Music Review: Bangles "I'll Set You Free"

Bangles

I’ll Set You Free

Album: Everything

Year: 1989

         Susanna Hoffs can no longer hang on to a fading relationship in the stalwart “I’ll Set You Free.”

              A compelling drum starts the single, setting a certain tone.The chorus begins in the single. His dreamy gaze is gone. His once gleaming expression when he would greet her has been replaced by a scowl. She teases him with their old in-jokes and his response is a tear. Nothing will bring back the person she first fell for. As much as it pains her, she has to let go. (“I remember eyes that shined/As they looked so hard back into mine/Now it's just a memory/So I'll set you free.”)

          She calls him to see how he’s doing at work. She can hear his pen tapping in the background while he repeats a monotone “uh huh” to what she says. She asks him if anything’s wrong. His voice rises a bit and he rushes out his first couple sentences. She tells him “I love you” and gets an automatic answer parroted back to her. She hangs up and sighs. She might as well as been scheduling a sales meeting with him. (“I hear you through the wire/The words all sound like noise/What happened to the fire in your voice/
Don't try to hide the distance/It's just too big to ignore/We work it out like business/It won't work anymore.”)

             The chorus is sung again.

               She lays in their bed, seeing him beside her and whispering in her ear. The canned laughter from the late night show drifts into the bedroom. He cracks up at the joke and the blanket around his legs drops to the floor. In the beginning, her friends would comment on how well they got along. Their converations  would last into the night. The last six months or so, he stopped talking and holding her. She can’t figure out what happened. (“Still sometimes late at night/Moonlight comes into my window/I can make believe it's how it used to be/We made it look so easy/You never tried to resist/Somehow you stopped believing/Somehow we've come to this.”)

          In the second chorus, she can still hear the notes in his voice, creating its own melody. The musicality has disappeared. It’s the end and there was nowhere left to go. (“I remember eyes that shined…
 I remember words that fell/Like coins into a wishing well/This was never meant to be/So I'll set you free/
Oh oh, I'll set you free.”)

            In the bridge, she prepares herself, knowing leaving is the only way to be happy again. She has tried convincing herself things would go back to normal. She still loves him. However, the tears are getting tougher to control. (“So now I must go on/What more can I do/What good is being strong/When all I ever really want is you.”)

         The second chorus is sung again.

         In the final section, she wishes their relationship could continue. It’s not a decision she wants to make. But it needs to be done. Avoiding the problem isn’t an option anymore. (“I remember eyes that shined. I remember-ahhhh/As they looked so hard back into mine (all I want is you)/.All I want is you/I remember, I remember words that fell like coins into a wishing well (all I want is you)/'Cause you want what I want, 'cause you want what I want, oh/I remember eyes that shined as they looked so hard back into mine (all I want is you ooh, all I want is you.)”

     Hoffs’ shattered, confounded vocals are conflicted, balancing the weight of what she must do while not letting her lingering emotions for him cause her to topple onto the ground. It’s inevitable and pretending to be nothing is wrong has gotten to her.

     The overlooked “I’ll Set You Free” throbs with heartache.