When the Night Kills the Day

Album: Wasted In Jackson (2010)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is a track from Tennessee-born London based singer-songwriter Lauren Pritchard's debut album, Wasted In Jackson. The song is about her fears of moving from Jackson, Tennessee to England's capital city where she didn't know anyone. Pritchard explained to Artist Direct the story behind the song: "To me, that song has quite a conflicted meaning because it's about my transition moving to London and being really afraid of going to another country. I was afraid of losing myself, my family, my friends and not knowing anyone. I know fundamentally, if you move somewhere and you lose touch, you are responsible. No one else can actually be held accountable. People might be hard to get in touch with sometimes but if you cut yourself off, that's you and you have to live with it. There's also the other side. You want to find something new and maybe get a bit lost in that. I was really freaked out about the balance. I didn't know anyone there. I only knew the people I was working with. They were taking fine care of me, and I love them. They've become very dear friends. However, at that moment in time, I was scared s--tless, and I just wanted to be back in a place where everything seemed okay and I wasn't losing touch or I didn't feel like I was losing touch.

    Now, when I look back, I completely understand why I felt like that. In some ways, it still is like that. I travel around so much now that it's evolved into a new thing. It's no longer London. It's like everywhere I go I'm saying, 'I don't want to lose touch!' The metaphor for 'When the Night Kills the Day' is important. During the daytime, people are awake. You're doing things. You're out living your life. No matter how happy or sad you are, you're at least getting out of bed and living. In the night time, everything goes still. Everybody goes home and goes to bed. That's when those fears creep. It's like that nightmare that won't go away. The lyrics are, 'Nothing can save me when the night kills the day.' In a way, that was winning for a long time."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.