Say Something

Album: The Speed of Now Part 1 (2020)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • When Keith Urban received this song, the first verse had already been written by Lindy Robbins, Celine Svanbäck, Scott Quinn, and EMAN8. Lindy Robbins had steered the lyrical direction into a social justice call to speak out about things you believe in and want to see changed. Urban told them he'd love to finish the song off with a more personal second verse about being raised in a house with a father who encouraged him not to speak out. His dad had told him to put his beliefs into his music, and live his life by his principles, rather than speaking them out loud.

    Urban told The Boot: "There's a lot of truth in that. It's a little bit like what Gandhi said - you know, when they said to Gandhi, 'What's your message?' he goes, 'My life is my message.' And I've always admired that approach, but there are times when we should be speaking up and saying something.

    And my own connection to that moved toward my family I was raised in and times I wished I'd spoken up in that environment, 'cause we didn't talk about anything. 'When I get close, I close up. Intimacy's so hard for me and I get stuck' - that's how I was raised. And there was so many times we should have said something. We didn't talk about stuff; we just didn't talk about it. We should have said something in the home, so I wanted to make sure that got covered in that song as well."
  • Urban produced the song with Danish songwriter/producer Cutfather, with whom he also collaborated on the Pink duet "One Too Many" and another Danish producer, Jeppe London Bilsby.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Dan Reed

Dan ReedSongwriter Interviews

Dan cracked the Top 40 with "Ritual," then went to India and spent 2 hours with the Dalai Lama.

Tom Johnston from The Doobie Brothers

Tom Johnston from The Doobie BrothersSongwriter Interviews

The Doobies guitarist and lead singer, Tom wrote the classics "Listen To The Music," "Long Train Runnin'" and "China Grove."

Boz Scaggs

Boz ScaggsSongwriter Interviews

The "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle" singer makes a habit of playing with the best in the business.

Rosanne Cash

Rosanne CashSongwriter Interviews

Rosanne talks about the journey that inspired her songs on her album The River & the Thread, including a stop at the Tallahatchie Bridge.

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' Albums

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' AlbumsSong Writing

With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums.

Jonathan Edwards - "Sunshine"

Jonathan Edwards - "Sunshine"They're Playing My Song

"How much does it cost? I'll buy it?" Another songwriter told Jonathan to change these lyrics. Good thing he ignored this advice.