You're listening to song exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. My name is she your way song, exploiter is brought you by progressive. Have you are the name your price tool, yet it works just the way it sounds. You tell progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and I'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. It's easy to start a quote You'Ll- be able to find a rate that works for you, it's one of the many ways you can save with progressive, get your quote today, a progressive dot com and see four out of five new auto customers recommend progressive pr since casualty, insurance, company and affiliates pricing average match limited by state law. This episode what is sponsored by indeed. Indeed, easy to hire great talent, and you can good, all in one place, which is why more than three million businesses worldwide use, indeed too high, a great talent, fast,

start hiring now with a seventy five dollars sponsor job credit, to upgrade your job post at indeed dot com, slash song, exploder This offer is valid through March. Thirty, first go to indeed DOT Tk, slash song exploder to claim your seventy five dollar credit before March thirty, first, indeed, dot com, slash song, terms and conditions apply, need to hire you need. Indeed, this episode, contains explicit language When I was in high school, my girlfriend made a mixtape for me. The first song on it was. You were meant for me from the debut, other singer named jewel, I probably listen, not that mixtape one hundred times over the next few months. So I knew the song really well. A little while later I started hearing it on the radio, but it sounded different and then later I heard yet another version that was different. Twenty four years I had no idea why the song kept changing, but then got the chance to do this episode and asked all directly

jewel is a singer. Songwriter from Homer Alaska has received, Four Grammy nominations and sold thirty million albums The twenty fifth anniversary of that debut album of hers pieces of you came out last month. number two thousand twenty. It turns it wasn't a runaway success, not at first so in this episode, jewel traces, the history of making. You were meant for me, start with the demo and moving do all the different versions that were made along the way to becoming a massive hits on the m.

The time of my life, just before I wrote you were meant for me- was spent in San Diego, think I was eighteen and I had just been discovered. I was the homeless kid living in a car, so or in a local coffee shop, to trying to work my way out of it. If I could following and get some door money. It's a tiny little coffee shop in a Strip mall, nothing very vibey, but the local musicians with common play and sit in and do open mics, and it just created a lot of draw local radio station put a bootleg of mine on air and that caused record labels to start coming down with surprising to me and I think wrote the song after I signed my record deal with my friend, Steve Poltz recall Steve asking me if I wanted to go to Mexico to write songs. He was like. two hours door to door but

Thirteen hours later, we ended up lost on some washboard dirt road in the middle of nowhere and Baja, and we in an abandoned town and we broke into a little lodging. Motel and we woke up the next morning in Paradise. Sewer sitting on the beach, it was on the Bahia De Gonzaga, this beautiful bay on the Sea of Cortez, pink sand and blue water and. so we stayed there. We wrote three songs and one was your meant for me. Steve was a better guitar player than I, so he usually would play the guitar, and I would start making up lyrics integrating very visually. I grew up. Lahti- didn't listen to a lot of music, but I read a lot. My favorite writers were very visual writers. We come almost smell and taste the writing and we just eating breakfast. So it's why breakfast makes a centre role in the song

it's Adele's twenty five at the I got my maple syrup, there it was just a little vignette. A little movie. You know of a person that was tragically in love, but it wasn't returned and I wrote the lyrics so that people can see the same movie. That was in my head of this girl. That was racking. her brain thinking of all the things she thought made: her unlovable lake leaving towels on the floor and all the little things that really aren't what killer relationship, but what you fixate on. When you're done,

never put wet towels with men, we wrote the song. We did that demo, Steve singing harmony. I remember being a little embarrassed by the song LIVE because Most of my other work tended to be very wordy and I thought smarter and this was just such a plaintive simple love song. You know it made me feel like a teeny bopper, somehow.

When I got discovered they brought in a lot of really fancy producers and I met with a lot of them and they are often super nice, but they all made me uncomfortable. They all kind of wanted to change and lend their incredible expertise experience to my lack of experience and it didn't. Feel right, and so I looked at an album. I thought was really honest and simple and I love Neil Young Harvest, It's moon records, I saw that Ben Keith had co, produced them and so it's my label to reach out to them, and because of Ben's relationship with Neil, we made it up at nail studio on his ranch. getting to Neil Young's ranch was trippy, couldn't believe that I was at Neil Young studio.

it was this log cabin with care? her vintage gear, killer, vintage acts and the street gaiters Ministry mean Gators were incredible. I was Niels Ban on harvest and harvest moon like he is an insane experienced band and they look at me go. What would you like, and I was like now like- I was definitely the least experienced least qualified person in the room, but they when we look to meet a kind of lead, the ship. cut everything you know live in the studio, I brought Steve up with me, and misty was playing. Tar TIM Drummond played Base with Elvis and James Brown. I mean to this day one of the best players. I've ever been around

and Kenny Buttery on drums. You know played on a lot of Bob Dylan records and Spooner old ham on keyboards, he played the famous you know, riffs and all the muscle shoals records. That's him- and I was just singing you mean me, and I remember being very, very nervous, and my throat really tightened up and have this very for August tone in my voice. I was swallowing my chest: voice cuz singing in headphones was so hard for me and that's why of course, and so weird,

I think a band on me definitely felt a little uncomfortable, but this band definitely followed you and the smells. They were highly supportive. They only cared about the song elements and me, and that was meaningful. Ooh, I turned the album and we know it was no surprise. I made a full gallop them at the height of Grunge group it was cool, and STI and cynical, and I was not those things and a girl to boot and so radio hated me hated me vehemently hated me. The press hated me Mean imagine Nirvana and Soundgarden, and you hear a song like you're meant for me and you go too long. They wanted faster.

I had no intro and so the song, We cut many many many times on its way to becoming him, in September of ninety five I reckon with one hundred who had did LISA Loeb stay and we did a super puppy version. We sped it up and cut down the chorus the long and I hated it, but it was expensive was too embarrassed to tell the label how much I hated it, but You know my label. Never once did anything except support my decisions. I know a lot

People say they hate their labels, but my label had a lot of heart and they really cared and fought. For me, in a member going into the label in Iraq, and to Danny who was one of the radio promoters and he was like jewel. I heard the new version with one patina and we don't want you to change for radio. We want ready to change for you. The record was considered a complete failure. you're selling about two thousand copies in two years. And so I made a second record, but this never got released ultimately And while I was in the studio making the second album that never was, we decided to recut the baseline Vocals on your meant for me and take another go at it. I went the studio with a guy named Peter Collins and As a friend had been a friend for a long time since I was homeless, actually I met him when I was homeless. Well, things that's fleet the Bay seized from red, hot chile peppers. We read in the vote. On the base. Flee played based

iracing the vocal business same old, still a and then things started, taking off I remember I was doing an interview somewhere in a shitty hotel at a motel six exhausted and the radio guy was like. What's it like to be famous- and I remember looking around at the stained, you know duvet cover person, this nasty hotel room going- am, I famous, did it happen, but things started to shift and when they shifted it was tectonic I started selling at one point: a million albums every single month and I did it for over a year and it just exploding. Talking way the song that nobody ever thought would make it went onto

break a record. It became the longest running single of all time, Neil young asked me to open for, and so I went on a road with him. Bob Dylan, just really believed in me. They really really believed to me when nobody did- and it really just grilled in my head, the being a sinner songwriters different and then you may never get radio and it doesn't matter you're not allowed to do anything that is often take as a singer. Songwriter part of me always knew it was an incredible long shot. I also sang every night and I saw what people how people felt when I sang and it might be three peep. But I could tell what I did worked and so I didn't want to give up on that music and I didn't want to give up on being sincere and I didn't want to give up on being a faulty and Anna never thought I going to be a massive success, but the more I got disrespected,

made me incredibly determined and hard work did not scare me tenacity and endurance were kind of the name of the game In a song, writing's a lot like being a minor, it's solitary work, you're alone in the dark cave, and you. chip away every day and most days it's dirt. Sometimes it's gold, but was songwriting. You don't always know, and now here's you meant for me. The final version the jewel did in its entirety

the guy my age and my pancakes to the everything the brand new place. That way responsible to me. Don't leave the keys in the town, the my mom. She was the was more. My heart's been broken, the code and the clothes saying it was the I go about my business, the same old story. The day

rush messy back. When I leave a big she's down. Man sound reveal right man, man,

learn more visit song exploder net, slash, jewel, you'll, find to buy or stream, you were meant for me, as well as the entire twenty fifth anniversary edition of pieces of you. So you can hear all the different versions of the song. Song exploder is sponsored by Dave's killer, bread, actually love Dave's killer bread, but they gave me a script to read so appeared his attention others, we now have taste in the bread, I'll Dave's, were bred. That's right and organic bread, it's no longer a sedative for your taste, buds, Dave's killer, red is on a mission to make the most of the loaf to rid the well. Gmos GMO those high fructose corn, an artificial ingredients and plant the seeds of good and all that they bake, killer, taste, killer, texture, always organic Dave's, killer, bread, bread, fine thanks to square space for sponsoring the Shell square space is an all in one platform that lets you build a beautiful website for your business or your art or your band. If you

sell stuff. They've got e commerce templates. If you want them the blog they give you buttons. So your audience can share your posts on social media and you can have double contributors, so you can work on your site together, check out square dot com for a free trial when you you're ready, Lodge go to Squarespace, dot com slash, explode her to save ten percent off your first per of a website or domain. Song explorer is made by me, Russia case your way: producer, Christian Coon's productions, in Libya, wood and elsewhere. IIRC Carlos Lerma exposure is a proud member of Radio Tokyo from PR acts, a collective of creative, independent body. You can learn more about all of our shows at Radio Tokyo, DOT Fm. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can song, exploder, t shirt at song, exploder, dot, net, slash shirt, to follow the show on Twitter and Instagram at song, exploder her money is Rishikesh your way. Thanks for listening.

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