Lonely

Album: Go to School (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is a track from Go to School, a concept album that tells the story of Shane, a chimpanzee raised as a human boy who goes to school.

    This raw, personal song was written by the band's Michael D'Addario when he was 15 about being lonely at school. As it was written from the perspective of a teenager he thought it would be cool to include it on the record because it was so genuine. Michael explained to Billboard:

    "It's got a line about waiting outside of school for your parents, and then the other people talking about hanging out, but they don't mention, 'Why don't you come?' And that's silly, but I think I wrote that a couple years ago when I was 15.

    So, when we were recording it this year, I decided, 'Let's just do it exactly the way I wrote it then.' It was really genuine and it's rare for things to be produced on this scale, but have a lyric that came from a real 15-year-old heart. It's even more interesting than just being a guy who writes musicals and putting yourself in the 15-year-old's shoes. Things like that happened, a lot of natural things like that. It was a natural process."
  • Q magazine asked Brian D'Addario why they chose to make a monkey the lead character of their concept album. He replied: "We were thinking about this totally innocent, very pure character who came from a different place to all the other characters in the story, who came from a more cynical place. We thought, 'Oh, maybe this could explain why he's unlike the rest of them, why he's more in tune with his soul, because he hasn't been corrupted."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

Concert Disasters

Concert DisastersFact or Fiction

Ozzy biting a dove? Alice Cooper causing mayhem with a chicken? Creed so bad they were sued? See if you can spot the real concert mishaps.

Jimmy Webb

Jimmy WebbSongwriter Interviews

Webb talks about his classic songs "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman" and "MacArthur Park."

Julian Lennon

Julian LennonSongwriter Interviews

Julian tells the stories behind his hits "Valotte" and "Too Late for Goodbyes," and fills us in on his many non-musical pursuits. Also: what MTV meant to his career.

Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy and Black Star Riders

Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy and Black Star RidersSongwriter Interviews

Writing with Phil Lynott, Scott saw their ill-fated frontman move to a darker place in his life and lyrics.

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.