"Lonely Lullaby" is a song by American

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

project

Owl City Owl City is an American electronic music project created in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. It is one of several projects by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young (American musician), Adam Young, who created the project while exp ...

from his third studio album ''

All Things Bright and Beautiful "All Things Bright and Beautiful" is an Anglican hymn, also sung in many other Christian denominations. The words are by Cecil Frances Alexander and were first published in her ''Hymns for Little Children'' of 1848. The hymn is commonly sung ...

'' (2011). Originally released as a

fan club A fan club is an organized group of fans, generally of a celebrity. Most fan clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to support them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the pers ...

exclusive in March 2011, the song is not included on the standard edition of the album itself. It was released digitally on July 19, 2011, through

Universal Republic Records Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially a ...

and was included as a bonus track for ''All Things Bright and Beautiful'' as the album's third single.

Background

The song is a tribute to Annmarie Monson, an ex-girlfriend of Young's, who he describes as the "most wonderful, beautiful woman" he knew. He stated that the track was a lot more "personal" to him.

Composition

"Lonely Lullaby" is a melancholy-influenced piano

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

written and produced by Adam Young of

. According to the digital sheet music published by

Universal Music Publishing Group Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is a global music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group. Universal Music Publishing has been ranked the #1 music publisher in market share by Billboard for multiple consecutive quart ...

, the song was originally composed in the key of

F major F major is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat.Music Theory'. (1950). United States: Standards and Curriculum Division, Training, Bureau of Naval Personnel. 28. Its relati ...

and set in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

to a "flowing" tempo of 67, slowing down to 57,5 BPM at the end. "Lonely Lullaby" follows a

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

of C – Gm – F – C – B – F and Young's vocals span from a low note of C to a high note of B.

Release

In March 2011, an app titled ''Owl City Galaxy'' was launched, where fans could pre-order the album and access content such as an exclusive bonus track not included in the album, early access to concert tickets and merch. The bonus track was revealed to be "Lonely Lullaby", where fans could stream the song exclusively. It was officially released as a single on July 19, 2011. The song was included on ''All Things Bright and Beautiful'' as a bonus track.

Track listing

Charts

References

{{authority control 2011 singles 2011 songs Owl City songs Universal Republic Records singles Pop ballads Songs written by Adam Young