coastal alt/indie rock

 

(i like it when) we're mental

​​Field Notes​​

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"We're Mental" is one of those songs where rhythm, harmony and lyric all arrived together, but it definitely started with the drums.

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I found a beat I liked, picked up my guitar and built a riff over it. And almost immediately, the riff started saying words to me:

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I like it when we're mental
Sentimental
I like it when we're mental
Temperamental.

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Okay. That's not much of a song.

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So it sat there for a while.

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In the meantime, I kept working on the music. I added the bass line, worked out the arrangement and built the textures around that original groove. Musically, the song came together pretty quickly. I liked the riff. I liked the rhythm. I liked the way the whole thing felt.

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Eventually, though, I had to answer the obvious question:

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What does I like it when we're mental actually mean?

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And that's when I realized that it's about being in a relationship where you don't have to contain yourself all the time.

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We can lose ourselves around each other. Lose ourselves with each other. Lose ourselves in each other.

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We can be emotional. Temperamental. Sentimental. Mental.

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There's something appealing to me about a relationship where emotions aren't carefully hidden or managed for appearances. You get to see the whole person, and they get to see the whole you.

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Authentic.

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Although admittedly maybe a little flammable.

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But I like that.

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I like it when we're emotional
I like it when we're temperamental
I like it when we're sentimental
I like it when we're mental.

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I don't know that "We're Mental" is a hit song. It was really more of an experiment—starting with a groove and a few words that felt good against it, then figuring out what those words meant after the fact.

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But I smile every time I hear it.

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And that's probably reason enough for it to exist.

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Lyrics

 

VERSE 1:

tell me that you think it’s a lie

tell me that you think it’s a line

tell me that you think you’ll die

tell me that i’m making you cry 

 

CHORUS:

i like it when we’re emotional

i like it when we’re temperamental

i like it when we’re sentimental

i like it when WE'RE MENTAL

i like it when WE'RE MENTAL

 

VERSE 2:

i wanna see your mascara run

i wanna see you screaming for fun

i wanna be the knife to your gun

i wanna be the cloud to your sun

 

CHORUS:

 

VERSE 3:

you want to see me stand in the rain

you want to see me struggle in vain

you want to know that i feel your strain

you want to see me curl up in pain

 

CHORUS:

Details

• key: E

• tempo: 120

• time: 4/4

• year: 2022

• location(s): San Jose, California

• mood: industrial

• theme: mad love

• instruments: electric guitar, bass, drums, strings

• recording status: released

• registered: ℗ 2025, glenn cash hughes

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