“I Like You So Much Better (Than Anyone I’ve Ever Loved Before)”
Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman“I Like You So Much Better (Than Anyone I’ve Ever Loved Before)” is a song Lindy West’s father wrote for her mother. Its lyrics set earlier romantic chances against the steadier love he found with her, making the song a compact record of their change in circumstance and attachment.
Origin and Context
West’s father wrote the song for her mother. Their early circumstances give its declaration a concrete backdrop: when they fell in love, he played piano in bars, lived on credit cards, and sometimes accepted gin and tonics as payment. By the time West was born a few years later, he had a day job at an advertising agency and the couple was financially stable. The song’s image of finding one’s feet therefore resonates with a change in the life the couple built together.
Lyrics and Significance
The lyric begins by looking backward: “Time was I took a lot of chances/on passions and romances/but you’re the one who helped me get my feet back on the floor/That’s why I like you so much better/than anyone I’ve ever loved before.” The movement is from many chances to one chosen partner, and from romantic intensity to being grounded. Its refrain makes that preference explicit: this is not simply a song about having loved before, but about singling out the person who helped make a steadier life possible.
