Music Notes

It Comes Back to You, by ID

My next choice is another deep cut from the 2015 Imagine Dragons album Smoke + Mirrors. A quietly moody piece, with a cover painting of a lady striking something similar to a ballet or yoga pose, with a flock of white birds above. Artist Tim Cantor   has said that he used his wife as the model for this image.

Sound:
It Comes Back to You begins on the right, with a faint, faraway buildup which comes to both sides and gradually, delightfully layers upon itself, with a full 56 seconds before Dan starts singing. When the final chorus begins, it ushers in a twinkling keyboard sweep, adding a dreamy, mystical touch.

There is no bombast or shouting in this song; if anything, it sounds very much like a lullaby, with a hint of strings, a relaxing melodic pattern, and a soothing background vocal.

Theme:
It Comes Back to You deals with general feelings of lying awake at night, wondering what's become of your life. I pointed out on Genius that mockingbirds like to sing at around 4AM, predawn. Thus we see, even though "I have thought of greater things," the narrator is reduced to pondering something as meaningless as why a mockingbird is calling outside his window in the wee hours.

One of my favorite lines is "you could call it cowardice, but leave me to my studied bliss…" I was quite surprised when I first learned lead singer and lyricist Dan Reynolds is an introvert. It seemed so unlikely that such a funny, warm-hearted and naturally friendly guy would rather spend time alone. I contrasted his genuinely good, almost innocent personality with my own tendency to be a grumpy, cynical, inconsiderate grouch.

Yet as I became more familiar with his words I came to understand his conflict between being a sincere people pleaser and taking time to care for his own mental health, even to removing himself from stressful situations or hangers-on.

Another favorite line, which I've incorporated into many an art piece over the years, is "am I just a shadow you drew?" I find this a profoundly haunting question, to which there is no easy answer as I evaluate my self-esteem and sense of purpose in an increasingly difficult world.

Significance:
This is a treasured favorite off the album for many reasons. Though a deep cut, it has appeared in some unexpected places.

One time in 2018, I was shopping with my mom at the Belk's department store in Tennessee. In those days I struggled with narcolepsy, and I was quite literally falling asleep in the dressing rooms as she tried on clothes. The store had no WiFi, and my smartphone was an old one without a plan, so I had nothing to do but listen to the in-store music, most of which was incredibly boring indie pop.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I recognized the slow, gentle opening of this song. It couldn't have come at a better time. I was so excited to meet it, I actually recorded the experience on my phone, since I was unable to use Google Sound Search for a screenshot.

More recently, It Comes Back to You has appeared at a sophisticated chain of gas stations I visit frequently, repeating several times on their vast playlist in 2024. I marveled at this and wondered if it had been added as a sort of "advertising" buildup to the album's tenth anniversary.

The song has inspired several art pieces of mine, most of which I'd have to dig through my cloud storage to find and share. In honor of the tenth anniversary and the upcoming Reflections album, I recently doodled a little pen-and-ink image reinterpreting the Smoke + Mirrors cover art. It's horrible, but I haven't drawn on paper in years and my skills were never that great. I'll embed my lightly digitized version here…

Another thing the song inspired is "What's Her Story #47" , a sweet little flash fiction entry I wrote for "Game of Thrones"  in April 2024.

Enjoy the melody of slumbering dragons

Words: 690.