Her Words Destroyed My Planet

Album: My Dinosaur Life (2010)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is a track from My Dinosaur Life, the fourth studio album by American pop punk band Motion City Soundtrack.
  • On this track, frontman Justin Pierre wonders what direction his life might have taken had an ex-girlfriend not broken up with him in late 2006. "This is the most honest song I've ever written," Pierre told Spin magazine. He continued: "There are [people] that I've run into that blame the direction or outcome of their lives on a single incident. This idea has always fascinated me. Had the woman not split up with me, I would most likely not have spiraled out of control to the point of no return, which allowed me to start over from scratch. What seemed like a tragedy three years ago turned out to be the best thing for both parties involved."
  • In the song's first verse, Pierre sings about falling asleep watching American TV series Veronica Mars, a reference to the moment he began to write the tune. He recalled to Spin magazine: "I had just finished watching the final season of Veronica Mars on DVD, so I was relatively upset that there would be no more episodes."
  • Motion City Soundtrack guitarist Joshua Cain explained the My Dinosaur Life album title to MTV News: "Justin [Pierre] came up with the title. It was some quote that he was saying all the time, and we all liked it, so he put it in the lyrics. We liked the idea of it, because there are a lot of different meanings: being out of place, being old. We like that it has many meanings."
  • Pierre explained how the song came to be written to the Alternative Press: "During a break in the recording of My Dinosaur Life, I was back in Minneapolis watching the final season of Veronica Mars. I was traipsing about the apartment again with an acoustic guitar when I stumbled across the ugly and brutally honest intro and chorus to this song. I brought the idea to the boys and Josh [Cain, guitar] fleshed it out completely, writing the bridge and instrumental parts as well. I then wrote the rest of the words to what he had constructed. This is probably the most honest song I've ever written and it took writing the song to finally overcome the feelings I was writing about."
  • CMU asked Pierre what inspired My Dinosaur Life. He replied: "The last couple years of my life. Although, I didn't know that at the onset. It is quite fascinating to me that the order of the songs on the record traces an almost perfect trajectory of my life, from the recording of last album Even If It Kills Me to the beginning stages of this one."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee JonesSongwriter Interviews

Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.

Amy Lee of Evanescence

Amy Lee of EvanescenceSongwriter Interviews

The Evanescence frontwoman on the songs that have shifted meaning and her foray into kids' music.

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)Songwriter Interviews

The co-writer/guitarist on many Alice Cooper hits, Dick was also Lou Reed's axeman on the Rock n' Roll Animal album.

Amanda Palmer

Amanda PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse Pop

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse PopSong Writing

Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.

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.