“Pride” drew on a lifetime of experiences in which I was good at something, yet found myself crushed, shunned, or hurt by people who felt personally slighted by my hard-earned success—either because it wasn’t theirs or because I didn’t look like the person they believed deserved it.
To be frank, growing up, music was the only thing that made me feel valued as a person. Because of that, I worked hard at it. It was the only thing I had ever received praise for, and for a child with no self-esteem, that praise was validating. But it also brought people who actively sought to tear me down. People see the outcome, but rarely the hard work behind it.
That was the duality at the heart of the song: the pride that sustained me and gave me a sense of worth, alongside the resentment I faced from people who sought to tear me down.
“Pride” was released on the first edition of the charity album Voyces for UNHCR, but was later removed to make room for artists who were more prominent at the time.
Below are the lyrics.
Pride
Pride leave me alone, I’ve been your victim long enough.
You’ve taken and you’ve given, but this heart doesn’t hold anymore of your…
Pride leave me alone.
Pride leave me alone, I’ve been your victim long enough.
You’ve played as my sedative in a lifetime that gone numb.
You’ve gave me pleasure as you later made me pay,
The price was me as your martyr to the masses that came, oh pride
You are my enemy, at a time you were my love.
You fed my ego when I didn’t have one
But with you came envy to score my defeat
And all you did was boldly stand there, didn’t bother saving me, oh pride
You gave me nothing but a heaven and a hell, oh no.
No go between, no salvation, and you did it all quite well.
You served as my narcotic with your highs and your lows,
Oh pride, step aside and just let me go. Go.
The bitter anger that runs through these veins – Go
You maybe leaving, but the taste still remains, pride leave me alone!
Pride leave me, pride leave me, pride leave me, pride leave me alone.
Pride leave me, pride leave me, pride leave me, pride…
I’ve been your victim long enough, oh
You’ve poisoned this once pure life with your horrors and your sun.
Your gifts maybe glamorous, but your hatred so severe,
Oh pride, leave me alone so I can go on living without your fear
Pride leave me, pride leave me, pride leave me, pride…
Copyright 2004
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