Alarm

Album: Speak Your Mind (2016)
Charted: 16
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • British singer-songwriter Anne-Marie is a former child star. She started performing professionally in musical theatre at the age of six and starred alongside a young Jessie J in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End production of Whistle Down The Wind. Alongside singing and dancing, Anne-Marie trains in karate, where she's a three-time world champion in the shotokan discipline.
  • Anne-Marie penned this cautionary narrative when she was concerned that a boyfriend was going to dump her. "It's about a boy who was with someone else, then we got together and he left her," she explained to Q magazine. "I was constantly thinking 'you could do that to me.'"
  • Fancy some etymology? The word "alarm" started out as the exclamation "to arms!" coming from Italian all' arme! The spelling "alarum" existed in English in early times because the "r" was rolled when pronouncing the word. This led to one of Shakespeare's choice stage directions "alarums and excursions", found in Henry VI and Richard III. The a stage direction meant that all the extras dressed as soldiers were to dash about the stage shouting "To arms,!" giving the impression of embarking on military action.
  • Other artists that have sung songs with the word "alarm" in the title include Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Scars On 45 and Josh Groban.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")Song Writing

Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions Answered

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions AnsweredSong Writing

10 Questions for the author of Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces

Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Greg talks about writing songs of "universal truth" for King Crimson and ELP, and tells us about his most memorable stage moment (it involves fireworks).

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine Band

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine BandSongwriter Interviews

Harry Wayne Casey tells the stories behind KC and The Sunshine Band hits like "Get Down Tonight," "That's The Way (I Like It)," and "Give It Up."

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And Hell

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And HellSongwriter Interviews

Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.