Hypnotized first started appearing in my set lists around 2007 and would, in that year, be the title track of an underground acoustic EP which I’d self release containing
1. Hypnotized
3. Great
4. Open Up
5. Do You?
6. Chain Reaction
and next appeared as the lead single for my debut studio produced album, I Exist. It was this song that producer Dru Boogie, heard me play live on The Opie and Anthony Show on SiriusXM radio that made him want to reach out and work with me. I remember getting the myspace message from him on my Helio phone while in a Starbucks in Soho. I could barely contain my excitement.
The song was recorded at Central 8 / Amber Wolf studios in Akron, Ohio and Dru’s parts were done in his studio in Lodi, NJ. After we completed that song and 3 others from the full length, we decided to release a 4 song EP called “4play” which also featured Sky Dive, Should I and Chain Reaction. Next we decided to shoot a music video. So, I found myself driving back out to New York City and crashing with Dru while we got this done. Dru rented a studio in Brooklyn for the indoor shots, an elite camera, a stylist and makeup artist and 2 model/actresses, the outdoor shots were done in Riverside Park in Harlem, and in a park and a pipe-yard in New Jersey. Dru’s vision for the video was a cat and mouse game with the girl being the mouse. In reality, the song is about something different, which I will expound upon later.
Official Music Video for Hypnotized
The real story behind the song is not as fun. My first year of college, I met a girl who would become the topic of many of my songs as she started to steal my attention from my efforts to win back my high school sweetheart who was off at another college. This new one, would come over almost every night, drive us out to the woods, and take me around her hometown. It was exciting, but also meaningful to me, and I thought to her as well, until one night when she confessed that she already had a boyfriend.
Was he out of state? Or at a different school? Nope, he was 2 or 3 dorms down from me. She said she knew she wanted to be with me and not him, but she didn’t want to hurt him. But, she would do it after spring break, when she and him returned from meeting his family.
If you guessed that she didn’t break up with him, you guessed right. And I faded away, until I returned after that summer.
She once again pursued hanging out and in the course of less that 6 hours said, “I love you”, “I don’t want to date you” and other things made me feel like the night was going well . This is where my line comes from “I love you, I hate you, I didn’t want to even date you”
Related Songs: If You Weren’t So Mean, Lately, For Me, Mea Culpa
When recording the track, we decided it would be cool to feature a harder rock version as well. Both versions made the album cut.
Hypnotized on Apple Music
Lyrics
Girl you came
and then you went
you took your flight
and I was left
left me high
and i was dry
and i needed some
a little bit of closure would have helped
but the best thing you said
when you got out of bed
i love you
i hate you
i didnt want to even date you
you left the messages you want me to hear
i threw tape out
and opened a beer
and then a phone call
from a number unknown
saying pick me up
’cause i want to come home
I dont care anymore
you had me hypnotized
but im awake now
I dont care anymore
you had me hypnotized
but im awake now
you didnt care about the things you said
the scares and damages
all forgotten
you might be good but that dont mean your best
what makes you think you have another shot and
when youre down on the floor
askin me am i sure
i can’t help feeling just a little conflicted
but i said no more
even though I’m your —-
and i did something that you never predicted
I dont care anymore
you had me hypnotized
but im awake now
I dont care anymore
you had me hypnotized
but im awake now
Thinking bout the things we used to do at night
baby when alone oh no
Then I call and you pick up and treat me like you
got no time for me now
But you still come over dressed up for me
and its so wrong
oh no
maybe next time I should tell you
so long
I dont care anymore
you had me hypnotized
but im awake now
I dont care anymore
you had me hypnotized
but im awake now