Here We Are

The Fray's principle songwriters, singer Isaac Slade and guitarist Joe King penned this song between them. Slade's contribution concerns his "split personality" and a full-on personal breakdown that he had in the summer of 2009. He explained to Denver Westword: "It's not really split left and right; it's more split outside and inside. I spent 27 years of my life caught between people-pleaser-Mr.-Christian-nice-guy and scared, alone, insecure kid inside that was kind of starving to death. A couple things sort of cracked the shell, but it was experiencing anger for the first time in my personal life and admitting that I tried a tactic of making everybody happy and admitting that it had failed miserably. And I sacrificed so much to try, and I was just done with it, dying inside."

King's contribution was about his first experiences of dating after his divorce. He explained to Denver Westword: "When you're only in one relationship all your life and that ends, you're like learning how to do the littlest and the simplest things. I remember the first couple dates I went on, I would say things like so serious, and I'd immediately freak them out because I was talking major big picture stuff and analyzing them as if they're going to be my wife or not.

It was way to overboard and heavy. I just remember early on coming back to the house and writing a few lyrics. That paralyzing thing struck me, maybe because I was freaked out about what I was doing. But I'd like to think I was passionately taken by a woman. I think it was more just like, "Okay, I don't know what I'm doing here," and I'm just freaked out."