Better Than I Know Myself - Stream with Lyrics

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YESSSSS!!! I'm thrilled I didn't have to wait very long for the full song after deciding to skip on the snippets. It leaked earlier today but now I've finally listened to it for the first time from the official site. Here it is for your listening pleasure:



First impressions are it's got much more of an urban sound than what I was expecting. One of the things that stands out is the beat. I think the uniformity and simplicity of the beats from FYE let it down a little so I'm incredibly happy to hear something quite different. I wanted something more complex and this syncopated beat hits the mark. Brilliant. I recognise the rhythm but the names of songs on which it has been used escape me so if you could enlighten me I'd be grateful.

It's not your bog-standard catchy pop tune, being light on instrumental melody and with no instrumental hook. Instead it has a synthesiser drone in the background (which resembles the reverent sound of a church organ in the intro and also has a hint of Sleepwalker) that hardly competes with Adam's voice, allowing it to take centre stage. And that voice is marvelous. No vocal trickery or acrobatics but there's plenty of that graininess that I love and can't get enough of, especially on 'sometimes'. It's only the high notes in the chorus that I feel have lost a little in the production but I'm already excited about the prospect of being able to hear it belted out live in an attack of goosebumps.

Here are the lyrics:

Cold as ice
And more bitter than a December
Winter night
That's how I treated you
And I know that I
I sometimes tend to lose my temper
And I cross the line
Yeah that's the truth

I know it gets hard sometimes
But I could never
Leave your side
No matter what I say

'Cause if I wanted to go I would have gone by now
But I really need you near me to
Keep my mind off the edge
If I wanted to leave I would have left by now
But you're, you're the only one that knows me
Better than I know myself

All along
I tried to pretend it didn't matter
If I was alone
But deep down I know
If you were gone
For even a day I wouldn't know
Which way to turn
Cause I'm lost without you

I know it gets hard sometimes
But I could never
Leave your side
No matter what I say

'Cause if I wanted to go I would have gone by now
But I really need you near me to
Keep my mind off the edge
If I wanted to leave I would have left by now
But you're, you're the only one that knows me
Better than I know myself

I get kind of dark
Let it go too far
I can be obnoxious at times
But try and see my heart
Cause I need you now
So don't let me down
You're the only thing in this world
I would die without

'Cause if I wanted to go I would have gone by now
But I really need you near me to
Keep my mind off the edge
If I wanted to leave I would have left by now
But you're, you're the only one that knows me
Better than I know myself

'Cause if I wanted to go I would have gone by now
But I really need you near me to
Keep my mind off the edge
If I wanted to leave I would have left by now
But you're, you're the only one that knows me
Better than I know myself

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of the lyrics because I see nothing particularly original or inspiring. I also prefer them to be implicit and not written in the first person addressing someone directly when it comes to relationships. But that probably says more about me than the songwriting. Anyway, lyrics tend not to be as important to me as the sound.

For me, the song is all about the groove and the atmosphere it generates. It's a self-reflective one for the headphones, a slow grindy one for the dancefloor, or a tender fucky one for the bedroom. It's quite a big step away from FYE and as a first single, it's a pleasantly surprising choice and one that has me very excited for what else is to come on Trespassing. I'm hooked already.