Stranger from Sweet Pea by Lila Blue

I wrote Stranger in the green room fifteen minutes before going on as an opener for Kevin Bacon’s band in Lincoln, Nebraska on Father’s Day in 2018, which sounds like a fever dream when I write it out. Being in the midwest on tour with the Bacon Brothers led to me ingesting a lot of country and folk music on the road, and I was left with a deep craving to write a tried and true country-folk tune. I wrote it a cappella, and then found the instrumentation weeks later. When I wrote it, I do believe that I thought I was singing it to an “other”, a figment of someone I hoped could love me and see me. Now looking back, it feels like a letter from my closeted eighteen year-old self to who I am now; still ashamed of so much of themselves, trying to write to the stranger they craved to become. It makes me endlessly happy to sing this song to her every chance I get from the proudly queer and deeply loved self I am now.

Tracklist

4.	Stranger	3:07

Videos

Lyrics

Stranger
I can only see your face when I stop moving
Seems like in every time and place my eyes just linger
But I seem to find a comfort in the crook of your elbow
And I find salvation where your nape meets your spine
And stranger
I've never ever believed in deities
But I find your body holy
In the way it intertwines
With mine, mine, oh mine
Stranger
I've pricked million holes in my skin
Just hoping
That someone strange would take the time to look within
'Cause I seem to find an exhale in the droplets
That the needle pulls from me
Just like it would with cloth and thread
And stranger
I've never look up at the night stars
Cause I know those pinpricks mirror me
And their light is already dead
Stranger
I know this sounds a bit morose
But I'm tired of these flat lands and talking plainly for other's comfort
Cause I find my calm in dark talks on a barstool
And I find my god in tears mixed with wine
And stranger
You know, thoughts and ink make trouble
But trouble would find me anyway
So I sit and start to write, write, write, oh write
Stranger
I'll never tell you my name you wanna know why
Cause names were picked by others
And those names can carry lies
So call me needlepoint and call me pinprick
You can even call me plain jane if you'd like
But stranger
I've never ever believed in anything
'til you sat down right beside me
And you took me and looked inside
Stranger
I can only see your face when I stop moving

Credits

from Sweet Pea, released November 10, 2023
Written by Lila Blue Coley / Lila Blue Music (ASCAP)
Vocals - Lila Blue
Bass - Saskia Lane
Viola - Ashley Frith
Lap Steel - Damon Daunno
Acoustic Guitar - Lila Blue
Percussion - Phil Roebuck
Producer - Jordan Brooke Hamlin
Recording & Mixing Engineer - Jordan Brooke Hamlin
Assistant Recording Engineer - Lake Wilkinson
Mastering Engineer - Jett Galindo

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