Everywhere

Album

Spirit Room, The

Label

Maverick

Genre

Post-Grunge

Composer(s)

Michelle Branch;John Shanks

Entered Chart

Sep 1, 2001

Peak Date

Nov 10, 2001

Released

July 10, 2001

Recorded

January–February 2001 Studio Sunset Sound Henson Ananda (Hollywood, California)

Catalog #

Maverick Album Cut

B-Side

"All You Wanted" (unplugged)

"Everywhere" was Michelle Branch's first single; she wrote the song in her Sedona, Arizona, bedroom when she was about 15 years old, not long after getting a guitar for her 14th birthday. In the song, her special someone is with her (metaphorically) everywhere, so even when they're apart, she can feel his presence. It's almost like he's a ghost, as Branch sings about "the part of you that's drifting over me." She's been asked about the deeper meaning in the song but insists it has none, saying the lyric is simply "teenage rhyme." She elaborated in a 2021 Songfacts interview, saying: "It's that feeling when you can't stop thinking about somebody. They literally permeate your thoughts and drift into everything that you're thinking about, or every little thing reminds you of that person. Still to this day, people ask what it's about and try to find a deeper meaning than a high school crush, and I'm flattered that so many people have different applications for it." This is Branch's most popular song, but it took her a while to warm up to it. For years, she slagged it off, saying in a 2005 interview that she "despised" the song. "I was really young when I wrote it," she said. "For a lot of people that's their first impression of me, so I'm kind of stuck in this song that I wrote that doesn't really mean anything to me and I'm kind of embarrassed about. It just doesn't mean that much to me." In its original form this song was much more subdued and Branch's label, Maverick Records, had no intention of funding the recording. But when Michelle played it for John Shanks, the producer Maverick paired her with, he heard potential in the song and had her record it anyway, tweaking the melody and giving it a huge chorus. When the label heard this new version, they were thrilled and made it the first single. Shanks, who had previously worked with Melissa Etheridge and Bonnie Raitt, earned a writing credit for his contribution. "Everywhere" is a great example of Branch's unique vocal styling where she stretches out the last word of each line: You're everywhere to me-eee And when I close my eyes it's you I see-eee Branch was 18 when "Everywhere" was released. She made an album herself the previous year that she sold at shows, but had just a small following. Maverick Records, faced with the challenge of promoting a song by an unknown artist, tried an unconventional marketing strategy. Instead of begging radio stations to play it, they paid AOL - an early online portal - to feature it on their music channel, where it was very well received. This led to play on MTV's Total Request Live and the song took off from there. The engineer on the album is Grotus drummer Lars Fox. His claim to fame is being the DJ in the video for "AM Radio" by Everclear in addition to working on their albums. While he appears to have hair in the video, it is fake - Lars is really bald. Another famous connection is the drummer, who has worked with John Mellencamp, Smashing Pumpkins, and Ricky Martin. His name is Kenny Aronoff, and he broke his bass drum pedal for the first time ever while recording this song. In the video, Branch portrays what she describes as a "stalker," taking pictures of a guy through his window and posting them on a mood board. Wherever she goes, this dude appears, and at the end of the song he shows up at her apartment. Branch chose the actor because she thought he was hot, but on set was too nervous to talk to him. The video was directed by Liz Friedlander, whose credits include "Adam's Song" by blink-182 and "The Great Beyond" by R.E.M. It won the Viewer's Choice award at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. This shows up in the 2001 movie American Pie 2. The religious interpretation of this song - that God is everywhere - got the attention of a Christian TV network, which offered to play the video, but only if Branch shot a promo saying she accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her savior. She told Songfacts the story: "I was like, 'Hmm. No. I'm not going to do that. Sorry.' They were pretty nasty about it. The woman was like, 'OK, well when your career is failing, don't come to us to play it because we're the only people who will play.' And I was like, 'Wow, that's really Christian of you.' But anyway, it cracks me up when people ask if it's about God, because I always think of that instance with it almost being a Christian radio hit."

Turn it inside out so I can see
The part of you that's drifting over me
And when I wake you're, you're never there
But when I sleep you're, you're everywhere
You're everywhere

Just tell me how I got this far
Just tell me why you're here and who you are
'Cause every time I look
You're never there
And every time I sleep
You're always there

'Cause you're everywhere to me
And when I close my eyes it's you I see
You're everything I know
That makes me believe
I'm not alone
I'm not alone

I recognize the way you make me feel
It's hard to think that
You might not be real
I sense it now, the water's getting deep
I try to wash the pain away from me
Away from me

'Cause you're everywhere to me
And when I close my eyes it's you I see
You're everything I know
That makes me believe
I'm not alone
I'm not alone

I am not alone
Whoa, oh, oooh, oh

And when I touch your hand
It's then I understand
The beauty that's within
It's now that we begin
You always light my way
I hope there never comes a day
No matter where I go
I always feel you so

'Cause you're everywhere to me
And when I close my eyes it's you I see
You're everything I know
That makes me believe
I'm not alone
'Cause you're everywhere to me
And when I catch my breath
It's you I breathe
You're everything I know
That makes me believe
I'm not alone

You're in everyone I see
So tell me
Do you see me?