Music Review: Faith Hill "Cry"

Faith Hill

Cry

Album: Cry

Year: 2002

            Faith Hill needs to know she wasn’t a throwaway ex in the yearning “Cry.”

              A compassionate opens the single, setting a consoling tone.  She dabs her eyes with a tissue and shuts the television off. The actor arched his eyebrows with a quizzical expression on his face. It was the same look her ex-boyfriend would give her after telling him about some of her workday. They broke up a few weeks ago. In a formal manner, he explained to her they were going in separate directions. It took a couple minutes for it to register for her. He held her hand, wished her well and left some money for the check. She might as well been a random stranger who begged him for a date and not his girlfriend for three years. She can handle the relationship ending. However, his lack of emotion towards is it what devastating to her. For all the time she was with him, she meant absolutely nothing to him. A trembling lip or a voice cracking would’ve made her feel as though she mattered. (“If I had just one tear running down your cheek/Maybe I could cope maybe I'd get some sleep/If I had just one moment at your expense/Maybe all my misery would be well spent.”)

            In the chorus, she needs to him to acknowledge the fact she was an important part of his life. She thinks of the moment he told her it was over. He could’ve added he would always love her. She would’ve known it wasn’t true but at least it would’ve taken her feelings in consideration. Throughout the relationship, she took unpaid time off when she was working part-time to help out when his family came to visit. She would go shopping for birthday presents and kept to his schedule, allowing them to see each other.  She needs to see him missing her and what she did for him. (“Yeah, could you cry a little/Lie just a little/Pretend that you're feeling a little more pain/I gave now I 'm wanting/Something in return/So cry just a little for me.”)

              He made her although it was all her fault. However, the relationship’s failure is also on him. He told her he would cut down on his workload and told her he was thinking about marriage. If he could apologize for leading her on, she would be able to move forward. (“If your love could be caged, honey I would hold the key/And conceal it underneath the pile of lies you handed me/And you'd hunt those lies/They'd be all you'd ever find/And that'd be all you'd have to know/For me to be fine.”)

         In the second chorus, she needs him to realize he lost someone irreplaceable. Then, her feelings of worthlessness would stop.  (“Yeah, and you'd cry a little/Die just a little/And baby I would feel just a little less pain/I gave now I'm wanting /Something in return/So cry just a little for me.”)

           In the bridge, a mutual friend told her he was at a party, talking about how great it’s to be single and he can do what he wants now. She shakes her head at his insensitivity. Her friend puts her arm around her and tells her he’s an idiot. She says it’s his treatment of her that’s bothering her. He’s acting as though nothing happened. He has to be feeling something but choosing not show it. (“Give it up baby/I hear you're doin' fine/Nothin’ goin’ save me/I can see it it your eyes/Some kind of heartache/Darlin’ give it a try/I don’t want pity/I just want what is mine.”)

            The first chorus is sung again.

          She sings “cry just a little for me” twice to end the single.

          Hill’s truthful,  decorous vocals  challenge her ex-boyfriend’s side of story, scratching out omissions and filling in the missing language. Revenge isn’t her goal. He’s lying to himself, hiding his true emotions and she knows it.

             The needling “Cry” breaks out of its invisibility, divulging its own perspective.