Melissa Etheridge beckons for comfort from the loneliness of the road in her new song “Wild and Lonely.” The track will appear on her forthcoming The Medicine Show, due out on April 12th via Concord.
The song’s accompanying video was filmed while Etheridge performed live during her recent U.K. tour dates. The lustful themes address a yearning. “‘Cause you, you’ve seen me/Cursed, I’ve been betrayed,” Etheridge emotively sings. “All the night I’ve lost my way/And I feel so wild and lonely/Won’t you come save me?”
Etheridge said in a press statement that she was touching on themes from her past, but with a new perspective. The line “an angry craving seeps into my skin,” she explains “was like old-school Melissa. It’s fun for me to play with ‘me’ now, for 57-year-old Melissa to play with angst,” she said. “The whole song is about being on the road, being hungry, wanting.”
“I wanted the album to have a sound, a feel,” she continued. “‘Wild and Lonely’ really dialed that in for me … the song is the perfect example of the sound I wanted.”
“Wild and Lonely” follows her upcoming 15th studio album’s previously released single “Faded By Design.” The Medicine Show album, as a whole, deals with Etheridge’s unapologetic attitude toward her own well-being, and specifically the use of cannabis — a stance that echoes her longtime advocacy for pot legalization. Etheridge embarks on an extensive U.S. tour beginning March 29th.