Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
Bright Idea was recorded in the same sessions as latest album Fragile as Humans - emilybarker.com/fragile
Subscribe to Emily Barker’s channel for the latest music videos, behind the scenes, live performances and more: youtube.com/@EmilyBarker
Emily's latest album Fragile as Humans is out now: emilybarker.com/fragile
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"I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual" —Virginia Woolf
This quotation is one I returned to repeatedly when writing the songs for my album Fragile as Humans. 'Bright Idea' speaks to it most directly.
Sometimes our idea of what we’d like the future to look like is vivid. We have a narrative we tell ourselves and we do all we can to usher life in that particular direction. But, as you know, life rarely obeys our vision for it and when things don’t go according to plan, it can feel like a loss despite it only ever having existed as an idea. That's what this song is about. I'm sure you can relate.
=========================================
I went to write about death
Then the light on your chest
Through the window, on the bed
Where we are sleeping in because we can
But a ghost shifts beneath the sheets
Goodbye my bright idea
You sure shone as if you’d appear
As I let you go I hope you know
I did all I could to keep you bright idea
So with this love left to spare
I put flowers in the hair
Of a little friend of a friend
But if I get tired, I’ll leave ‘cos I can
With a ghost dancing in the daisies
Goodbye my bright idea
You sure shone as if you’d appear
As I let you go I hope you know
I did all I could to keep you bright idea
You are the tale I will untell myself
When I rewrite the words
When I recast the spell
And I’ll miss you like a thought on which I could dwell
Fade from me well
Fade from me well
I went to write about loss
Then a song broke my thought
It was Ophelia by The Band
We play it loud because we can
With a ghost singing by the speaker
Goodbye my bright idea
You sure shone as if you’d appear
As I let you go I hope you know
I did all I could to keep you
Goodbye my bright idea
You sure shone as if you’d appear
As I let you go I hope you know
I did all I could to keep you bright idea
=========================================
#indiefolk
Bright Idea was recorded in the same sessions as latest album Fragile as Humans - emilybarker.com/fragile
Subscribe to Emily Barker’s channel for the latest music videos, behind the scenes, live performances and more: youtube.com/@EmilyBarker
Emily's latest album Fragile as Humans is out now: emilybarker.com/fragile
Stay in touch:
Sign up to my newsletter: emilybarker.com/subscribe
emilybarker.com
instagram.com/emilybarkerhalo
facebook.com/emilybarkerhalo
tiktok.com/@emilybarkerhalo
"I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual" —Virginia Woolf
This quotation is one I returned to repeatedly when writing the songs for my album Fragile as Humans. 'Bright Idea' speaks to it most directly.
Sometimes our idea of what we’d like the future to look like is vivid. We have a narrative we tell ourselves and we do all we can to usher life in that particular direction. But, as you know, life rarely obeys our vision for it and when things don’t go according to plan, it can feel like a loss despite it only ever having existed as an idea. That's what this song is about. I'm sure you can relate.
=========================================
I went to write about death
Then the light on your chest
Through the window, on the bed
Where we are sleeping in because we can
But a ghost shifts beneath the sheets
Goodbye my bright idea
You sure shone as if you’d appear
As I let you go I hope you know
I did all I could to keep you bright idea
So with this love left to spare
I put flowers in the hair
Of a little friend of a friend
But if I get tired, I’ll leave ‘cos I can
With a ghost dancing in the daisies
Goodbye my bright idea
You sure shone as if you’d appear
As I let you go I hope you know
I did all I could to keep you bright idea
You are the tale I will untell myself
When I rewrite the words
When I recast the spell
And I’ll miss you like a thought on which I could dwell
Fade from me well
Fade from me well
I went to write about loss
Then a song broke my thought
It was Ophelia by The Band
We play it loud because we can
With a ghost singing by the speaker
Goodbye my bright idea
You sure shone as if you’d appear
As I let you go I hope you know
I did all I could to keep you
Goodbye my bright idea
You sure shone as if you’d appear
As I let you go I hope you know
I did all I could to keep you bright idea
=========================================
#indiefolk
