The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
2 AM and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake
"Can you help me unravel my latest mistake?
I don't love him, Winter just wasn't my season"
Yeah, we walk through the doors, so accusing, their eyes
Like they have any right at all to criticize
Hypocrites, you're all here for the very same reason
'Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, girl
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe
May, he turn twenty-one on the base at Fort Bliss
"Just a day," he said down to the flask in his fist
Ain't been sober since maybe October of last year
Here in town, you can tell he's been down for a while
But, my God, it's so beautiful when the boy smiles
Wanna hold him, maybe I'll just sing about it
'Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, boys
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe
"There's a light at each end of this tunnel" you shout
"'Cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out
And these mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again"
If you only try turning around
2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me
Threatening the life it belongs to
And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
'Cause these words are my diary screaming out loud
And I know that you'll use them however you want to
But you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button now
Sing it if you understand
And breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe
Oh-oh, oh-oh
Oh-oh, oh-oh
Oh-oh, oh, oh
"Can you help me unravel my latest mistake?
I don't love him, Winter just wasn't my season"
Yeah, we walk through the doors, so accusing, their eyes
Like they have any right at all to criticize
Hypocrites, you're all here for the very same reason
'Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, girl
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe
May, he turn twenty-one on the base at Fort Bliss
"Just a day," he said down to the flask in his fist
Ain't been sober since maybe October of last year
Here in town, you can tell he's been down for a while
But, my God, it's so beautiful when the boy smiles
Wanna hold him, maybe I'll just sing about it
'Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, boys
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe
"There's a light at each end of this tunnel" you shout
"'Cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out
And these mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again"
If you only try turning around
2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me
Threatening the life it belongs to
And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
'Cause these words are my diary screaming out loud
And I know that you'll use them however you want to
But you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button now
Sing it if you understand
And breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe
Oh-oh, oh-oh
Oh-oh, oh-oh
Oh-oh, oh, oh
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this is what i believe this song means:
2 Am and she calls me cause I'm still awake Can you help me unravel my latest mistake I don't love him, winter just wasn't my season. Yeah we walk through the doors so accusing their eyes Like they have any right at all to criticize Hypocrites you're all here for the very same reason.
her friend calls her and tells her that she is pregnant but she doesnt love the father and so they go to an abortion clinic and the other people there are mentally judging her
May he turned 21 on the base of Fort Bliss Just today he sat down to the flask in his fist Ain't been sober since maybe October of last year Here in town you can tell he's been down for while But my God it's so beautiful when the boy smiles Wanna hold him but maybe I'll just sing about him
another friend just turned 21 and he is already an alcoholic and he is depressed but when he was happy he was a beautiful person and she wants to comfort him but she cant
There's a light at each end of this tunnel you shout cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out And these mistakes you've made You'll just make them again if you'll only try turnin' around
2Am and I'm still awake writing this song If i get it all down on paper it's no longer inside of me threaten' the life it belongs to. And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd Cause these words are my diary screamin' out aloud And I know that you'll use them however you want to.
youll never get better if you dont accept the past and move on dont let the past eat at you or it will ruin your future
her words are to be interpreted to fit into anyone's personal experience and to help them be free
I absolutely love the mood of this song, just the way she belts it out at "Cause these words are my diary screamin' out aloud".
I personally get a sense of a woman (her friend) who's broken down and needs help that she can't provide herself. It almost feels like they're sitting in a waiting room for a hospital or maybe a counseling clinic when she says "Yeah we walk through the doors so accusing their eyes Like they have any right at all to criticize Hypocrites you're all here for the very same reason."
It's like a whole bunch of broken people (including herself) who are all looking back on their lives and the decisions they've made, wondering where they're headed. Like for instance, a man who's an alcoholic with a son that he can't hold because of restraining orders, or even just he doesn't want to touch him because he might hurt him.
She passes the feeling that we all need to lean on each other to make it through. There's no way to live this life if you don't have other people around you to hold you together when you're falling apart.
does anybody think the first verse is about abortion? typical i know but that is what i visualize.
Yeah, that's definitely what I thought it was about too. Part of what the character in the song is dealing with. Reading these comments, though, visiting a psychiatrist also seems possible... I'm still stuck on the abortion idea though.
I have been pondering this for days and it hit me minutes before i read your comment ..... i think thats exactly what its about!
i think the first verse is about abortion. the first time i heard this song i put it on repeat and just stared at the wall for like an hour. it really just kind of makes you value your life and have sympathy for people you don't even know. but i think that it's about a group of people she meets and that she eventually helps. i mean, a lot of amazing and life-long friendships start with one person helping the other one through a tough time. i know my very best friend and i kind of got to know each other during one of mine. she sat next to me in math for a semester, and i asked her if i could borrow a pencil, when i went to take it out of her had my sleeve came up and showed my cuts. i was a slicer, and she helped me through it. i stopped over a year ago, and it's still tempting. i still beleive she helped me stop. this first verse of this song makes me think that's how she felt when she came with me to the cutting clinic. i just wanted to throw that idea out there too. that might be somewhat what it's about. i love you so much, spencer. Thanks.
Yeah I think the first verse is about abortion. I like the line "Hypocrites you're all here for the very same reason". Kinda sums it all up.
I think it might be about abortion, but it seemed more like"help me break-up with my boyfriend" and then the hypocrites, I thought that was where they were like either in walmart at 2 am or at a psychologist. But i guess abortion does make a lot more sense. RealityxYeahxright, that's what i did afetr i found this song. you just can't listen to it enough. Makes you really think about the meaning of life.
I always thought it was about a couple getting an abortion.<br /> The first verse is about the girl.<br /> "2 Am and she calls me cause I'm still awake <br /> Can you help me unravel my latest mistake <br /> I don't love him, winter just wasn't my season.<br /> Yeah we walk through the doors so accusing their eyes<br /> Like they have any right at all to criticize<br /> Hypocrites you're all here for the very same reason."<br /> The way she says "latest" mistake makes me think its a girl that gets herself into a lot of trouble and the singer constantly has to help her out. Then I thought the next part was about the singer taking her to the clinic to get an abortion because she was feeling lousy and had low self esteem (winter just wasn't my season) and made a mistake with a guy she wasn't in love with.<br /> <br /> Then the second verse is about the guy. This website has the lyrics a little wrong, so I'll make the changes.<br /> "May he turned 21 on the base of Fort Bliss <br /> 'Just a day' he said down to the flask in his fist<br /> 'Ain't been sober since maybe October of last year'<br /> Here in town you can tell he's been down for while <br /> But my God it's so beautiful when the boy smiles<br /> Wanna hold him but maybe I'll just sing about it"<br /> Since it says he is turning 21, he is a young guy. Also, "on the base of fort bliss" implies he is in the army. He is an alcoholic but the line "Here in town you can tell he's been down for a while" shows he was not always this way at all. But now that he drinks so much, he is usually down in the dumps but when he smiles you are reminded of the way he used to be.<br /> <br /> So I think the girl with the low self esteem and the down in the dumps alcoholic got together and regret it now that the girl is pregnant. But basically the whole song is about how we all make mistakes and there is no going back, so you have to learn to deal with it.
I fell in love with this song the first time i heard it...just anna's outlook on the way life is and how we try to fix things that we can't...we can't go back to the past, we can only go forward...she's saying you just have to keep living no matter what it's your way because life's going to go on anyway...
my favorite line is: "There's a light at each end of this tunnel, you shout cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out and these mistakes you've made you'll just make them again if you'll only try turning around" it's saying that you're stuck and you really don't know how you got in or how to get out. If you try to fix the past you'll just keep making the same mistakes!
i LOVE the line "life's like an hourglass glued to the table" its so powerful when you think about it. it's talking about the passing of time and how you can't speed up or slow down time or events that are happening.
the fact that the hourglass is glued to the table shows that you can try whatever you want but its staying put, so theres nothing you can do to stop it. you can't flip over the hourglass to go back in time. because its glue down
This song, when I get into it and actually listen, just about drives me to tears. It seems to capture the essence of life in general, the fact that you can't turn back, all you can do is find some way to comfort yourself, and try your best to move on ahead. There's no turning back that "hourglass"
Everyone seems to like the Bridge the best, with the tunnel.. but personally, I much prefer the entire last verse, particularly the two lines "these words are my diary screamin' out aloud / And I know that you'll use them however you want to." She's making a commentary, on the fact that we (as listeners) will be making a commentary on her commentary. :-D
This song (for now, anyway) is my "plastic bag in the wind". ;-)
i absolutely love this song!! the lryics are so great when you really listen to them... and i agree with everyone that said the tune is great!! heres what i basicly think that the song means - - >>
2 Am and she calls me cause I'm still awake Can you help me unravel my latest mistake I don't love him, winter just wasn't my season. Yeah we walk through the doors so accusing their eyes Like they have any right at all to criticize Hypocrites you're all here for the very same reason.
Her friend calls her because she's having trouble with a guy. They go somewhere (maybe a hospital or physiologist’s office) where everyone is judging them for being there. when in reality, these people need the same help that they do.
Cause you can't jump the track We're like cars on a cable and life's like an hourglass glued to the table, No one can find the rewind button girl So just cradle your head in your hands. And breathe, just breathe, whoa breathe just breathe
Here she’s saying that everyone is basically stuck in their life. Everyone is forced to move forward (the cars on the cable) and they can’t go back in time or change anything about time (hourglass glued to the table). You can’t go back and do anything different, so you need to except that and move onto the next thing
May he turned 21 on the base of Fort Bliss Just today he sat down to the flask in his fist Ain't been sober since maybe October of last year Here in town you can tell he's been down for while But my God it's so beautiful when the boy smiles Wanna hold him but maybe I'll just sing about it
This is pretty self-explanatory. Theres a man in the army that has a drinking problem. when she says “he sat down to the flask in his fist” I think that he is trying to get rid of his drinking problem. He’s been down when he’s trying to get over it, but he soon will be ok (so beautiful when the boy smiles). She finds something inspiring in him but it too scared to say anything about it
Cause you can't jump the track We're like cars on a cable And life's like an hourglass glued to the table, No one can find the rewind button boys so cradle your head in your hands And breathe, just breathe, whoa breath just breathe
(same as last time)
There's a light at each end of this tunnel you shout cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out And these mistakes you've made You'll just make them again if you'll only try turnin' around
This is my favorite part of the song …. It’s saying that no matter how far deep into your problems you are, you can always get out of them. (theres a light at each end of this tunnel) but the only way that you can get out of the problems, is to change the reason you got into them in the first place (you’ll just make them again if you only try turning around)
2Am and I'm still awake writing this song If i get it all down on paper it's no longer inside of me threaten' the life it belongs to. And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd Cause these words are my diary screamin' out aloud And I know that you'll use them however you want to.
This needs to be my second favorite part. She’s up writing this song, because once she writes it down, she won’t hold the grudge anymore and it won’t be eating her up inside. She feels very vulnerable because she is puttin her feelings on the table and she doesn’t know how people will take them
actually, I'm pretty sure due to the "I dont't love him" thing, she's actually going to an abortion clinic, because she doesnt want to raise a child on her own, or have that tie to a man she doesn't care about. <br /> <br /> and the lyrics on this site are wrong on the fort bliss verse. it's supposed to be "just a day" he said down to the flask in his fist". meaning that his 21st birthday wasnt that special because he's already a drinker. he wasn't putting the drink down. he was holding it, as usual.<br /> azlyrics.com/lyrics/annanalick/breathe2am.html<br /> <br /> and its not that she doesnt know how people will take her words, its that she's terrified that people are going to twist them, or become angry with them or something.<br /> <br /> there's nothing light hearted or uplifting about this song. it's just, life's a bitch and then you die. and there's nothing we can do about it, but wake up and see what will happen today.
I always thought it ironic that this song, called Breathe, had very few breaths taken when singing this song. It requires quite the ability of holding one's breath as a requirement to singing the long phrases. And I thought, maybe it's intentional?
It's almost as if she has so much that she needs to say, and then reminds herself in her chorus to slow down and breathe. I actually like that about the song. Singing it seems to take my breath away, and then just when I forget what its like to breathe and take my time with the song, the lyrics remind me to do so.
I do believe many people here missed the point of the first verse. If you got something different out of it, I don't mean to quelch your interpretation - Part of the magic of songs like this is that they can mean anything you want them to mean.
However, the true meaning behind the first verse rules out pregnancy or abortion. Again, if this interpretation is helping you cope in some way, then I don't want to change that for you. However, she's not talking about a friend in the literal sense, she's talking about herself. This becomes clear at the end of the song when she now states what she's doing literally - She's writing a song. The song is her friend. Can you help me unravel my latest mistake? Her song is her diary, helping her unravel the mysteries about why she acts the way she does. The entire song is her emotions, spilling out into her song, which acts as her diary. By singing this to us she's laying her soul bare and opening herself up to us.
That is, in reality, what this song is about. This is her innermost thoughts about a very private matter in her life - A lover who she claims not to love until she looks at him smile. It's embarrassing to her, and something she normally wouldn't share, but by opening herself up, she also opens herself up to all the love and support others can give her... and all the critism the hypocrytes can lay on her as well.
When I hear this song it makes me think of AA, or similar meetings, the lyrics work.
"2am and she calls me cuz I'm still awake" kinda common when fixing addiction "Yeah we walk through the doors so accusing their eyes Like they have any right at all to criticize Hypocrites you're all here for the very same reason" Sounds like a meeting to me
"No one can find the rewind button boys so cradle your head in your hands And breathe, just breathe, whoa breath just breathe" Sounds like what happens during a meeting.
Maybe I'm crazy, but that's what I think of every time I hear this song.
That is exactly what I got from the lyrics too.
@shakey3825er
@shakey3825er
@shakey3825er I thought the same thing. AA. When I read the comments above about the first verse that one does sound like an<br /> abortion clinic as well. 2nd verse definitely AA.