it was raining
And even though it's way too late
Even though the relationship is over, the feeling remains
Time seems to have stopped still where we stood
The memory of where we stood remains vivid in my mind
You ran back in and you're somewhere in the city
You returned to the city and remain there somewhere
You're somewhere in the city and I hope you're good
I hope you're doing well in the city
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind