On My Skin

Artist / Composer
Jacqueline Gawler
Year
2000-2010
Style
Ballad
Difficulty
Medium
Tempo
Slow
Type
Vocal
Key
A
Tonality
Minor
Time signature
3/4

Audio

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On My Skin   

by Jacqueline Gawler  (from CD: ‘Ambrosia’)

On My Skin is inspired by the stifling beauty and haunting legacy of a past lover… 

Its text draws on the contrast between being in the arms of a new love in the waking world, and the dark imagery of the subterranean land of sleep, where the image of a past lover torments and is always one step ahead.

The song describes the way a physical interaction between two people can seal something permanent on the skin, a kind of involuntary ownership and energetic belonging which can be hard to break even once an affair is over.  It dwells on the darker aspects of human connection, and the binding between two people that inevitably must be broken.  

This song was originally written as a vocal/instrumental piece for the album ‘Ambrosia’ and later arranged for vocal quintet Coco’s Lunch, who recorded it on their album ‘Blueprint’.