Famous Last Words

Album: Friends That Break Your Heart (2021)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Here, James Blake is addressing a very close friend with whom he has a toxic relationship. However, much as he wants to end their association, he simply cannot get break free. "I think it blurs the line between friendship and romance," Blake told Apple Music. "With friendships, it's not necessarily that the feelings are romantic, but you can genuinely love someone and it hurt like that."
  • This is the opening track of Blake's fifth album, Friends That Break Your Heart. It's one of several tracks on the album that examines how we negotiate hurtful non-romantic relationships. The title track finds Blake discomforted after letting himself be vulnerable, and on "Funeral" he fears that friends have given up on him.
  • James Blake wrote the song on his own late at night. "I think I was in some deep-focus meditation state because I can't really remember a lot of it, which is usually a good sign," he told Apple Music. "I remember just being very, very focused and it was kind of over in a flash - I started and then the next minute it was done."
  • James Blake produced the song with:

    His actress girlfriend Jameela Jamil.

    Dominic Maker of the electronic music duo Mount Kimbie. Maker co-produced seven of the tracks on Friends That Break Your Heart.
  • In the song's cinematic video, a bruised and battered Blake wakes up in a hospital bed. He removes his oxygen mask and embarks on a surreal journey through the night. Flashbacks of arguments with a friend and smashing items with a baseball bat plague the singer before he finds peace at the beach.
  • James Blake didn't set out to write a record about friendship. It was only when Jameela Jamil pointed out it was a common theme that he titled the album Friends That Break Your Heart. "I didn't really know that that was what was happening until the very end," he told Teeth. "I made loads of music and then eventually me and Jameela were looking at it all and she said, it's really about friendship – a lot of it is anyways. And so that's where the name came from."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Five Rockers Who Rolled With The Devil

Five Rockers Who Rolled With The DevilSong Writing

Just how much did these monsters of rock dabble in the occult?

Dwight Twilley

Dwight TwilleySongwriter Interviews

Since his debut single "I'm On Fire" in 1975, Dwight has been providing Spinal-Tap moments and misadventure.

Ramones

RamonesFact or Fiction

A band so baffling, even their names were contrived. Check your score in the Ramones version of Fact or Fiction.

Chris Frantz of Talking Heads

Chris Frantz of Talking HeadsSongwriter Interviews

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz on where the term "new wave" originated, the story of "Naive Melody," and why they never recorded another cover song after "Take Me To The River."

Booker T. Jones

Booker T. JonesSongwriter Interviews

The Stax legend on how he cooked up "Green Onions," the first time he and Otis Redding saw hippies, and if he'll ever play a digital organ.