Gary Lightbody on NPO Radio 2 - 09.06.2024 - audio - Snow Patrol

Martine ten Klooster talks to Gary Lightbody about new single The Beginning from Snow Patrol

In Martine In De Middag, Martine ten Klooster dives into the band's latest single, The Beginning, together with none other than Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol. The singer candidly discusses the song's personal lyrics, his fear of loving and how he interprets the song himself.

When Martine listens to The Beginning, one line in particular stands out to her: "I wanna be in love, without being loved in return." According to Lightbody, this line is about the fear that many people have of love, or even closeness. The singer himself has struggled with this fear his entire life. "I have an obsessive-compulsive disorder, I've had it all my life," he says. "I have a lot of recurring thoughts. My brain is always telling me I'm a jerk and worse things than that. When someone comes close, I almost feel like they can hear those thoughts."

Facing fear
When someone loves him, the singer often cannot understand that affection. The line – "I want to be in love without being loved" – revolves around Lighbody's own past. "Every time someone loved me, I felt like I wasn't fit to love. So I didn't understand why I was loved. That's me talking about a part of myself from a long time ago, that I tried to heal."

The part of the song in which the Snow Patrol frontman sings about his fear of love is a lot more bombastic than the rest of the track. Lightbody says the chorus reflects that contrast: "The chorus is the other side of the coin. I think there's a push and pull inside: 'Oh no, I don't want to be loved.' And then you think, 'Oh no, did I just push that love away?' It's about someone trying to tell someone else how they really feel, but being afraid. I think it's always better to face that fear than to push it away."

'Help me'
There's another line that stands out: "I just don't know how to love." It is one of the last lines in the song's lyrics. And Martine doesn't know - partly after hearing that sentence - whether she should interpret The Beginning as a sad song or not. "It's open to interpretation," says Lightbody, who then reveals the original approach. "What I mean is, help me, show me how to love. I don't know how to love. Please, show me."


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