Scott Bonehill, or the summer we opened the relationship

It's not you, it's me. The most worn-out break-up line appears in the first verse of Scott Bonehill, but here it isn't used to leave anyone. It's used to ask for a bit of patience, because the narrator admits their self-esteem is through the floor.

I really like how the song starts, with someone who doesn't want to be a nuisance and who, at the same time, asks not to be pushed to the limit when they're not even hugged anymore. And right away comes a darkly funny image I love: all the relationship is missing now is a headstone, a shovel and a gravedigger on a very bad night. The sentimental burial, with all its props.

To open or not to open

The underlying issue is the open relationship. The partner proposes it and the protagonist, reluctantly, ends up admitting something that hurts more than the proposal: «tienes razón» (you're right). That honesty seems to me the bravest thing in the lyrics. There's no clear villain, just two people who no longer fit.

Then comes a string of excuses with a lot of modern copla about it. Maybe I'm not modern. Maybe I'm going straight to hell. Maybe I'm always bitter. Every time that refrain comes back it sounds like someone bandaging themselves before the wound is made, and at the same time a certain pride peeks through: they may be old-fashioned, but they're not ready and they say so.

And then the twist, told over one summer. The first time they tried it, the partner ended up in love with someone else, and that someone has a first name and a surname: Scott Bonehill. The chorus repeats three times that he ended up in love with Scott Bonehill, and it amuses me because what could have been a drama turns into a proper name that sticks in your head. It's the typical ending nobody plans when they suggest trying something new.

It's a song for anyone who has ever accepted something out of fear of losing someone and found out the fear was right. Also for anyone who feels old-fashioned in a world of apps and flexible arrangements. I'd play it at the end of summer, when you already know how the stories that began in June end.

The full lyrics are below. Listen on Spotify