Songfacts®:

• UK songwriter Amanda Ghost (James Blunt's "You're Beautiful") wrote this story of two lovers who refuse to come to terms that their love is doomed. The Brit also wrote "Ave Maria" and "Satellites" for I Am…Sasha Fierce. Ghost told the Daily Telegraph November 8, 2008 that she was amazed to be contacted by Beyoncé. The Londoner explained: "She approached me through her husband, Jay, because we had been introduced and were talking about working together. He arranged a meeting and she said would I write a song for her. And I said I don't know anything about urban music. But she likes so many different styles, as does Jay-Z. The reason they wanted me was because I wasn't from that world. And we started a friendship up. We spent three weeks together in New York working on the new record and we had the most incredible time. She has a complete, almost laser-like focus on what she is and what she can do."
• Amanda Ghost's longtime songwriting collaborator, the one-time EMF band member Ian Dench, told Q magazine April 2009 that Ghost is unfazed by big name acts. He cited Beyoncé's recording of this song, explaining that the Texan had never done a ballad straight before. "Amanda said, 'No vocal gymnastics. Just sing it.'"