Message to Myself
Encyclopedia
"Message to Myself" is a song by Melissa Etheridge
and the first single of her 2007 album The Awakening
.
", where the lyrics contain the lines "Nothing fills the blackness that has seeped into my chest". The chorus ("I'm sending out a message to myself, so that when I hear it on the radio...") is reflected at the beginning of the song which is recorded in lower quality to give the impression that you hear it on the radio or through an old gramophone
. It is also the second Melissa Etheridge song to contain some nonsense lines ("...sha la la la...") -, the first being "Come On out Tonight," from Lucky. Those are supposed to show that the message the singer is sending herself is not based on the lyrics of her songs but mainly on the music itself ("...it works that way too...").
Musically, the song is an up-tempo rock song that rides on a pop hook which has been described as "one of the most buoyant sing-along she's ever led". In the chorus there is an acoustic guitar loop
in a typical country style.
on 6 October 2007, the song has reached #52 on the German single charts and became her biggest hit in Germany to date.
The video shows Melissa Etheridge in a white room singing along the song which is played on an old gramophone. She is writing her message (“I'm loved”) on a wall of glass until her band joins her writing various catchphrases ("simple truth", "I am almost free", "All is love", "I found my sound") on the walls until the formerly white room turns all colorful. Her spouse Tammy Lynn Michaels
and the couple's baby twins appear in the video too as well as other people who mean a lot to her enter the room which shows the positive and optimistic character of the lyrics and how life gets better step by step listening to the music. Already at the beginning of the video snippets of the end of the video are shown when the room is crowded which is supposed to reflect the positive look in the future as soon as she can listen to her own song.
image. This has also been used for the album cover where the image pretends to show the waves of the ocean at first sight.
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...
and the first single of her 2007 album The Awakening
The Awakening (Melissa Etheridge album)
The Awakening is a 2007 album by rock singer Melissa Etheridge and her ninth studio album. It was released on September 25, 2007. The rock album conveys Etheridge's current autobiographical, religious and political perspectives. Etheridge made the album to convey parts of her story and journey...
.
Song information
The song was written by the singer and is about how she writes songs to remind herself that she is fine when she is depressed - she discovers the good things in her life again when she hears these songs in the radio. The line "I've warned myself of the blackness in my chest" is a reference to the time when she was suffering from breast cancer, which was her inspiration for the whole album. The warning she mentions took place in one of her most famous songs, "Come to My WindowCome to My Window
"Come to My Window" is a Grammy Award-winning song by Melissa Etheridge released in 1994 on her 1993 album Yes I Am. This was the first song to be released after Etheridge publicly announced her sexual orientation of being a lesbian. With the driving force of gay rights, the song gained a lot of...
", where the lyrics contain the lines "Nothing fills the blackness that has seeped into my chest". The chorus ("I'm sending out a message to myself, so that when I hear it on the radio...") is reflected at the beginning of the song which is recorded in lower quality to give the impression that you hear it on the radio or through an old gramophone
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
. It is also the second Melissa Etheridge song to contain some nonsense lines ("...sha la la la...") -, the first being "Come On out Tonight," from Lucky. Those are supposed to show that the message the singer is sending herself is not based on the lyrics of her songs but mainly on the music itself ("...it works that way too...").
Musically, the song is an up-tempo rock song that rides on a pop hook which has been described as "one of the most buoyant sing-along she's ever led". In the chorus there is an acoustic guitar loop
Music loop
In electroacoustic music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections of material can be repeated to create ostinato patterns...
in a typical country style.
Charts
In the United States, the song did not reach the Billboard Top 200 but #25 on Adult Contemporary. Having been performed in Europe's most popular TV show Wetten, dass..?Wetten, dass..?
Wetten, dass..? is a long-running German-language entertainment television show. It is the most successful Saturday television show in Europe...
on 6 October 2007, the song has reached #52 on the German single charts and became her biggest hit in Germany to date.
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Adult contemporary | 25 |
| Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
52 |
Tracklist
All songs written by Melissa Etheridge.- "Message to Myself" - 3:26
- "I Need to Wake UpI Need to Wake Up"I Need to Wake Up" is a song by Melissa Etheridge, written for the 2006 documentary film An Inconvenient Truth. It is the first instance of a documentary film winning the Best Song category, and it notably beat three other nominated songs from the musical film Dreamgirls.Etheridge received the...
" - 3:33
Music video
Tammy Lynn Michaels
Tammy Lynn Michaels , also known by the surname Etheridge after marrying Melissa Etheridge, is an American actress....
and the couple's baby twins appear in the video too as well as other people who mean a lot to her enter the room which shows the positive and optimistic character of the lyrics and how life gets better step by step listening to the music. Already at the beginning of the video snippets of the end of the video are shown when the room is crowded which is supposed to reflect the positive look in the future as soon as she can listen to her own song.
Cover artwork
The single cover of the US release looks like an abstract painting but is in fact a tinted mammographyMammography
Mammography is the process of using low-energy-X-rays to examine the human breast and is used as a diagnostic and a screening tool....
image. This has also been used for the album cover where the image pretends to show the waves of the ocean at first sight.
Credits and personnel
- Vocals and acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
by Melissa Etheridge - Recorded and Audio mixing (recorded music)mixed by David Cole
- Assistant engineering by Jorge Costa and Jared Kvitka
- Mastered by Brian