My Own Prison (song)
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"My Own Prison" is a song by
Creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...
and the titular lead single from their 1997 debut album of the same name. It first appeared on the WXSR-FM compilation album ''Locals Only'' and would prove to be the band's breakout hit. The single peaked at number two on the ''Billboard''
Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...
chart and number seven on the
Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...
chart.


Writing and recording

"My Own Prison" is one of Creed's earliest written songs. Prior to writing the song, the band had written about half a dozen other songs as they were in the process of trying to find their identity. The band wrote a song called "Grip My Soul", which was never recorded or released, but after a rehearsal vocalist
Scott Stapp Scott Stapp (born Anthony Scott Flippen, August 8, 1973) is an American singer, best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Creed. He has also fronted the band Art of Anarchy and has released three solo albums: '' The Great Di ...
recalls that he and the band felt that they had finally found their musical style. It was sooner after this that "My Own Prison" was written. Stapp wrote in his
memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...
, ''Sinner's Creed'', that in a way, "Grip My Soul" was a prelude to what would become "My Own Prison". As with all Creed songs, the lyrics were composed by Stapp and the music was written entirely by guitarist
Mark Tremonti Mark Thomas Tremonti (born April 18, 1974) is an American guitarist and singer, best known for his tenures with the rock bands Creed and Alter Bridge. He is a founding member of both bands, and has also collaborated with many other artists over ...
. Stapp said about writing the title track: "One night I woke up about 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. from a dream and I just wrote it all down," Stapp said. "I didn't know it was a song at the time. A few days later I called uitaristMark remonti he had been putting together some music, and we sat down and got the song together in about 30 minutes." The band originally demoed the song, along with the rest of their songs, at their producer John Kurzweg's house, which was called "The Kitchen Studio", in
Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...
, and
Criteria Studios Criteria Studios is a recording studio in North Miami, Florida, founded in 1958 by musician Mack Emerman. Hundreds of gold, platinum, and diamond singles and albums have been recorded, mixed or mastered at Criteria, for many notable artists and ...
in
Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, for $6,000. During the original recording sessions, which were recorded analog directly to tape, the first song that was tracked was "My Own Prison". This final cut from these sessions would appear on the Blue Collar Records release of ''My Own Prison''. However, after the band was picked up and signed to Wind-up Records, the song, along with the entire album was remixed by Ron St. Germain at the
Long View Farm Long View Farm Studios was a music recording studio located in North Brookfield, Massachusetts which was founded in 1974 by Gilbert Scott Markle, a professor at Clark University, on his farm property. It was the location of recordings from many ...
recording studio in
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
.


Music and lyrics

Stapp was inspired to write the lyrics to My Own Prison based on his experiences when left his home at the age of 17 to enroll in "the school of hard knocks," Stapp said, and it was in the latter days during this education that Stapp decided he would "take responsibility" for his actions. Stapp said the song relates to his discovery that he "couldn't blame others for the walls constricting my life. 'My Own Prison' was the consequences for my bad decisions. It was my own fault that I did shitty in school, that I got fired from my job, that I was living in my car. I had to grow up." Stapp also said in his memoir that his
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
upbringing played a huge part in inspiring him to write the song due to the guilt that he felt from not measuring up to the God presented to him by his father and the rebellion that followed in his teenage years. He felt it was both logical and amazing that his experiences came out in the form of a
rock song Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States and ...
. Logical in that his view, music is rebellious in its very nature, and that rock is rooted in challenging the rules and social norms of the previous generation. But amazing because in spite of this rebellion, the song confirmed to Stapp that it was "the Man on the cross, the Lion of Judah, who held the key to my freedom". Stapp felt that the song was the most significant metaphor for his life in that it was with the band from the beginning and would prove prophetic in the decades that followed. The song is written in the key of
F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consis ...
, and begins with a somber tone led by guitarist Tremonti, who plays in
drop D tuning Drop D tuning is an alternative form of guitar tuning in which the lowest (sixth) string is tuned down from the usual E of standard tuning by one whole step to D. So where standard tuning is E2A2D3G3B3E4 (EADGBe), drop D is D2A2D3G3B3E4 (DADGBe ...
. The
pre-chorus Song structure is the arrangement of a song, and is a part of the songwriting process. It is typically sectional, which uses repeating forms in songs. Common forms include bar form, 32-bar form, verse–chorus form, ternary form, strophic form, and ...
sees Tremonti share vocal duties with Stapp as Tremonti sings the main lyrics while Stapp sings "And I said oh" on backing vocals. As the tension and intensity build, Stapp powers the back half of the song with his vocal work at the beginning of the chorus, where he sings, "Should have been dead on a Sunday morning, banging my head, No time for mourning, Ain't got no time", followed by the pre-chorus once again. During the
bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
, Stapp cries out "I cry out to God, seeking only His decision, Gabriel stands and confirms, I've created my own prison". A third pre-chorus is then repeated three times with Stapp repeating the words "I created, I created, I created, I created, I created, I created my own prison" during the final pre-chorus. The song ends with Stapp singing the lyrics to the chorus once again as the music begins to slow down in
tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...
and slowly fade out following the final note.


Cover art

The cover art for the single is simply a recoloured version of the album artwork, with the only difference being the title placement now appearing at the bottom within a black bar instead of just under and to the right of the band's
wordmark __notoc__ A wordmark, word mark, or logotype, is usually a distinct text-only typographic treatment of the name of a company, institution, or product name used for purposes of identification and branding. Examples can be found in the graphic iden ...
logo.


Music video

The music video was produced by
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
-based production company
Black Walk Black Walk is a Canadian film and television production company located in Whitby, Ontario, Canada. The former music video production company is now known for producing films, television programs, and the ''Dark Rising'' series. History Black Wa ...
, and was directed by Stephen Scott. The video received a great deal of airplay on
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
as well
MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...
.


Release and reception

Stapp recalls the first time he heard "My Own Prison" during the band's radio debut. The members of Creed were at Daniel Tremonti's house, brother of Mark Tremonti, and they had invited a few girls from
Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...
when suddenly the DJ on the radio said: "There's this band around town called Creed. You know them. They've been making a lot of noise lately. They've built up quite a following, and now they've recorded their first album, ''My Own Prison''. I'm guessing that right now they're sitting at home trying to impress some of their FSU lady friends. I'm gonna help them out and make their little dream come true. So Tallahassee, here's your hometown boys—here's Creed with their radio debut, "My Own Prison"." Soon after the release of ''My Own Prison'', the title track began being played on the locals-only radio show in Tallahassee, Florida. Another radio station in a nearby city in
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
started playing the album's song "Pity for a Dime". The band were asked to perform a show there and there were around 5,000 to 6,000 people. Soon after, the title track began playing on radio outside the Georgia and Florida area. "My Own Prison" was the band's first ever single to be released and the lead single to their debut album of the same name. Because Creed's singles were not initially sold in the United States, they were ineligible for the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The single managed to peak at number 54 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Airplay chart in March 1998. The song also managed to find success on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart as well as the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song peaked at number two on the former for the week of November 8, 1997, where it would remain for nine consecutive weeks, being kept off the top stop by "
Touch, Peel and Stand "Touch, Peel and Stand" is a song by the rock band Days of the New and the lead single from their self-titled debut album. It was released in 1997 and remains arguably the band's most popular and well known song. The song reached #1 on the ''Bill ...
" by
Days of the New Days of the New is an American rock band from Charlestown, Indiana, formed in 1995. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Travis Meeks and a variety of supporting musicians. They are best known for the hit singles "Touch, Peel and Stand", "Th ...
. It also finished at number 2 on the 1998 year-end chart. On the latter chart, the song managed to reach number seven for the week of April 18, 1998. Internationally, "My Own Prison" peaked at number 9 on the Canada Rock/Alternative (''
RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
'') chart and number 45 on the Canada Top Singles (''RPM'') chart.


Appearances in media

"My Own Prison" was performed live by the band at the 27th Annual American Music Awards on January 17, 2000. The song was featured in the 2002 film '' Bang Bang You're Dead''. The song was made available as downloadable content for the video game ''
Rocksmith 2014 ''Rocksmith 2014'' is a music video game produced by Ubisoft. It is a followup to the 2011 game ''Rocksmith'', but has been described as a replacement to the original game rather than a sequel. Like its predecessor, the game allows players to plug ...
'' on September 16, 2014, as part of the "Creed 5-Song Pack".


Track listing

# "My Own Prison" (
radio edit In music, a radio edit or radio mix is a modification, typically truncated or censored, intended to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form. Radio edits may als ...
) – 4:12 # "My Own Prison" (acoustic edit) – 4:33 # "Torn" (live) – 6:24


Chart performance


Year-end charts


References

{{authority control Creed (band) songs 1997 songs 1997 debut singles Songs written by Mark Tremonti Songs written by Scott Stapp Wind-up Records singles