She Used To Be Mine
‘She Used To Be Mine’ is the first song Sara Bareilles wrote for Waitress, being the ’11o’clock number’ in the musical.
The song has had a wide reach, and life outside of Waitress, having initially been released as a single from her album, ‘What’s Inside: Songs From Waitress‘. Sara said: “I think it’s a very autobiographical song. Our circumstances are different, but the parts of Jenna’s personality that I really relate to – I mean, it’s the chorus of that song: ‘she’s imperfect but she tries, she’s good but she lies, she’s messy but she’s kind.’ That feels like a page out of my diary. I think everybody can relate to the idea that no matter where you ended up, you ended up different than you thought you would be. We all have to reconcile the differences with who you thought you would become, and who you actually ended up to be. I think of my songs as my little children, and I want them to have big lives. This one is having a big life.”
Official Recordings
- Album Version – Sara Bareilles
- Demo – Sara Bareilles
- Original Broadway Cast Recording – Jessie Mueller
- Single – Katharine McPhee
Lyrics
It’s not simple to say
That most days I don’t recognise me
That these shoes and this apron
That place and its patrons
Have taken more than I gave them
It’s not easy to know
I’m not anything
Like I used be
Although it’s true I was never
Attention’s sweet center
I still remember that girl
She’s imperfect, but she tries
She is good, but she lies
She is hard on herself
She is broken and won’t ask for help
She is messy, but she’s kind
She is lonely, most of the time
She is all of this mixed up and baked in a beautiful pie
She is gone, but she used to be mine
It’s not what I asked for
Sometimes life just slips in through a back door
And carves out a person and makes you believe it’s all true
And now I’ve got you
And you’re not what I asked for
If I’m honest, I know I would give it all back
For a chance to start over and rewrite an ending or two
For the girl that I knew
Who’ll be reckless, just enough
Who’ll get hurt, but who learns how to toughen up
When she’s bruised and gets used by a man who can’t love
And then she’ll get stuck
And be scared of the life that’s inside her
Growing stronger each day ’til it finally reminds her
To fight just a little, to bring back the fire in her eyes
That’s been gone, but used to be mine
Used to be mine
She is messy, but she’s kind
She is lonely most of the time
She is all of this mixed up and baked in a beautiful pie
She is gone, but she used to be mine
