Here with Me

After publishing yesterday’s post, I put on Apple Music while preparing leftovers for dinner (Saturday’s pizza, which we always have with semi-homemade cole slaw).

A song that came on almost immediately was “Here with Me,” the electropop/trip-hop 1999 debut single by the mononymous English singer-songwriter Dido (b. 1971; aka Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O’Malley Armstrong).

The song, which describes a powerful and deep longing, was the subject of two official videos; one produced for American audiences, and the other—filmed in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada—for international release, the latter of which I’m featuring today.

The video opens with Dido lounging in a bedroom, appearing to contemplate a love she yearns to be with as she sings of her devotion to him. She sets out walking the downtown streets and buys a coffee. She walks as if in a dream state, dropping her coffee and eventually her coat, arriving at another apartment and lying on a bed where a man is asleep. In the end, she is back in the room she began in, clutching a photo of him as if waiting for him to return.

“I didn’t hear you leave
I wonder how am I still here
And I don’t wanna move a thing
It might change my memory

Oh, I am what I am
I’ll do what I want
But I can’t hide

And I won’t go
I won’t sleep
And I can’t breathe
Until you’re resting here with me
And I won’t leave
And I can’t hide
I cannot be
Until you’re resting here with me

Don’t wanna call my friends
For they might wake me from this dream
And I can’t leave this bed
Risk forgetting all that’s been

Oh, I am what I am
I’ll do what I want
But I can’t hide

And I won’t go
I won’t sleep
And I can’t breathe
Until you’re resting here with me
And I won’t leave
And I can’t hide
I cannot be
Until you’re resting here

And I won’t go
I won’t sleep
And I can’t breathe
Until you’re resting here with me
And I won’t leave
And I can’t hide
I cannot be
Until you’re resting here with me

Oh, I am what I am
I’ll do what I want
But I can’t hide

And I won’t go
I won’t sleep
And I can’t breathe
Until you’re resting here with me
And I won’t leave
And I can’t hide
I cannot be
Until you’re resting here

And I won’t go
I won’t sleep
And I can’t breathe
Until you’re resting here with me
And I won’t leave
And I can’t hide
I cannot be
Until you’re resting here with me”

“Here with Me,” by Paul Statham, Dido Armstrong and Pascal Gabriel.
Lyrics retrieved from AZLyrics.com.

The song’s moody, atmospheric feel lends to the sense of dreaminess. A slightly industrial bass and percussion beat, softened by acoustic guitar and floating strings, adds an urgency that represents her yearning for the man: she can’t eat, sleep or breathe, and she doesn’t want to call her friends… all common feelings when in that excited, early stage of an intimate relationship, a blissful state one wants to be in forever when in that moment. Not surprisingly, the online music database SongFacts quotes Dido as referring to “Here with Me” as a “post-shag song” she co-wrote for her partner at the time.

Dido’s music often portrays strong emotions and feelings that become pervasive states of being, as happens with the notion of gratitude in “Thank You,” a song I previously posted from the same album, Dido’s first studio release, No Angel (1999 in North America, 2001 in the United Kingdom). It’s a CD we often heard at the home of a couple of dear friends my sweety and I spent a lot of time with starting around 1998.

“Here with Me” is a solid piece that stands up well over the 24 years since Dido released it to great commercial and critical acclaim (her first two albums are among the highest-selling in the UK). Today’s selection was also used as the theme music for the science fiction TV series Roswell which ran from 1999-2002.

Now you know a little about why this is my Song of the Day for Today. Thanks for joining me here.

Here’s the official international video from the Dido YouTube channel:

And, as Sweety loves to watch a live version, here’s Dido and her band performing the song at the 2002 BRIT Awards.

With warm wishes,

Steve