Come to My Window

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“Come to My Window”
“Come to My Window” cover
Single by Melissa Etheridge
from the album Yes I Am
Released 1994
Format CD single
Compact Cassette
Recorded A&M Studios, Los Angeles
Genre Rock
Length 3:55
Label Island Records
Writer(s) Melissa Etheridge
Producer Hugh Padgham
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge singles chronology
I'm the Only One
(1993)		 Come to My Window All American Girl
(1994)

Come to My Window is a Grammy Award-winning song by Melissa Etheridge released in 1994 on her 1993 album Yes I Am. This was the first song to be released after Etheridge publicly announced her sexual orientation of being a lesbian. With the driving force of gay rights, the song gained a lot of airplay on radio stations, mostly through call-in requests. The song debuted on the Billboard charts after the first week of its release, reaching #25 on the chart. It was also the second song from Etheridge that earned her a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

Contents

[edit] Song information

When the song was being promoted a portion of the song's beginning was omitted. This was to help accommodate some radio stations that wanted an instrumental beginning rather than a vocal one. The song's lyrics describes the intense love that Etheridge has for another person. It describes situations that she is willing to endure and how happy the other person makes her feel. In addition, the song implicitly alludes to the singer's sexual orientation and activism by the lyrics:

"I don't care what they think.
I don't care what they say.
What do they know about this love, anyway?"

Etheridge tells both in her autobiography and during the interview on the bonus DVD of her greatest hits album that Come to my window is of all songs she has written the one that surprises her the most and that she almost did not put it on the album. She states that while she wrote the song, she did not realize what she was actually writing and that it was not before meeting Tammy Lynn Michaels that she understood what this songs means to other people. She also says that it has the best bridge part of all her songs.

The sound effect at the beginning was created by Mauricio Fritz Lewak who put coins inside of a pair of clash cymbals.

[edit] Music video

The music video, directed by Samuel Bayer, was filmed in black and white. In the video, Etheridge is portrayed playing an electric guitar. Etheridge is shown moving fervently among different windows as if she is longing for someone. In various points, Etheridge smashes her guitar into the ground to emphasize the passion for the one she's waiting for. In fact, after the release of the music video on MTV, Etheridge told in her interviews that she "must have destroyed a million guitars" when they were shooting the video. The video also features Juliette Lewis as a mental patient, who at the beginning of the video (before the song starts) speaks the first few lyrics.

The video also features "child-like" drawings in certain scenes. According to an episode of VH1's Pop Up Video, these drawings were created by a crew member's five year old daughter. Additionally, the video was to have included an appearance by a little girl; the mental patient's "lost childhood". While the appearance was filmed, it got lost during editing.

[edit] Live performances

Etheridge performed Come to My Window during The Concert for New York City, the benefit concert following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Early during her performance, her microphone failed, leaving Etheridge to play her guitar without singing while an alternate mic was found. Famously, the audience, made up largely of members of the New York City fire and police departments (and survivors of NYPD and FDNY personnel who were lost in the attacks) sang the lyrics themselves until Etheridge's mic was restored.

The song was played by the World Wrestling Federation in the background of a tribute to fallen wrestler Owen Hart.

[edit] Tracklist

All songs written by Melissa Etheridge.

1. Come to My Window - 3:55
2. Ain't it heavy (live) - 4:20
3. The Letting Go (live) - 3:05
4. I'm the Only One (live) - 5:30

[edit] Charts

Year Chart Position
1994 Canadian single charts 13
1994 Adult Contemporary 4
1994 Mainstream Rock Tracks 22
1994 The Billboard Hot 100 25
1994 Top 40 Mainstream 13
1995 Adult Top 40 27
1995 Top 40 Adult Recurrents 4

[edit] Credits and personnel

[edit] Sources

[edit] References


v • d • e
Melissa Etheridge
Albums
Compilations
Notable singles
Featured singles
Cry Baby / Piece of My Heart (with Joss Stone)