No one to tell

TMON-105: The Myth of Normal, Chapter 30, Song 7
Alex Hickey ©2025
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This song is based on information in Chapter 30 of The Myth of Normal, a book written by Dr. Gabor Maté with Daniel Maté. You can find more information about this book on Dr. Maté's website: https://drgabormate.com/book/the-myth-of-n...

I am writing a series of songs in response to the ideas in this book, sometimes in combination with ideas from other books by Dr. Maté and some of his colleagues.

These are my interpretations of these ideas. I acknowledge that I can make mistakes, misunderstand and/or take poetic license when transforming these ideas into songs. I welcome questions in the comments section and refer you to the book itself as the final authority about what it is saying.

Lyrics:
Chorus
No one to tell
No one to tell
Every young person’s idea of hell
Is something gone wrong
And nobody to tell.

Perhaps if you told
They’d make it all about them
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)
Or maybe they’d say
It was all in your head
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)

No one to care
Who did this to you.
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)
No one to say,
“Hey, I’ve felt like that too”
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)

Chorus

No one to say,
“It will all be alright”
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)
No one to say
“We can leave on the light”
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)

No one to stay
Until you fall asleep
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)
No one to say
“I get that this cut you deep”
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)

Bridge:
I ask you to take in, for consideration
How many a childhood, reported as happy
Has lacked the essential:
Somone who could be trusted
A safe and reliable grown-up
Without this a happy childhood
Is just a myth to be busted (3x)

Perhaps if you told they’d say
“I had it worse”
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)
Perhaps all you’d get
Was a cuff or a curse
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)

Perhaps if you told
They would say “no big deal!”
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)
Come back when you’ve got
A problem that’s real
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)

Chorus

No one to say
“We will find you some help.”
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)
“You don’t have to face this
Hardship by yourself!”
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)

No one to say,
“Hey, kid, I’ve got your back”
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)
Just people who freak out
and overreact
(No one to tell! No one to tell!)

Chorus
(On last chorus, sing
“Every person’s idea of hell…”