Message to Myself

The song was written by the singer and is about how she writes songs to remind herself that she is fine when she is depressed - she discovers the good things in her life again when she hears these songs in the radio. The line "I've warned myself of the blackness in my chest" is a reference to the time when she was suffering from breast cancer,^[1] which was her inspiration for the whole album.^[2] The warning she mentions took place in one of her most famous songs, "Come to My Window", where the lyrics contain the lines "Nothing fills the blackness that has seeped into my chest".^[3] The chorus ("I'm sending out a message to myself, so that when I hear it on the radio...") is reflected at the beginning of the song which is recorded in lower quality to give the impression that you hear it on the radio or through an old gramophone. It is also the second Melissa Etheridge song to contain some nonsense lines ("...sha la la la...") -, the first being "Come On out Tonight," from Lucky. Those are supposed to show that the message the singer is sending herself is not based on the lyrics of her songs but mainly on the music itself ("...it works that way too...").

Musically, the song is an up-tempo rock song that rides on a pop hook which has been described as "one of the most buoyant sing-along she's ever led".^[2] In the chorus there is an acoustic guitar loop in a typical country style.

Charts

In the United States, the song did not reach the Billboard Top 200 but #25 on Adult Contemporary. Having been performed in Europe's most popular TV show Wetten, dass..? on 6 October 2007,^[4] the song has reached #52 on the German single charts and became her biggest hit in Germany to date.^[5]

Chart (2007)	Peak position
Adult contemporary	25
Germany	52

Track listing

All songs written by Melissa Etheridge.

"Message to Myself" - 3:26
"I Need to Wake Up" - 3:33

Music video

Etheridge and Michaels in the music video.

The video shows Melissa Etheridge in a white room singing along the song which is played on an old gramophone. She is writing her message (“I'm loved”) on a wall of glass until her band joins her writing various catchphrases ("simple truth", "I am almost free", "All is love", "I found my sound") on the walls until the formerly white room turns all colorful. Her spouse Tammy Lynn Michaels and the couple's baby twins appear in the video too as well as other people who mean a lot to her enter the room^[6] which shows the positive and optimistic character of the lyrics and how life gets better step by step listening to the music. Already at the beginning of the video snippets of the end of the video are shown when the room is crowded which is supposed to reflect the positive look in the future as soon as she can listen to her own song.

Cover artwork

The single cover of the US release looks like an abstract painting but is in fact a tinted mammography image. This has also been used for the album cover where the image pretends to show the waves of the ocean at first sight.

Credits and personnel

Vocals and acoustic guitar by Melissa Etheridge
Recorded and mixed by David Cole
Assistant engineering by Jorge Costa and Jared Kvitka
Mastered by Brian

References

External links

Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

Melissa Etheridge

Albums	Melissa Etheridge Brave and Crazy Never Enough Yes I Am Your Little Secret Breakdown Skin Lucky The Awakening Fearless Love 4th Street Feeling This Is M.E.

Compilations	Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled

Other albums	A New Thought For Christmas

Notable singles	"Bring Me Some Water" "Like the Way I Do" "No Souvenirs" "I'm the Only One" "Come to My Window" "Angels Would Fall" "Scarecrow" "I Need to Wake Up" "Message to Myself" "Fearless Love" "Take My Number"

Featured singles	"Cry Baby"/"Piece of My Heart" (with Joss Stone) "Just Stand Up!" "Sing"

Related articles	Discography Julie Cypher Tammy Lynn Michaels Linda Wallem

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