I wish I could eat the salt off of your lost faded lips
We can cap the old times, make playing only logical harm
We can cap the old lines, make playing that nothing else will change

Well she can read, she can read, she can read, she can read, she's bad
She can read, she can read, she can read, she's bad, oh she's bad

But it's different now that I'm poor and aging
I'll never see this face again
You'll go stabbing yourself in the neck

And we can find new ways of living, make playing only logical harm
And we can top the old times, clay making that nothing else will change
But she can read, she can read, she can read, she can read, she's bad
She can read, she can read, she can read, she's bad, oh she's bad

But it's different now that I'm poor and aging
I'll never see this place again
You'll go stabbing yourself in the neck

But it's different now that I'm poor and aging
I'll never seen this place again
You'll go stabbing yourself in the neck

It's in the way that she poses
It's in the things that she puts in my hair
Her stories are boring and stuff
She's always calling my bluff
She puts the, she puts the weights in to my little heart and she gets in my room and she takes it apart
She puts the weights into my little heart
I said she puts the weights into my little heart

She packs it away, she packs it away, she packs it away, she packs it away

It's in the way that she walks, her heaven is never enough
She puts the weights in my heart
She puts the, she puts the weights into my little heart



Lyrics submitted by NewWaveMonkay

Track duration: 04:11


Obstacle 1 song meanings
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  • +1
    Song Meaning:I think it's about a drowning.

    Here's the story: he knew this girl when they were kids, and kind of had a crush on her when they were teenagers but they're still just friends. One day they go to the beach, alone or with some other friends, it doesn't matter. There are those signs that say it's dangerous to go in the water, because there are rip tides or something. But she's the typical teenage girl trying to impress someone, and she says she'll be fine and goes in anyway. I feel like this song is set a year or two afterwards, when he's remembering her and what happened.

    "I wish I could eat the salt off of your lost faded lips"

    Her lips are salty because she drowned in the ocean, and lost and faded because she'd been gone for so long. I would probably interpret it as saying he wishes he could have her back and got the chance to kiss her.

    "We can cap the old times, make playing only logical harm
    We can cap the old lines, make playing that nothing else will change"

    Cap, sort of like capture, bring things back to when she was alive. He wants to make playing (like they were playing on the beach before she died) only "logical harm" instead of the physical harm it actually brought to her.
    He's just being nostalgic about their friendship now that she's gone and he's wishing nothing had changed.

    "Well she can read, she can read, she can read, she can read, she's bad"

    This is afterwards when everyone is grieving, and they're all angry and saying that "couldn't she read the signs?!" that said not to go in the water because it was dangerous. He's telling them all that yeah, she read it, she was just too "bad" to care and did it anyway.

    "But it's different now that I'm poor and aging
    I'll never see this face again
    You'll go stabbing yourself in the neck"

    He's probably not actually that old, but he's like a young adult (college age or so, they're always poor) and feels depressed, like he's older than he is. He's probably standing on the beach looking back, thinking about how he'll never see her again and how she really did it to herself (not literally stabbing herself in the neck, but it has the same effect -- she's dead now).

    The rest of the song is just his memories of her from when she was still alive.
    "It's in the way that she poses, it's in the things that she puts in my hair
    Her stories are boring and stuff, she's always calling my bluff
    She puts the, she puts the weights in to my little heart and she gets in my room and she takes it apart"
    is probably her memories of her when they were in elementary school. They had kind of a love/hate relationship back then. She puts weight into his heart because she's always made him feel stronger emotions than anyone else can.

    "It's in the way that she walks, her heaven is never enough"
    is about how he started to think of her when they were older and he found himself developing feelings for her, but realized she never thought she was good enough, and feigned confidence so that no one would see she really had self-esteem issues, and maybe that was why she went into the water.

    "She puts the, she puts the weight into my little heart"

    He feels unemotional about most things after the trauma of watching one of his closest friends drown and not being able to do anything about it (this is why his heart is little), but when he's here reliving the moment and their past together the memory of her makes his heart feel weighted.

    It's a really sad song about friendship and death.
    Flag svhkdhon October 31, 2012   Link
  • 0
    Lyric Correction:"I wish I could eat the salt off of your last, faded lips." In my opinion Paul sings 'last' not 'lost'.
    Flag moonandmoonon January 24, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The song is about some model who committed suicide, and all of the band members were greatly affected by the story that they read about her death, specifically Paul, so he write a song about it.
    Flag Willionaireon January 22, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think this song is about reflecting on a childhood crush/girlfriend and the bitter sweetness of growing up and growing apart.

    "It's in the way that she poses
    It's in the things that she puts in my hair
    Her stories are boring and stuff
    She's always calling my bluff
    She puts the, she puts the weights in to my little heart and she gets in my room and she takes it apart
    She puts the weights into my little heart
    I said she puts the weights into my little heart"

    These are things kids do when they are playing and "like" eachother.

    "It's different now that we're poor and aging"

    Maybe they ran into eachother as adults and though remembering their childhood relationship is nice, it will never be the same between them now that they are adults.

    "But she can read, she can read, she can read, she can read, she's bad"

    I think once she learned how to read it was the beginning of the change in their relationship, making her "bad". Do you remember when you first learned how to read? Did you treat other kids who were younger differently who hadn't learned how yet? Maybe, maybe not. But apparently she did. It opens up a window into the adult world and in some ways maybe kills a little bit of your child-like creativity.

    That's just my interpretation. I love how it captures the wonders of being a child but also the poignance of reflecting on them as an adult..."poor and aging" and knowing nothing will ever be like that again.
    Flag KelRenon December 21, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:This is about a relation ship,I dont know why but I imagine this song like a dialog.A boy and a girl sitting on a coach or in a bed...

    The girl tells the boy:

    I wish I could eat the salt off of your lost faded lips
    We can cap the old times, make playing only logical harm
    We can cap the old lines, make playing that nothing else will change

    I think that this line is something that a girl is telling to her boyfriend,she wants to cheerry up,start over again,go backards and to do thing rights.She knows that something is wrong between them.

    Well she can read, she can read, she can read, she can read, she's bad
    She can read, she can read, she can read, she's bad, oh she's bad

    the boy was thinking about the realtionship,he KNOWS that something is going wrong, that is why she "can read his mind"

    But it's different now that I'm poor and aging
    I'll never see this place again
    You'll go stabbing yourself in the neck

    This line is hard,

    Ageing (British English) or aging (American English) is the accumulation of changes in an organism or object over time.[1] Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change.
    So,I consider that the boy considers that is hard togo back to what it was now because he is constatly channching( in all senses).He thinks:I dont wanna return here anymore(Ill never see this place again), like to an ex -house,and he says to the girl:go stabbing yourself in the neck,like,I'm not going to do this anymore,I'm tired,I'm different,I don't need to be with you now,fuck you!



    It's in the way that she poses
    It's in the things that she puts in my hair
    Her stories are boring and stuff
    She's always calling my bluff
    She puts the, she puts the weights in to my little heart and she gets in my room and she takes it apart
    She puts the weights into my little heart
    I said she puts the weights into my little heart

    Boring and stuff,great line!The girl hasn't change since the begining of the realtionship so he had lost interest for her,we all change in a realtionship and he can see that she is the same person.When you start to get bored of your couple you know that there is no way back.So he have a lot of reasons to leave her but then the boy changes is mind and see why he loves her( or used to),he remeber all those small details about her (things that she put in my hair,like when you play with your boyfriend's hair or something like that),the way that she poses( like she moves, is,attitude),those small details that we love from other person so he has a lot of reasons to stay to ( but all those reasons are based on memories,we sometimes tend to work thing out because we remeber the old times).So he decides to stay with her

    And about the final lines, I think that he finally made up his mind so he left her.Like in the video, the girl who was dancing downs on the floors,she get electrocutated ,I think that like a very -metaphorical image-( hahaha) in his heart she has pass away,she is death and nothing can restore her in life,no more chances.

    And I dont know about the title but I would like to think that this was like a first realthionship story,a first experience.Thats is why obstacle 1,like :First love 1.So, he knows that the relationship was only an obstacle ( one of the many osbtacles that we have to get over in life),he knows that there is something better waiting for him.
    Flag evkgon June 17, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:"Obstacle 1..." I always thought that it was clearly about a woman putting an obstacle in front of herself; namely, her own insecurity.

    I think it's someone he's known for a long time, who wants a career in a creative field, but is very sensitive. She keeps reading small-time reviews of herself, believing them, and denying every good thing he has to say to her. She always assumes he's saying it to make her feel good, or he hasn't had an education in her field, and she gets defensive about anything that doesn't fit the poor image she has of herself. She "knows" he's "lying" or "wrong"; that he just likes her so his opinion doesn't matter because it must be biased. I think everyone's known someone like that.

    In the ends, she packs it in, gives up on her music or her art, leaving him feeling heavy-hearted because no matter how much he tried to get her to see how awesome she was, she defeated his every attempt by simply disbelieving whatever didn't confirm her doubt. It was easier not to try, not to risk disappointment.

    I'm surprised by some of the interpretations on here. Maybe they're right, but I will always see the song this way. I guess the openness of the lyrics is a pleasant thing in any case.
    Flag Wynneon April 04, 2011   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:I've been looking for the official lyrics, because it seems that none of the ones I've found is correct.
    I wish someone would tell me what the hell says the first line please:

    "I wish I could eat the salt of ...?... lips".
    Flag Subanaon December 14, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:Great song. I think he's just in love with a girl that makes him feel a little beneath her. Two lines really jump out at me and makes me think that:

    'she puts the weights in to my little heart and she gets in my room and she takes it apart' - To me that say she knows how to make him love her but uses that to mess with his head.

    'It's in the way that she walks, her heaven is never enough' - He is what she wants deep down, but her nature won't let her be happy.

    its a tragedy of sorts because they could be happy together but she's afraid of something. too much baggage with her but he cant help chasing.
    Flag BIldo81on November 23, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Opinion:To me its about a guy whos taken a girl forgranted for a long time. He fancied her and has been on off for years thinking it would never get serious, then he found himself falling for her and he cant understand it as she irritates him and bores him sometimes. But the thought of her with someone else sparks something in him and he cant be without her.
    Flag Drizzy2010on October 21, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It's about a man struggling with his mortality and his aging I think he is also a man who has a mistress or on the contrary a man who is accused wrongly of infidelity. He's lamenting that his growing older could be the end of his libertine ways as he is no longer the attractive man he was.


    I think all of the lyric below refers to the man's wife who suspects his infidelity.

    "It's in the way that she poses"
    the way she stands and looks at him, suggests to him that she suspects him to be cheating.

    "It's in the things that she puts in my head
    Her stories are boring and stuff"

    Referring to her theories on where he's been and who with and her accusations.

    He's bored by her constant nagging and recurring accusations against him.


    "She's always calling my bluff"

    When he proffers an excuse or an alibi to cover himself she calls him on it and tries to prove him to be lying.

    "She puts the, she puts the weights in to my little heart"

    His wife is putting a massive strain on his heart and emotions with all this mistrust either because it's a big effort for him to conceal his deceit or he's torn between two women OR the accusations have no truth, he loves his wife and the constant mistrust from his wife hurts him deeply.

    "and she gets in my room and she takes it apart"

    Searching for evidence of any wrongdoing.


    "She packs it away, she packs it away, she packs it away, she packs it away"

    His wife possibly leaving him (packing her stuff up) because she has found evidence of infidelity or because she doesn't feel she can trust him.
    Flag dannycrispon September 05, 2010   Link

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