Me Without You
Me Without You
Serialising the album The Drunken Fisherman (And Other Stories) by Schall und Stille (@stephan): The debut release inspired by early childhood memories, pirate radio broadcasts, war and climate change among other things. It’s a sonic journey between ambient, electronica, triphop, wave and pop; between Eno, Kraftwerk and Massive Attack. Extended instrumental pieces alternate with atmospheric pop songs, layered voices and lush sonic landscapes, sometimes sublime, sometimes sombre.
Track 2/7: Me Without You
I originally imagined my debut as Schall und Stille as a mainly instrumental, electronic album. I definitely hadn’t planned on doing “proper” songs like this one – I had done so many songs with my ex-project Botany Bay, I wanted to do something new here.
But we can’t deny who we are. I’m a songwriter at heart and some things simply need to be said. With words. And singing. And verse and chorus.
There were multiple inspirations to this song. The terrible flood that devastated the Ahr valley, not even 30km from where I live, the eerie fact that people simply don’t want to realize that events like this are happening at an increasing rate as a direct result of climate change; some kids from the village buying ever more and bigger and more polluting cars and motorcycles and proudly adorning them with “Fuck You Greta” stickers (cf. “So Wrong”, below)… and, last but not least, a drawing by Humon (who back then was on deviant art) and which gave me the idea of writing a song from the viewpoint of Mother Earth.
I adore this drawing because I think it really sums up the state of our civilization quite expertly.
Of course I know the kids present their cars and their Fuck-You-Greta-stickers only because of their insecurities and fragile masculinity, all probably brought about by misguided upbringing – but in the end it won’t matter. Upbringing won’t matter. Politics won’t matter. Wars and power and money won’t matter. All of that won’t matter. And once we’re all gone, it’s going to be ok again. It might take a couple of million years to effectively undo the damage we caused, but it’s going to be ok. Without us. That’s the plain truth.
I find that as sad as I find it immensely comforting.
“Me Without You” marks the first collaboration with guitarist / multi-instrumentalist @MyLoFy who contributes wonderful acoustic guitar to this track. Our partnership has lasted until this very day, and MyLoFy should go on to play a very important role on my second full-blown album “Malers Hüs”.
Support Schall und Stille
All proceeds from this album go to “Tara Tierhilfe e.V.“, an animal sanctuary near Cologne, Germany, which is home to more than 70 horses, goats, sheep, donkeys and pigs.
Lyrics
i’ve been loving you so long
let you get away with everything
really anything at all
now look what you’ve done
doesen’t matter if it hurts
doesn’t matter if i bleed
can’t you see the more I burn
the less you can breathe
this is what you mean to me
cause this is what i mean to you
this is how it’s gonna be
it’s me without you me without you
when the ship has sailed away
no amount of jumping up and down
is gonna make it stay
you say you don’t need no sermon
that it’s your right to do whatever you choose to do
how you are free and on your own authority
you know it’s true
this is what you mean to me…
tell your children it was you
