Composed from a place of deep turmoil, lead singer Lucas Silveira began work on the Cliks' second album following the highly successful tours behind sophomore release Snakehouse. The band's incendiary live shows became the calling card by which they were known, and in short order, musical heroes Ian Astbury of the Cult and Cyndi Lauper hand-picked the band for their respective tours. Late-night bookers were listening too, and soon the Cliks found themselves on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, not to mention a very special performance Lucas did with Cyndi Lauper on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The band picked up momentum and fans when Logo awarded them the NewNowNext Artist On the Brink Award which ultimately led to an appearance on teenybopper mecca TRL to discuss their plans for the future.
Though critically lauded and publicly adored, Silveira returned road weary and emotionally shattered. Having spent 400 days on the road touring behind Snakehouse, Silveira was eager to return home, but home wasn't the reprieve he'd hoped it would be. "The album is based around defeat, lies, deception, loss of trust in others and yourself," explains Silveira. "I wrote the album coming from a really lonely place." Indeed, the album plumbs difficult depths in the form of relationships and identity politics, as did the band's Warner Music debut, Snakehouse, but here, there is a redemptive quality absent from the band's previous output. The price of that, however, is eternal vigilance. "Dirty King is more about having risen out of the ashes, being on your feet, but constantly having to dodge people trying to knock you down," says Silveira.
With their rise out of the ashes comes new sonic territory for the band. Their most adventurous album to date finds the band teamed with producer-engineer Sylvia Massy (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tool) at her Weed, California based Radio Star Studios. "She's my kind of producer," says drummer Morgan Doctor. "She doesn't come from a singer-songwriter background, but an engineering background, so she's more about creating sound and texture in the studio." Massy's studio -- filled with enough amps, effects and instruments to make it a veritable playground for musicians – served as the band's bedrock to create the full range of the album's sounds and correlating emotions, from the jagged rock of its denials to the soulful balladry of its admissions.
The album's namesake, and perhaps the clearest distillation of Silveira's emotional state during the writing of the album, is "Dirty King." Based on the gulf between how Silveira felt and how he was perceived, the song slides in on a surf guitar riff as Silveira alternates between a vamp and growl, teasing out the chorus in a voice that manages to sound menacing and seductive at once. Elsewhere, the band changes gears on the mournful "Not Your Boy" and "Emily," the catchiest evidence of the band's expanding sound. "'Emily' is definitely a big leap for the Cliks as a band, but for myself as a songwriter, I have lots of songs like this under my belt. I just never introduced them to the band because I didn't feel like it was ‘Cliks' material," says Silveira of the waltzing, string-laden track that's more dulcet than biting. The song's inclusion is a testament to the direction of Massy, who encouraged Silveira to continue writing after he'd played her an early version. The song also demonstrates Massy's analog approach, and the adventurousness of the band. Where most producers would have downloaded the sound of glass breaking to use on the track, the band and producer headed out onto the streets of Weed to procure their own found noise. "We were out late at night on the main street of Weed, breaking a huge piece of glass and recording it live," says Doctor.
Dirty King also sees the band writing together, as well as playing. After bassist Jen Benton wrote the bassline for "Career Suicide" while on tour, she began playing it at soundcheck. Doctor suggested she continue developing it, and ultimately all three would collaborate to write it. "On tour Lucas and I came up with the pre-chorus together, [and] we put together the chorus and the bridge, which was written to a very rhythmically defined beat Morgan came up with," says Benton. "It was a great experience for [us]."
Despite themselves, the Cliks couldn't help but make a record that made order out of tumult and sense out of turbulence. With pop hooks lacing the rock spines The Cliks are known for, the songs inhabit the specificity of the circumstances under which they were written, all the while appealing to broader audience ."
Cry Me A River
The Cliks Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But you didn't know all the
Ways that I loved you, no
So you took a chance made other plans
But I bet you didn't know your
World would come crumbling down, no
You don't have to say what you did
Now there's just no chance for you and me
We'll never be
And don't it make you sad about it?
You told me you loved me
Why did you leave me all alone?
You told me you love me
When you call me on the phone
Girl I refuse, you must have me confused
With some other guy
Your bridges were burned and
Now it's your turn to cry, cry me a river
Cry me a river cry me a river
Cry me a river, yeah, yeah
I know that they say
That some things are better left unsaid
It wasn't like you only talked to him
And you know it
(don't act like you don't know it)
All of the these things people tell me
Keep messing with my head
You should have picked honesty
And you may not have blown it
You don't have to say what you did
I already know, I found out from him
Now there's just no chance for you and me
We'll never be
And don't it make you sad about it?
You told me you loved me
Why did you leave me all alone?
You told me you love me
When you call me on the phone
Girl I refuse, you must have me confused
With some other guy
Your bridges are burned and
Now it's your turn to cry, cry me a river
Cry me a river cry me a river
Cry me a river the damage is done
So I guess I'll be leaving
The damage is done
So I guess I'll be leaving
The damage is done
So I guess I'll be leaving
The damage is done
So I guess I'll be leaving
You don't have to say what you did
I already know, I found out from him
Now there's just no chance for you and me
We'll never be
And don't it make you sad about it?
You told me you loved me
Why did you leave me all alone?
You told me you love me
When you call me on the phone
Oh, girl I refuse, you must have me confused
With some other guy
Your bridges are burned and
Now it's your turn to cry, cry me a river
Cry me a river cry me a river
You can go on and just cry me a river
Cry me a river you can go on and just
Cry me a river cry me a river
The Cliks’ song Cry Me A River is a powerful break-up ballad where the singer expresses the pain of betrayal and heartbreak that they feel after being left alone. In the beginning, the lyrics reveal the deep love and bond between the singer and their partner, saying that they were their “sun” and “earth” but the partner did not understand the extent of their love. The partner took a chance, made other plans, and left the singer’s world crumbling down, leading to a failed relationship.
Throughout the song, the singer expresses their feelings of despair and sadness at the end of the relationship. They know that their partner cheated on them with someone else and found out about it from the person who the partner cheated with. The singer refuses to believe their partner’s false declarations of love over the phone and urges them to cry a river to show their remorse for their actions. The singer is now ready to leave the relationship and move on, letting their partner suffer the consequences of their betrayal while they start anew.
Overall, Cry Me A River is a powerful song that speaks to the hurt and pain that people feel when their hearts are broken by betrayal.
Line by Line Meaning
You were my sun you were my earth
You were my everything, my world revolved around you
But you didn't know all the Ways that I loved you, no
But you were never aware of the depth of my feelings for you
So you took a chance made other plans
So you took a risk and decided to pursue something else
But I bet you didn't know your World would come crumbling down, no
But I'm sure you never expected your life to fall apart because of your decision
You don't have to say what you did
You don't need to explain your actions
I already know, I found out from him
I already know the truth, someone else told me
Now there's just no chance for you and me
We have no future together
We'll never be
Our relationship is over, we'll never get back together
And don't it make you sad about it?
Doesn't this situation make you feel upset and regretful?
You told me you loved me
You professed your love to me
Why did you leave me all alone?
Why did you abandon me and leave me on my own?
When you call me on the phone
When you try to reach out to me via phone
Girl I refuse, you must have me confused
I reject your attempts to reconcile, you must be mistaken about my feelings
With some other guy
You must be confusing me with someone else
Your bridges were burned and
You destroyed the bridges between us
Now it's your turn to cry, cry me a river
Now you're the one who's suffering and crying over the situation
I know that they say That some things are better left unsaid
I'm aware that people say some things should be kept to oneself
It wasn't like you only talked to him
It's not as if you only had a casual conversation with him
And you know it (don't act like you don't know it)
And you're well aware of what actually happened (don't pretend that you're not)
All of the these things people tell me Keep messing with my head
All of the things people tell me are causing confusion and emotional turmoil
You should have picked honesty And you may not have blown it
You should have chosen to be truthful and perhaps this situation wouldn't have escalated
Cry me a river the damage is done
I don't want to hear your apologies or explanations, the harm has already been done
So I guess I'll be leaving
So I'm assuming I'll be the one to walk away from this situation
You can go on and just cry me a river
You can continue crying and suffering over this situation
Cry me a river you can go on and just
Keep crying over this situation, it doesn't affect me anymore
Cry me a river cry me a river
Continue crying over your own mistakes, it's not my problem anymore
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Justin R. Timberlake, Timothy Z. Mosley, Scott Spencer Storch
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind