Lyrical Overanalysis: Harry Styles' "Don't Let Me Go"

As far back as I can remember (and maybe this is owing to the fact that I was an English and Psychology double major in college ... though I think that's more the effect, not the cause), I've liked picking apart song lyrics. I've mostly stopped doing this, since I think most song lyrics these days are written practically on autopilot. Pop song? ABCBDBB and maybe 2 lines of A to outro, especially if you're Taylor Swift. If you're writing for a male singer, throw in a couple of "girl"s.

You get the picture.

This past week, a song recorded and mostly written by One Direction's Harry Styles (yes, without the other 4 guys, the ones that most people over the age of 25 don't even realize exist) was discovered on the internet. It was posted by New Zealand songwriter and producer Sam McCarthy (who did the music and production for the song) about 8 months ago, though young Harry sounds a good deal younger than he did in Novemberish.

 

For me, any solo venture (whether it be for fun or business) is exciting, because it's a way for the individual to express him or herself. And for me to, for lack of a better phrase, "pick their brain."

So here are the lyrics to the great gem that is "Don't Let Me Go" by Harry E. Styles:

now you were standing there, right in front of me
I hold on, it's getting harder to breathe
all of a sudden these lights are blinding me
I never noticed how bright they would be
I saw in the corner there is a photograph
no doubt in my mind it's a picture of you
it lies there alone in its bed of broken glass
this bed was never made for two
I'll keep my eyes wide open
I'll keep my arms wide open 

Chorus:
don't let me
don't let me
don't let me go
'cause I'm tired of feelin' alone
don't let me
don't let me go
'cause I'm tired of feelin' alone 

I promised one day that I'd bring you back a star
I caught one and it burned a hole in my hand, oh
seems like these days I watch you from afar
just tryin' to make you understand
I'll keep my eyes wide open, yeah 

Chorus // Electric Guitar Break 

don't let me
don't let me
don't let me go (sung by Sam McCarthy?)
'cause I'm tired of feelin' alone
don't let me
don't let me
don't let me go
'cause I'm tired of feelin' alone 

don't let me
don't let me go
'cause I'm tired of sleeping alone

My memory isn't what it was when I was 15, when I could memorize oodles and oodles of song lyrics within 3 listens, but this song was easy as 1-2-3 to get down. Probably because there aren't even two proper stanzas, and the chorus consists mostly of the same three words. But I like a man who keeps you guessing.

I'm not going to venture to guess who or what this song is about (though my guess is NOT Taylor Swift), but I will offer you a quick non-professional psychoanalysis session, free of charge. There's one thing that stands out to me that speaks louder to me than anything else: "don't let me go / 'cause I'm tired of feelin' alone" or "don't let me go / 'cause I'm tired of sleeping alone." I don't know if Harry was being a lazy songwriter or just plain evasive, but the way those lines are written comes across as quite selfish. At best, maybe there's a deeper, maybe even subconscious reason for his loneliness that he hasn't yet unearthed.

(As a side note, in an interview Ed Sheeran did earlier this year with U.S. radio station 95.5 WPLJ, Ed revealed that "The strangest thing about Harry is he lived at my flat for a while, but he had a house, he had two houses ... this was like a couple of months ago. He had two very posh houses in London and he'd just come and stay ... He lives just at his mates' houses. It's cool 'cause obviously he gets to see his friends every day and you wouldn't want to be in a big house on your own.'' Hmm.)

Overall, the song is pretty good. It's catchier than it is a lyrical masterpiece, but that's all it really takes to sell a song these days. (The song was pulled from SoundCloud shortly after its widespread discovery, which makes me think that perhaps the song was never made for the public to hear.) My favorite lines are "I saw in the corner there is a photograph / no doubt in my mind it's a picture of you / it lies there alone in its bed of broken glass / this bed was never made for two" just because of the seamless transition between the two different ideas. All it takes is a glance at Harry's Twitter page to know that he's got a way with words and wit.

This is a good start for Harry -- just the right amount of vague, angsty, sentimental, romantic to win girls over for years to come. It's feels a little lazy or amateur in parts, as if he's run out of words to rhyme and has chosen something generic ("hand" and "understand"/the whole of the chorus), but that's understandable for a beginner. Vocally, the recording highlights the fact that Harry Styles isn't a particularly expert vocalist, but he has enough of what it takes to be a lead singer and angsty acoustic rock "star."

Let's compare this writing sample to a little love poem 15-year-old Harry Styles wrote for his then-girlfriend Felicity Skinner in 2009, shall we?

source: er, Felicity May Skinner's Facebook page? And all of Tumblr

He's come a long, long way.