I'm holdin' on your rope
Got me ten feet off the ground
And I'm hearin' what you say
But I just can't make a sound
You tell me that you need me
Then you go and cut me down
But wait
You tell me that you're sorry
Didn't think I'd turn around
And say

That it's too late to apologize
It's too late
I said it's too late to apologize
It's too late
Too late, oh uh

I'd take another chance
Take a fall, take a shot for you
I need you like a heart needs a beat
But it's nothin' new, yeah, yeah
I loved you with a fire red
Now it's turnin' blue
And you say
Sorry, like an angel
Heaven let me think was you
But I'm afraid

It's too late to apologize
It's too late
I said it's too late to apologize
It's too late
Whoa

It's too late to apologize
It's too late
I said it's too late to apologize
It's too late

I said it's too late to apologize, yeah (too late)
I said it's too late to apologize, yeah (too late)
I'm holdin' on your rope
Got me ten feet off the ground


Lyrics submitted by Kimber-Leigh, edited by 1Republic

Apologize Lyrics as written by Ryan Tedder

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Apologize song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

188 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +11
    Song Meaning

    I see how someone could glance at these lyrics and see, "I'm holding on your rope, got me ten feet off the ground" and think suicide, but after actually thinking about the lyrics it becomes clear that it is not.

    "I'm holding on your rope, got me ten feet off the ground"

    He's trying to hang on to this person.

    "I'm hearing what you say but I just can't make a sound You tell me that you need me then you go and cut me down"

    He feels like he has no say in the relationship, "can't make a sound". The rope is a metaphor for his ties to this person, but she keeps cutting him off and hurting him. He still has feelings for her, but knows she's not good for him and so his love is turning "blue".

    "But wait You tell me that you're sorry didn't think I'd turn around and say:"

    The rest is pretty much self explanatory; he's fed up with what she's doing to him, and so it's too late for her fake apologies.

    PlaidPeacoaton February 06, 2010   Link
  • +5
    My Interpretation

    This song is the art of holding onto somebody who you should be letting go of.

    iSnowhiteon April 22, 2014   Link
  • +3
    My Interpretation

    This girl keeps cutting him down once he starts believing her again. She keeps telling him sorry and he feels stupid for forgiving her. She thinks she can do whatever she wants to him because she thinks he's going to stay. But, he finally gets the courage to tell her that it is to late to apologize. If it were up to him he knows he would take another shot to make it work just to see if this time was the time she would take him serious but he knows in his heart that it can't work. She has hurt him so many times that his love for her is fading away.

    BrokenEyeson July 29, 2013   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I used to like this song, until my ex girlfriend dedicated it to me. Now I hate it.

    chicagocubsfan3on April 21, 2011   Link
  • +2
    My Interpretation

    I think it's about a guy who played too many games with a girl,and he finally realized that she was the one and now she's giving him the same shit back and he actually thinks he has a right to feel victimized! Ain't nobody apoligizing here.

    redshiftdazzleron December 16, 2011   Link
  • +2
    Song Meaning

    To me this song is beyond just a broken relationship, it is a broken marriage.

    It is about two people who have loved each other through thick and thin and who's marriage has survived a lot, but something happens be it infidelity, addiction, or even her own suicide. Whatever her actions were, it was enough to break him irreparably. It is too late to apologize. What is done is done and the damage is too much to overcome.

    BuGaLoUon August 09, 2012   Link
  • +2
    Song Meaning

    when i first looked at the lyrics of this beautiful song i found that they were sad. i originaly thought, like many of you, that it was about a girl that had broken his heart and was supposed to be his signifigant other. then, i watched the music video. the symbolism in the items that are in the video spinning on the tabe and sertain key words in the song led me to believe that it is not his signifigant other he is speaking to, but a child of his instead... believed to be a daughter from the music video. i realized, being a musican myself, that the pain that he portrays in the song is more akin to something someone would NEVER get over. after some research into the song and listening to it non stop it all clicked and made sense.

    nightangel147on January 28, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    yea i agree this is an intense song...i felt that it was about this guy that really liked this girl but whenever she would come back for him, she'd always turn back around and leave him...so after awhile he got fed up with her coming back that whenever she said she wanted him, he'd only take it as a lie cause he knew how it would turn out in the end...so that's why he's saying it's too late to apologize cause he's pretty much lost all respect for her and it's not like it would matter to him anyways if she did cause then he wouldn't even know to believe that...

    LIkeMUsiC2on May 25, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    this song is definatly beyond amazing. Its about a relationship, tho its most likley a guy gal relationship it could very well be a relationship with a family member. for instance a mother who isn't there but always needs you? hmm. not sure

    dinoheartxoxon December 29, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    its about a guy who is deeply on a girls "hook" and realizes that he is on her hook and leaves but then she apologizes cause she wants him now...but he wont be hooked on her again no matter how much she apologizes cause its too late

    adj2010on April 12, 2012   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him. There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Album art
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve. The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future. Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere" The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.