Opinion
10 Oct 18

100 Voices: Hannah Ryan - on Losing a Friend #NowWereTalking

We invited a 100-strong chorus of artists, writers, musicians, broadcasters, sports stars and more to contribute to Now We’re Talking, a mental health campaign, run in partnership with Lyons Tea and Pieta House. Pine The Pilcrow's Hannah Ryan reveals how their latest single was written for a friend...

Our latest single 'Only Ghosts' was written about a friend of mine who took her own life when I was 12. She had been suffering with depression for quite some time, which we only found out about in the note she left. It was a confusing thing to wrap our heads around. The only way we could make sense of it was by being open with our group and making sure that nobody else felt alone.

The song describes one moment in time - standing outside the church on the day of her funeral, unable to enter, but feeling oddly at peace with the thought of not actually going inside. She felt totally alone, and I paid my respects by imagining her looking down on me from a tree outside the church: "Only Ghosts can see me cry / Only Ghosts can see me fly".

100 Voices was published in the Hot Press Mental Health Special in conjunction with Lyons Tea and Pieta House as part of the Now We're Talking Campaign. For more please visit hotpress.com/now-were-talking/