Take Me
Glenn Lewis had one R&B hit in 2001, you’d probably know it if you heard it. In fact the title is “Don’t You Forget It”. It was around the time I first got my driver’s license and I would drive my parents’ Honda to my internship at a Battered Women’s Center after school.
For a good few weeks, this song “Take Me” from Glenn Lewis’ old album World Outside My Window stayed on repeat in the Honda, to and from that job every day. I love the song for two basic reasons- first the storytelling of my favorite topic, second the sly movement of the music. It sounds like tiptoeing around delicate glass shards, which Glenn Lewis attempted with this crazy girl. But the best thing about this song is the way he scream-sings *her* last line. “SOMEone help me please!”. We can hear it; girl needs help. Now.
Lyrics:
It was in November, while out one night with friends/
that I saw her there, she was just standing there/
something in her distant stare, a faint look of despair/
to her I was drawn, asked her was anything wrong/
I told her my name, said how you do/
’bout to say you take care, it was nice to meet you/
then she stopped me desperately, as if to say ‘don’t go’/
but then she said to me/
‘Anywhere,
you wanna go,
just take me,
take me’
Not knowing what to say, but I could see/
she was going through some things, and needed someone to be/
there to listen, probably wishing/
she was someone else, and in my heart felt bad/
and I just knew I had, ’cause I’d want the same myself/
so we got into it, and while she talked I thought to myself/
how could it be, that she’d have no one/
not even a friend to come, and she’d have to turn to me and say…/
‘Anywhere,
you wanna go,
just take me,
take me’
Seeking the wrong kind of attention, always in abusive situations/
and don’t know how she got it good, was starting to sound like it could be/
the reason for misery, slowly I could see/
she had problems, nothing I or anyone could say or do/
would help what she was going through, then suddenly/
she stood up across from me, and as loud as she could be/
screaming out ‘SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE!’/
realizing she was gone, wishing I’d minded my own saying/
‘Take me anywhere but here,’/
she’s crazy, crazy
I remember this but had forgotten how sad it is.