This soulful acoustic number is a heartfelt song about love. Frontwoman and lyricist Hayley Williams told Kerrang!
May 9, 2009, that it's "the first time I've been able to write a song
about that." She added: "Josh (Farro - guitar) brought me the music and I
thought it was so beautiful. I don't know where my head was at when I
heard it, but it really hit me. Josh and I wanted to write a two-minute
interlude, just guitar and vocals. It's such a departure from our other
songs. When I wrote the lyrics and sang them to the band, we decided to
make it into a full song. I've never written lyrics like this before.
The first verse is about where I think the fear to be open or vulnerable
started. Ever since the first story in Kerrang!, everyone has
known about my family issues and domestic whatever, it's something
that's kinda stayed with me and I've learned from. I played this song to
my mom and there were tears. It was kind of embarrassing."
Hayley Williams told Alternative Press
about this song: "Before I get started on this one, let me just point
out the fact that the acronym for this song is 'TOE.' All right. Josh
and I wanted something short and sweet that would break up the record.
He sent me some music and I was immediately inspired. After showing the
guys, everyone loved it so much that they told us we had to finish it.
So we did. This is the first love song I've ever written. And even if
I've tried in the past, this is the first one that I'm really proud of. I
like that I was able to express the fact that I have always been really
afraid of love - and I still am at times - but the excitement and the
hope that it exists is still very evident in the lyrics. So it's not
like I'm a total cynic! Love is a good thing, kids."
The
song's music video was directed by photographer Brandon Chesbro. This
was his first foray into music-video direction, though he had worked
closely with the band before, having shot the documentary 40 Days of Riot!, which appeared on the group's The Final Riot! DVD, and also filmed a chronicle of the making of the group's latest effort, Brand New Eyes.
Chesbro told MTV News that he is most proud of the overhead shot of
Williams laying down on a giant pile of Valentine's Day cards that were
solicited by the band and sent in by fans. "In two days we got 500
cards," he said. "The band has crazy fans. All those cards are so
detailed - these kids spent serious time on these cards. That's my
favorite shot of the whole video. It was the first thing we shot and I
thought that if something falls apart and we only have that one shot,
that could be the video all by itself and it'd be perfect."
The man playing Hayley's dad in the video is her actual father and the guy who shares the couch with Williams at the beginning of the clip is a friend of Chesbro.
The man playing Hayley's dad in the video is her actual father and the guy who shares the couch with Williams at the beginning of the clip is a friend of Chesbro.
Florida-based
band called Tenspoke Indies claimed in an October 2010 lawsuit that
there is "substantial" similarity between their song "Starlighter" and
this track. The accusers alleged that they sent a copy of their demo
containing "Starlighter" to Paramore's record label Fueled By Ramen in
2006 and Paramore subsequently borrowed parts of their tune for "The
Only Exception," "including but not limited to, similarities in the
introductions, arrangements, the chord progression, the key, the melody,
the lyrical theme, the rhythm and tempo of both songs."