The Fray’s “Look After You” Lyrics Meaning
To begin with, “Look After You” is a love song, and truth be told some of the lyrics are highly poetic. But what we do know is that The Fray’s frontman, Isaac Slade, wrote it about his feelings for one Anna. Anna is the lady he would go on to marry the year following the release of this track.
So knowing that history makes the at points confusing lyrics easier to understand. And what it boils down to is a stated desire by both parties, but most pointedly the vocalist, to “look after” each other.
To “look after” someone basically means to take care of them. But again, in this case said expression is being made specifically in a romantic context. So it serves as a way of the vocalist letting his sweetheart know (and vice versa) that he is in fact dedicated to their union.
Indeed in the second verse, the singer adopts the common love-song trope of presenting himself as being in a state of inner turmoil. And in his eyes, the addressee is the only one who can make him feel normal.
So, there you have it. By this point in their relationship Isaac had been able to recognize, in his heart, that Anna was the one. And it would very much seem that she was also down with getting it on. So the thesis sentiment of this track serves the purpose of noting that he does in fact want to lock her down.
Facts about “Look After You”
The Fray is a rock band that formed in Denver during the early aughts. And this track, that came out on 13 September 2005, is the second single from their debut album, “How to Save a Life”, which was put out by Epic Records.
The same quartet of musicians that made up The Fray when “Look After You” came out – singer Isaac Slade, drummer Ben Wysocki and guitarists Dave Welsh and Joe King – are still holding the band down as of the writing of this post.
This track appeared on a handful of US Billboard charts, faring most impressively on the Adult Top 40, where it peaked at number 12. However, this is one of those types of songs that despite such a relatively humble showing, has appeared on a plethora of TV shows as well as the 2008 sci-fi film Jumper.
A video for this track, as directed by Chris Mills, has reportedly been put together. But according to sources, the execs behind it opted to never have it issued publicly. This is perhaps due to the fact that it is concurrently reported that The Fray and co. were expecting “Look After You” to be a major hit.
And such is understandable considering that the two singles which preceded it, respectively “Over My Head (Cable Car)” (2005) and “How to Save a Life” (2006), both broke the top 10 of the Hot 100 in addition to being multi-platinum smashes stateside. However, as inferred earlier, “Look After You” wasn’t nearly as successful.
The aforenoted Slade and King are the credited writers of this song. And it was produced by Aaron Johnson alongside nd Mike Flynn.
