Cracking the Zarry Code - how Deep is real.

Story of My Life

If you can't remember this song,  watch the video or listen to the audio before reading this chapter.  Pay close attention to the lyrics and who sings them....

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Written by Harry among others, I have always thought this rather harsh song was about the way that Harry treated girls.  It just made me think of him, but until recently I wasn't sure why.

The song is about never having a partner who you like enough to treat really well.  Ok, it may be about others in the band as well as Harry.  Or about no one in particular, just a situation that many people can relate to... ?  Ok, so most people don't treat all their partners badly!  

Either way, it makes most sense if it is about Harry's reputation at the time: dating lots of women superficially but never seeming to settle with one. 

Incidentally, you might have noticed that Harry sings the first part and the chorus.

But as with some of H's other songs, the message of the song is confused by the fact that the "narrator" (the "I")  is talking about different people in the same song.   Most people miss this. The woman or women are referred to in the third person ("she / her") whilst the person the song is directed at , the person he is having the conversation with, is someone else – the "you".    And the great thing about the pronoun "you" is that it has no gender.  

Let's look at the lyrics more closely:

The story of my life / I take her home / I drive all night/ to keep her warm / and time / is frozen

The story of my life / I give her hope / I spend her love / until she's broke / inside

The story of my life

These words are damning and brutally honest. The narrator is basically saying that he treats women like commodities – picks them up, uses them up and dumps them.

Written on these walls are the colours that I can't change

Leave my heart open but it stays right here in its cage

So it's clear – no woman has yet captured his heart. But with the bridge everything changes – the focus swivels from "her" to "you". And this is the whole point of the song – the narrator (Harry) trying to explain his behaviour with girls to the person that really matters; the person he wants to call "baby".

And I've been waiting for this time to come around

But baby running after you is like chasing the clouds

Who is the "you"? Who is the person who is so hard to catch it is like chasing the clouds?

I believe it is Z.   We know Zayn's reputation as being notoriously hard to get hold of (several of the boys have said this in interviews); he has a habit of disappearing  / leaving (being absent from the band on several occasions before finally leaving for good);  he is very much his own person (standing up to Simon Cowell / refusing to do what was expected).  In short, Zayn is unobtainable.  Added to which, he was in a supposed relationship / engagement from 2012 to 2015.  Harry, on the other hand, had no serious (official) relationships during this time unless you count a couple of months dating Taylor Swift and an on-off showmance sorry I mean romance with Kendall Jenner. 

Now notice who sings the "you" part....

Yep, that's right.  Zayn.  The link is made between Z and "you".  

By the way, the video is a complete distraction (albeit a very clever one) and has nothing to do with the meaning of the song. 

And who sings the final line, underlining whose life this is about??  

Yep, Harry.  He starts and ends the song, and sings the chorus.  This is about Harry's life.  And the "you" he is chasing is Zayn.  

The structure of the song underlines its meaning.

Ok, you might not believe my analysis now.  But read a few more chapters and you will change your mind!