| "Shelf in the Room" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Days of the New | ||||
| from the album Days of the New | ||||
| Released | September 1998 | |||
| Recorded | October–November 1996 | |||
| Studio | Woodland (Nashville, Tennessee) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:44 | |||
| Label | Outpost | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Travis Meeks | |||
| Producer(s) | Scott Litt | |||
| Days of the New singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Shelf in the Room" is a song by Days of the New and the third and final single from their self-titled debut album. The song reached #3 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks in 1998[2] and is a concert staple. "Shelf in the Room" is also the first track on the band's Definitive Collection released in 2008.
While perhaps not as popular as other singles from the album, "Shelf In The Room" is regarded for its engaging acoustic guitar melody and serves as the opening track. The song utilizes the basic instrumentation heard throughout the album but also features a vocal distortion during the chorus. Lyrically, the song often refers to a key and tends to vaguely describe emotional stability and isolation. The shelf is considered a means of security with the chorus line, "The shelf in the room has been so true/I can hide in the shelf in the room." It is also described as "holding me, and letting me stay." These themes are illustrated through the song's music video.