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

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