All the world just stopped now
So you say you don't want to stay together anymore
Let me take a deep breath babe
If you need me, me and Neil'll be hangin' out with the dream king

Neil says hi by the way
I don't believe you're leaving cause me and Charles Manson like the same ice cream
I think it's that girl and I think there're pieces of me you've never seen
Maybe she's just pieces of me you've never seen well

All the world is
All I am
The black of the blackest ocean
And that tear in your hand
All the world is danglin', danglin',danglin' for me darlin'
You don't know the power that you have
With that tear in your hand
That tear in your hand

Maybe I ain't used to maybes
Smashing in a cold room cutting my hands up
Every time I touch you
Maybe maybe it's time to wave goodbye now
Time to wave goodbye now

Caught a ride with the moon
I know I know you well well better than I used to
Haze all clouded up my mind
In the daze of the why it could've never been
So you say and I say you know you're full of wish
And your baby ,baby, baby ,babies
I tell you there are pieces of me you've never seen
Maybe she's just pieces of me you've never seen well

All the world is
All I am
The black of the blackest ocean
And that tear in your hand
All the world is danglin',danglin', danglin' for me darlin'
You don't know the power that you have
With that tear in your hand
That tear in your hand

With that tear in your hand


Lyrics submitted by Novartza

Tear in Your Hand Lyrics as written by Tori Ellen Amos

Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Tear In Your Hand song meanings
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32 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    I have to say that the tear in his hand has got to be one of her tears. and i agree with papillon. She obviously feels he hasn't seen all of her, and that maybe she embodies some of the same characteristics he is being drawn to the new girl through, that he has just never explored and discovered those same qualities in her.

    butterflydreamson May 07, 2003   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Yes, this is the greatest Tori song in my opinion because of what the words mean to me. I absolutely agree with the other interpretations here. I have used this song to get through many difficult breakups and although I have been happily married for many years I cannot escape the feeling those words have for me because I don't think anyone has ever said it better, how it feels to be left by someone who you love, who you feel hasn't bothered to get to know you well enough, for someone who may have the same qualities you have--that person just hasn't taken the time to see it: "Maybe she's just pieces of me you've never seen"

    And she even admits in the song that she doesn't know him as well as she could: "I know you WELL, well, better than I used to" and she wants him to give them a chance, but he won't. He has all the power, and he's leaving.

    Yes, some Tori fans will say this song isn't as deep as her other songs and so it's not her best, but I disagree, anyone can get this song, everyone who has had someone they love leave them has felt these things, and I can think of very few other songs that express it so well.

    RachWho?on April 14, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I never get tired of this song. never ever...

    Wicked364on March 13, 2003   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    "Maybe I ain't used to maybes." I love that line. He probably told her "maybe someday it can happen, maybe someday it will work out, but not now", and the line seems like the answer. It goes into how painful it is to even touch him, then she realizes that "maybe it's time to wave goodbye".

    Marjosaon February 03, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I've always thought this song was one of her most obvious in meaning.... but

    I don't think that the other girl is really another girl...

    tear in your hand is about the desolate and desperateness that one feels after someone that you love leaves you. why he/she leaves you is left for interpretation...is it because of another girl?? maybe, but that is too obvious. I think "that girl" represent the part of oneself that we refuse to share with others (for whatever reason), even when you feel true love for a person. "She is pieces of me you've have never seen well" is referring to the person that we hide . He/she is leaving her....maybe because she refuses to really open up....she doesn't feel hate towards this person because she knows that this departure is partly her fault. "Haze clouded up my mind" suggests she hasn't been her true possible self.

    Maybe there are valid reasons for leaving, that doesn't mean he/ she doesn't love her. "Maybe I ain't used to maybes" suggest that he/she has expressed that their is a possibility for something to sprout at at later time...

    The tear is in "YOUR" hand...he/she has tried to understand her...she has cried all her emotions into his hand...suggesting they have talked, yet after all is said and done he/she is looking for a more.

    The tone set by speaker is not of anger, instead it sounds to me like a sad revelation, she didn't allow the person that she loved to get to know her "well"...

    either was she has to say goodbye....

    berryswirlon October 25, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I love this song!!! I think it's about a girl who just got broken up with, and the guy made some dumb excuse for it, but she thinks it's because of another girl. She feels that there is more to herself than what he has seen, and the personality traits that he hasn't seen are maybe in the new girl. She tries to come to terms with everything, but yet, he has something over her because HE broke up with HER.

    papillonon April 11, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    the phrase "Tear in your hand" is so damn meaningful. She still loves him pretty much and she feels sad and sorry about the fact that he leaves her ("Let me take a deep breath babe"), anyways, she also has some kind of rage about him, coz "I tell you there're pieces of me you've never seen Maybe she's just pieces of me you've never seen well". And yes, papillon, the reason he excuses the breakup with is really quite foolish

    AgathaKavkaon May 30, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I love this song it's one of my favorites and I have to agree with Wicked364 I can never get tired of this song.

    Evanescence84on April 29, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    to me this song is a very powerful way to define one's broken heart. "All the world is DANGLIN'... danglin'... danglin' for me DARLIN' You don't know the power that you have With that tear in your hand" what this is saying to me is that her whole world is dangling, her whole world is in that one tear that is dangling from her eye. And that he/she has all the power, all of her world in his hand. this song speaks so honestly to me. " I don't believe you're leaving cause me and Charles Manson like the same ice cream" sometimes people arent truthful enough to open up to you and tell you the promblems the are having, so they pick and choose the most riduculous reasons to end relationships. "Maybe she's just pieces of me you've never seen well" this lyric is often defined as her hidden identity or the person she really is that he/she over looked. what i get from this lyric is that maybe she is so passionate about this person, she is willing to highlight the traits that he/she is drawn to by this other girl. not really becoming someone else, but merly promoting the same traits to keep him/her satified. and havent we all done that one time or another? this song is beautiful and it cannot possibly mean only one thing. thats why i love it so much!

    xstarfukkerxon May 09, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    my favourite tori song...

    ladybugon June 22, 2003   Link

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