Did you expect it all to stop at the wave of your hand?
Like the sun is just going to drop if it’s night you demand
Well, in the dark we are just air so the house might dissolve
But once we are gone, who is gonna care if we were ever here at all?
Well, summer is going to come and it’s gonna cloud our eyes again
There is not need to focus when there is nothing that it worth
seeing
So we trade liquor for blood in an attempt to tip the scales
I think you lost what you loved in that mess of details
They seemed so important at the time but now you can’t even recall
Any of the names, faces, or lines, it is more the feeling of it all Well, winter is going to end and I’m going to clean these veins again
So close to dying that I finally can start living



Lyrics submitted by PLANES

Track duration: 08:29


An Attempt to Tip the Scales song meanings
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  • +1
    General Comment:Although it is unclear what exactly this song means, I mean it means something different to everyone. To me, it speaks so clearly to my bulimia. I have dealt with this for so long, anyway that’s not the point.
    “Did you expect it all to stop at the wave of your hand? Like the sun is just going to drop if it’s night you demand”
    That is almost word for word what people tell me, when I talk about my eating disorder. And it speaks so true, anyone who has an obsession or an addiction can understand, because you did. You really didn’t think this monster would rule you.
    “Well, in the dark we are just air so the house might dissolve
    But once we are gone, who is gonna care if we were ever here at all? “
    This might be the death of you, but you don’t care, and you’re pretty sure no one else should care either. You believe no one cares about you. It really seems that way.
    “Well, summer is going to come and it’s gonna cloud our eyes again”
    Summer is a time, for me at least when my ED is not so bad. I’m so distracted hat it’s almost gone.
    “There is no need to focus when there is nothing that it worth seeing”
    Who can focus on recover, I mean it’s won’t be worth t.
    “So we trade liquor for blood in an attempt to tip the scales”
    I DON’T do it personally, but online I have met plenty of people who drink to a lot so they puke to lose weight.
    “I think you lost what you loved in that mess of details”
    Obviously, it is so true.
    “They seemed so important at the time but now you can’t even recall”
    The reasons why you started all of this.
    “Any of the names, faces, or lines, it is more the feeling of it all Well, winter is going to end and I’m going to clean these veins again”
    Summer comes, it’s all over for a while.
    “So close to dying that I finally can start living”
    This defines eating disorders.
    Flag LilyNicoleon February 20, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Actually, I think the line "Well, summer is going to come and its gonna cloud our eyes again" reminds me that I usually feel better in the summer, and winter is always awful and cold and dark. so in January you can sit and think "it will be better in a few months"
    "There Is Not Need to Focus When There Is Nothing That it worth seeing" makes me think of people with ADHD, and it is described in a very nice (but sad) way.
    Flag Navigationon June 23, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I'm really amazed that no one touched on Conor's eating disorder...

    "An attempt to tip the scales"? Really?

    Within this song I think that's the clearest reference, but looking through his work from the late '90's/early 2000's it becomes pretty obvious that by tipping the scale... he hopes to lose weight.
    Flag justletgoandbeLIFTEDon June 14, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:These lyrics have a lot of layers to them and can be interpreted a lot of ways. I've always felt like it has a lot to do with religion, which Conor often references in ways that make it sound like a drug. (I'm not religious, but my interpretation might make me sound that way, a little.)

    "Did you expect it all to stop at the wave of your hand?
    Like the sun is just going to drop if it�s night you demand"

    I feel like it's playing off of the creation story in the BIble, where God commands let there be light instead of darkness. It really seems like he's addressing the listener personally, and I think it has to do with depression. It's like... the world is going to keep going on the way it wants to, no matter how you're feeling. Night and the dark would also be references to depression...

    "Well, in the dark we are just air so the house might dissolve
    But once we are gone, who is gonna care if we were ever here at all?"

    This part is complicated for me. I think "in the dark we are just air" is like... when you're depressed (in the dark) you feel void... empty, devoid of anything, a black hole, just have nothing inside you. And I think the house refers to our bodies. Like in a depression you can feel so empty that you feel like you've disappeared entirely. I think it's also making a reference to the idea that something can only exist when it's being observed -- and in the "dark" no one can see you, and you can't see yourself anymore, so you might stop existing. "But once we are gone..." This line is obviously showing his doubt in God or any god's existence, but interestingly, it's a question instead of a statement. I also keep seeing this underlying religious theme -- "in the dark we are just air", I think about the "let there be light" bit again -- wasn't it in the beginning there was nothing? And THEN God said "Let there be light." I think that's how that goes. It sounds like a stretch, but it's something I keep noticing and it's throughout all the lyrics if you keep the religion idea in the back of your mind. :[


    "So we trade liquor for blood in an attempt to tip the scales"

    Trade liquor for blood could be the obvious, or it could refer to partaking of the sacrament. Drinking the blood of Christ (wine) makes a person closer to God, or ... something. I'm not saying that he's referring to himself taking sacrament, it just seems cleverly put to mean both drinking too much and refer to the Catholic ritual.

    "Well, winter is going to end and I'm going to clean these veins again
    So close to dying that I finally can start living"

    "Clean these veins", if you refer back to partaking sacrament it makes sense, but these lines seem sarcastic in the context I've put it in. Although winter ending would signify the end of depression, it means summer will be coming along and "Summer's gonna come, it's gonna cloud our eyes again. There's no need to focus when there's nothing that's worth seeing" sounds more like a state of mindless oblivion, not being truly aware of what's around you and caught up in the meaningless details of life.

    So, I dunno. I don't interpret it as a religious song, I feel like it's kind of mocking, in a good way.

    Next time I listen to it I'll probably think it means something different, but for now I like it meaning this. :]
    Flag winteronmercuryon January 18, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i think most people are totally missing the point. conor never cut himself, and has never written anything confirming that. trading liquor for blood is on about the amount of alcohol in his bloodstream. this could be to do with the overdose he had (so close to dying that i finally can start living)

    and the interview at the end is a joke, because he felt the album was too serious. and it's not conor, it's his friend. so...just deal with it.
    Flag jakus222222222on January 09, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The interview at the end, was very, very personal to me. I can"t really express emotions properly into words anymore, and I feel like Bright Eyes can always relate to me. They're really, really wonderful.
    Flag whateverwhateveron May 17, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I like how in the end if you listen really carefully you can hear conor talking in the background pretending to be someone making fun of conor.
    Flag lassylaon March 27, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:if anyone can figure out what the two teenage guys are saying while the conversations is going on POST IT cuz ive always wondered... the one guy kinda sounds like tom delonge... he said somethin like "New wave groups".. "fuckin saddle creek" i dont remember much else
    Flag TaKiNgBaCkSuNdAy17on October 28, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"Well, summer is going to come and it’s gonna cloud our eyes again
    There is not need to focus when there is nothing that it worth
    seeing"


    "Well, winter is going to end and I’m going to clean these veins again
    So close to dying that I finally can start living "

    i love these lines.
    Flag intoxthexsunxon June 21, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:it's kind of like walking out of a door to discover it's a window
    Flag subterraneanzeroon January 27, 2008   Link

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