We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Stranger

from Sweet Pea by Lila Blue

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

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.

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

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Lila Blue image

Lila Blue New York, New York

LILA BLUE (they/she) is a 23 year old non-binary and queer folk musician, singer-songwriter, playwright and performer based out of Brooklyn. Their projects navigate themes of grief, joy, intergenerational trauma, rage, queerness and collisions with divine and haunted spirits, stemming from their own intuitive practices. They've released 3 LP’s, 2 EP’s, with LP 4, SWEET PEA, arriving 11/10/23 ... more

shows

contact / help

Contact Lila Blue

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this track or account

If you like Lila Blue, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.
listen now