Slean recorded her first EP Universe (1997) at the age of nineteen. Since then she has completed a series of albums including: Blue Parade (1998), Night Bugs (2002), and Day One (2004), The Baroness (2008) and the double album Land & Sea (2011).
Night Bugs was her first major label album, co-produced by Slean and Hawksley Workman, and released by WEA in Canada and Atlantic Records in the United States. It was heavily inspired by cabaret music.
In September 2004, Slean released her fourth album, Day One. Here Slean's piano takes a less important spot for the first time in her career. The focus is more on beats, rhythms and guitar, which shines through in the album's first single "Lucky Me". The up-tempo title track "Day One", and "Mary", a song about Slean's grandmother, were released as the second and third singles.
In October 2006, Slean released a mostly-live album, Orphan Music, which consists of songs recorded live at Toronto's Harbourfront Theatre and the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Other new tracks featuring Slean and the piano were recorded at DNA Recording Facility in Toronto and Kensaltown Studios in the UK.
Also in 2006, she contributed two tracks ("Us and Them" and "Comfortably Numb") to Pink Floyd Redux, a modern 12-track tribute to Pink Floyd.
Her sixth album The Baroness was released March 2008. An EP with outtakes from the album, entitled The Baroness Redecorates, was released in December of the same year.
Another set of B-sides was released in December 2010. For Beauty Lives, fans could vote for their favourite previously unrecorded track. The ten top songs were recorded especially for the collection.
Slean released the double album Land & Sea in September 2011. It is a concept album, where the songs on Land represent grounded topics and are generally more poppy, while the songs on Sea are more ethereal in subject matter and feature classical arrangements.
Slean released Metaphysics in 2017.
For photos and additional information check out Sarah Slean's official website, www.SarahSlean.com.
I Do
Sarah Slean Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When I gaze at the skies
My death is a flute
And it fills up my eyes
Do you wake in the night
To the eyes you don't see
To the horrible sound
I do, Oh I do
No I do, I do
Should we listen to love
The emergency there
Leaves a man with a cane
At the end of the stairs
I embraced my ?????
And I throw myself in
I believe ????
To believe way I spin
I do, Oh I do
No I do, I do
In the song "I Do" by Sarah Slean, she first sings about a fear of the stars and how they make her feel overwhelmed with the idea of death. The metaphor of death being a flute suggests that it is music that she cannot fully comprehend or control, adding to the fear. This fear brings her to question if others also wake in the night and feel afraid of the unknown, mortality maybe. The line "Of your heart beating free" could symbolize the fear of the end of love as well, since love is often correlated with one's heart.
The second verse starts with a question if love is worth following, but it is then contrasted with an image of an emergency hotline that is not helpful since it leaves a man with a cane at the end of stairs. This imagery could signify that even though love is deemed an emergency that people must follow, it does not always have the perfect answers. Then, Slean brings in a personal experience, where she embraces her "anything" and "throws" herself into it, despite not having a safety net. The question here is whether or not Slean does so out of fear or hope. The final "I do" suggests that she has found faith and the need to continue pursuing the unknown.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm afraid of the stars
The vastness of the universe makes me feel small and insignificant, and therefore scared.
When I gaze at the skies
Whenever I look up into the night sky.
My death is a flute
The inevitability of my own mortality is a constant presence in my life.
And it fills up my eyes
It's always on my mind and affects me emotionally.
Do you wake in the night
Do you ever find yourself suddenly awake in the middle of the night?
To the eyes you don't see
And feel as though someone or something is watching you, even though no one is there?
To the horrible sound
And as your heart beats uncontrollably, it feels like the most unsettling thing in the world.
Of your heart beating free
As if it's trying to tell you something important or warn you of danger.
I do, Oh I do
Yes, I've definitely experienced this before
No I do, I do
Actually, it happens to me frequently, and it's terrifying every time.
Should we listen to love
Do you think it's wise to put all our faith in love?
The emergency there
When love is all we have left to cling to
Leaves a man with a cane
It's like being left to limp along with just a stick for support.
At the end of the stairs
When you've reached the end of your rope and have nowhere else to go.
I embraced my ????
I fully accepted my own flaws and imperfections.
And I throw myself in
And I wholeheartedly committed to a particular course of action or way of life.
I believe ????
I have faith in myself and the path that I have chosen.
To believe way I spin
I understand that my worldview is unique and may not make sense to others, but I still believe in it wholeheartedly.
Contributed by Christopher W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.