“How I Knew Her” by Nataly Dawn

“How I Knew Her” takes listeners on a journey of grief and self-discovery as the titular song off Nataly Dawn’s 2013 solo album. The album itself was conceived as a heavily autobiographical piece that reflects the artist’s upbringing as the daughter of missionaries and her recent grief after losing of an unnamed maternal figure:

I would have liked to have known you better
Like my daughter knows me now
I would have liked some answers

Grief, anger and love saturate every second of the song as Dawn narrates how the death of this figure has caused her to question not only her own identity, but also the identity of her missing loved one. Starting out quietly, Nataly expresses this frustration by mournfully singing of her own regret from not spending more time listening and learning about the life of the woman she lost. The song then builds into a crescendo as Nataly intersperses her frustration with biographical knowledge of this maternal figure and the projected frustration that she ascribes to the unnamed woman.

But now no one can sing
The third verse of that hymn you played
On that old organ in the parlor
But if you let me I’d fill your ears
With all the love you gave
And then you’d ask me how I knew her

At the end, Dawn regains her soft but mournful composure as she laments the beauty and wisdom lost at the passing of this figure. The lyrical narrative may even invoke a sense of disconnect in our own lives as we reflect on how little we may truly know about those who we truly love and who have played a large part in shaping who we are.

A link to the full lyrics can be found here: http://www.songlyrics.com/nataly-dawn/how-i-knew-her-lyrics/

Listen to the full song here:

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