Lyrics: Out of My Head

Julia Murney singing "Out of My Head" live at Birdland.

Escapism and emotional repression are not exactly unfamiliar themes for us.  They pop up in a lot of our work.  Apparently they’re not entirely unfamiliar some other people either, as this song has become one of our most popular pieces.

I wrote the lyrics to this song fresh off of a breakup, in one of my particularly emo moods.  Usually, the stuff I write in such a frame of mine comes off as particularly sappy and cliched when I look at it a couple of weeks later.  This time, though, it didn’t turn out too badly.

Interestingly enough, the idea for the hook of the song came to me while I was walking down Third Avenue listening to the Dave Matthews song “Out of My Hands”.  One simple word change led to a way to sum up exactly what I wanted to say.

Natalie Weiss has sung the song a number of times for us, including the version on our album.  Here’s a clip.

Here’s Natalie singing the very first public performance of the song at the Laurie Beechman Theater.

Lyrics after the jump.

Out of My Head

I lived life in daydreams,
Avoiding what was real.
When you’re lost in daydreams
You never have to feel.

Distance was my comfort.
I left the world behind.
Found safety in illusion.
Escaped in my mind.

But your eyes convinced me
That I was wrong somehow.
In them I saw the beauty
Of living here and now.

You brought me out of my head
For a while.
So out of my head
For just a little while.
Lying there in your bed
And watching you smile
Brought me out of my head
For a while.

Your tender arms surround me
With a warmth I never knew.
They pull me to the present.
They pull me close to you.

Our lips whisper secrets
Our bodies intertwine
And something close to happy
Is suddenly mine.

You brought me out of my head
For a while.
So out of my head
For just a little while.
Lying there in your bed
And watching you smile
Brought me out of my head
For a while.

You woke me to a brilliant world I couldn’t see.
But I should’ve seen the signs right there in front of me.
Cause a heart that is newly awake
Is a heart that can easily break.

Now I’m out of my head
For a while.
So out of my head
For just a little while
Now I’m lying in bed
And missing your smile.
I’ll be out of my head
For a while.

I lived life in daydreams.
Avoiding what was real.
When you’re lost in daydreams
You never have to feel.