Story Behind The Song
I was sitting in a hotel room in Amagansett, NY and playing some melodies on my guitar and picked up this semi-sweet B-minor based chord progression and went from there. In reality the song was mainly written for a friend who had just split with her long-term boyfriend and a lot of the lyrics sprung from there. Originally, the song was much shorter (no solo or bridge) and slower, but after I played it for my buddy Mike Contino, he started playing it a different way and thus was created Tell Me Your Name as we know it today.
Song Description
Two people broke up and he still feels something for her, though he acknowledges her mistakes and personality flaws. He wants to love her for who she is, but realizes he can't (thus the bridge where he tells her that he wants to find her "...where the world can't catch you but you're somebody else". He comes to terms with the fact that maybe he didn't put out as much love as he could have ("I'll let my love soar"), and the whole idea behind "tell me your name" is that he knows her physically but feels like there's still a lot mentally that she's holding back from him. He knows her, but wants to know more, almost like he knows her surface name, but not one that properly describes who she is as a person.
| Song Length |
4:15 |
Genre |
Rock - Indie/Low-Fi, Rock - Alternative |
| Tempo |
Tempo Undefined |
Lead Vocal |
Male Vocal |
| Mood |
Troubled, Content |
Subject |
Lost Love, Breaking Up |
| Similar Artists |
Emerson, Lake And Palmer, Foreigner |
Language |
English |
| Era |
2000 and later |
| |
Lyrics
It's not a question of whether we're meant to be, its more the answer, the question's what we're seeking.
I've been around long enough, long enough to see, when the movie's over, it's just gonna be you and me.
I've seen you before, look my way again, and tell me your name. I'll let my love soar, look my way again, and tell me your name.
Look inside yourself, search the maze of time, try to know your mind, its just what you've been looking for.
Finding someone else, tell yourself you're fine, you won't cross over, you know its still a fine line.
I've seen you before, look my way again, and tell me your name. I'll let my love soar, look my way again, and tell me your name.
You tell yourself you just can't love, but your tears say something else. I want to find you flying high above, where the world can't catch you but you're somebody else.
I've seen you before, look my way again, and tell me your name. I'll let my love soar, look my way again and tell me your name. x2