You can’t change people they can only change themselves. All this pain I went through, I see it was for a reason. They’ve told me that because of this song, they were able to come out to their families. They have told me this is the first time they felt someone was on their side. I know how much meaning this song has in the lives of so many who went through what you did. I felt I was supposed to write this song. So when they sent me the song, I felt this was a real gift, because this was my story. I cried every Sunday for a year.īut then gradually, I woke up out of it, and stopped going to that church. It was a ritual to repent every day, and apologize for being gay. And I apologized to the community and I apologized to God. And then to be part of a community that tells you that you’re gonna go to hell is awful. You feel like a freak already in high school. Coming out in the church and going through high school was one of the most terrible, awful experiences. I was raised Pentecostal, and went to an evangelical high school. I know this song is very close to your heart. And I think that is why it resonated with people everybody wants someone to keep them warm. I realized the song, his rap, was pragmatic and rational, and I wanted to bring something that was a universal truth. Did you think about it much or did it just happen? What you came up with is so essential – very simple language, and haunting tune, that says so much. Yet the found a way of weaving it in at the end which is beautiful. I thought that could have been the chorus, but they liked the other. I never say that, but I don’t want you to change any of that.” I also tracked the “never cry on Sundays” part, and they used that later in the song. Because they were big and I was playing venues to like four people. I spent three hours, and came up with four different choruses.Īmazing you wrote this without even meeting them first. I never expected it to be heard much beyond that. I thought it would hit locally well here in Seattle, cause the referendum for gay marriage was up. But I didn’t expect it to do well because it’s such a niche song. What did you think about it when you first heard it? The track was done, it just had gaps where the chorus would go. She had Ryan send me the track at about 2 pm, and I had about three hours. ![]() She called me out of the blue and asked, “Do you wanna do a song with Macklemore?” I said sure. Hollis and I did spoken word poetry together. He knew my mentor, Hollis Wong-Wear, who suggested they listen to me. How did Macklemore choose you to do this song? It’s a genuine dream come true, all based on the pure genius of one great refrain. It’s a beautiful songwriting story – a story which points the power of song – both to propel this young visionary artist, but also to give hope and meaning to all those struggling with the same issues. We had the great pleasure of talking to Lambert over the phone from Seattle, where she sounded absolutely stunned by this whirlwind success which has transformed her life so profoundly. ![]() Though Macklemore created the frame with his brave rap, it was Mary who crystallized it so heartbreakingly with her words and tune: “ I can’t change, even if I wanted to. She took the most momentous step of her life and filled those gaps with a refrain that is direct, inspirational and beautifully haunting. ![]() Everything else was in place, and her job was simply to come up with the hook – the key to the whole song. ![]() Though they had never met her, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis sent her the track all finished except for one part – the chorus. She would go to the church every Sunday and cry, and apologize to God for being a sinner. Raised in the church, she grew up aware that she was gay, and feeling sorrowful over her inability to change. But those in the songwriting community know that one of the secrets of their triumph was a Seattle-songwriter named Mary Lambert.Īnd though Lambert had to share the spotlight with Madonna that night - and some 33 couples being married right there by Queen Latifah - it was the beauty of her message which shone through, and has led the world to love this song, “Same Love,” with it’s inspirational “I can’t change” chorus.īefore Macklemore & Ryan Lewis invited her to contribute a chorus to their gay rights song, she was working three jobs to get by, and doing small gigs when she could get them. The indie rap duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis took home four Grammy Awards in 2014, including the one for Best New Artist.
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