Days I Hate Myself by Take That
It wouldn’t be out of the way to speculate that this song is borderline religious. Or in any event, the thesis sentiment actually revolves around the vocalist celebrating an unspecified addressee who plays an important role in his life, which includes the likes of ‘showing him the ladder up to the sky’ and ‘saving him from that hell’.
As indicated via the song’s title, this is all predicated on Gary sometimes having the tendency to ‘hate himself’. However, the lyrics don’t really harp on specifying what that means in context. Instead, they read more as if the vocalist has formed some sort of emotional and/or psychological dependency on the addressee. As such, what’s theoretically being implied, especially as far as the second verse goes, is that his depression or self-hatred is at its peak when that person isn’t around.
So it can also be reasonably speculated that perhaps the addressee is Gary’s significant other, and this is akin to a love song, i.e. one of those types which puts a premium on how bent out of shape the singer becomes when his sweetheart is absent. But all things considered, i.e. the overall nature of This Life, the project which this track is derived from, that probably isn’t the case. Rather, the Take That crew, despite being music stars, once again go about depicting themselves as individuals who go through the same types of ups and downs that we all do. But in this case there is an addressee, albeit an unidentified one, who is celebrated for having the ability to lift such depressions – someone whom the singer looks up as a model and propagator of resiliency and optimism.
Songwriting & Production Credits
The long-standing members of Take That Mark – Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald – wrote Days I Hate Myself, with the track being produced by Dave Cobb. And in doing so, The Guardian has noted that the crew broke away from their usual sound, as this song is actually ska influenced.
Release Date
This is one of the tracks to be found on Take That’s studio album This Life, which EMI Records delivered to the marketplace on 24 November 2023.
