Lyrics for Can't Keep as interpreted by Stephen_Flow

Can't Keep Lyrics
i wanna shake, i wanna wind out
i wanna leave this mind and shout
i've lived all this life
like an ocean in disguise
i don't live forever
you can't keep me here...
i wanna race with the sundown
i want a last breath that i don't let out
forgive every being
the bad feelings, it's just me
i won't wait for answers
you can't keep me here...
i wanna rise and say a-goodnight
i wanna take a look on the other side
i've lived all these lives
it's been wonderful at night
i will live forever
you can't keep me here...

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 22 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
SKFC
05-09-2004

Rated 0 
Someone contemplating suicide, or maybe just musing over the inevitablility of death.

The person hints that he has been living life for the benefit of others but isn't particularly happy himself. He's realised this and no longer feels obligated to continue this way, but instead of now looking out for #1 he decides that it may be easier to just not live at all. Maybe the prospect of going on bores him so he figures he will just take the plunge to get it over with and see what (if anything) happens next: "i won't wait for answers" + "i wanna take a look on the other side".

I'm probably way off here, but it's a good song regardless.

Log in to reply
Regos the Sane
05-27-2004

Rated 0 
I think the song is about not wanting to live forever, although he's not actually thinking about suicide. It seems like a statement that the spirit is bigger than the body, and that when he dies he will have the answers he wants now.

Just one problem (with the whole album, but this song in particular): some of the stuff he says makes me think that the band could break up soon. They've always had songs about death and endings but this seems more personal, and LBC almost seems like a reflection on their life as a band. I really hope I'm wrong.

Log in to reply
planetearth
10-05-2004

Rated 0 
I think this song's about suicide. Either thinking or acting on it. I noticed if you listen to the Benaroya show, Ed dedicates the song to the late Elliott Smith which if you don't already know, supposedly committed suicide (case pending). The Benaroya version is really something to hear also. It's done by ukulele and it sounds incredible

Log in to reply
i_hanged_myself
11-24-2004

Rated 0 
this songs about leaving one thing for another but if your loves strong you'll stay, "i wanna rise and say goodnite" referrs to the beauty of sleeping beside someone u love, you could argue the songs about sucide but i dont think so

Log in to reply
Unknowing
01-26-2005

Rated 0 
I think this song's about just wanting to get away from a place you're at. A place you hate. A place where the people are trying to hold you back from what you want to do. Holding you back from life.

Log in to reply
i love JF
08-26-2005

Rated 0 
it actually makes my mind not think as much about death. ive tried to kill myself a lot and have scars in all diffrent places from it but when i hear tis song it is telling me about death but its holding me back in a way like whoever tis song is for or about their spirit is ther holding me longer onto life.
its a really weird song and some day i'll remeber i sent this and figure out the meaning to it once and for all

Log in to reply
NoCode51
09-26-2005

Rated 0 
I don't think this songs about suicide but it is about wanting to die (eventually). I agree with Regos the sane, its about not wanting to live forever.
Humankind is so obsessed and scared over the concept of death. People often talk about how great it would be to live forever and science is constantly extending the average human life expectancy. This song is Eds way of saying that he can't identify with humanities fear of death and that when his time comes no one will be able to keep him here.
Many of the lyrics are about all the things he looks forward to experiencing in death (things that he wouldn't get to experience if he lived forever). He wants to leave his mortal cares behind some day and find out what its like to die. Death is after all one of the great mysteries, whether you're religous, agnostic, or an atheist no one really KNOWS what happens when you die and I think Ed's saying he wants to find out.

Also I think in that second to last line where he replaces "I DON'T live forever" with "I WILL live forever", hes expressing the idea that you don't have to look at death as an end, its only the recycling of energy and matter so that life can continue in other forms.

Log in to reply
tami4
01-26-2006

Rated 0 
personally, I dont think its about death at all.
I agree with Unknowing that it is about leaving a place u hate.
When I was in the Israeli Navi, just wanting to get out and go home, this song was kind of a quiet rebbelion for me..
I really love the music too

Log in to reply
i love JF
01-28-2006

Rated 0 
i like the idea of nocede51

i used to thik of death as a new form of life i still do. i believ im gonna be a great spirit who will help a few people out in this world who have trouble with how they feel about death. i feel that this is what the song is tryign to say to my spsirit.
its very inspiring to me.

Log in to reply
NoCode51
03-17-2006

Rated 0 
Well, when I said "so that life can continue in other forms" all I meant was that when you die, all the biological material that was formerly trapped in your body will be used as food for insects, plants and eventually other animals so that they may live. So, the energy that was in you still exists, it doesn't just disappear. I wasn't actually meaning that a persons conciousness continues to exist after they die.
I'm just clarifying what I was talking about though, not knocking your own beliefs. I did also say that no one really knows what happens when we die and I stand by that.

Log in to reply
richie8092
03-28-2006

Rated 0 
i tnink that this song is about dreaming
"i've lived all these lives
it's been wonderful at night"

hes saying that hes been so many places and done so many things in his dreams

"i wanna leave this mind and shout"
hes saying he wants to stop thinking of what is going on and his life and dream"

"i wanna race with the sundown"
another reference to dreaming

and i think you cant keep me here is refering to in his own life and body, he wants to go to far away to far away places

Log in to reply
richie8092
03-28-2006

Rated 0 
"A time to dream to himself. He waves goodbye to his self.
I'll see you on the other side.
Another man moved by slight of hand."
this is a verse from Sleight of Hand

the first line in this verse talks about dreaming and on the socond line he says"I'll see you on the other side"

the connection between Sleight of Hand and this song is this line"i wanna take a look on the other side"

it seems that eddie refers to dreaming as the "other side"this is what convinced me that this song is about dreaming

Log in to reply
NoCode51
04-01-2006

Rated 0 
But remember in the song 'Other Side' it defintitely refers to death and the term "other side" is a reasonably common expression for death.

All the lines work for either a dreaming or death interpretation but I think there are a few particular lines which make the most sense if its about death.

For instance I think "I want a last breath I don't let out" is extremely telling.

And so is "I don't live forever".

Also theres just an air of finality to the whole song. Hes forgiving every being, hes going to "leave this mind".
I just don't think that line fits well with the dreaming interpretation. Your mind is where your dreams take place, the only way to truly leave your mind is through death.

Log in to reply
richie8092
04-01-2006

Rated 0 
other side wasnt written by eddie though, sleight of hand and cant keep were written by eddie, and in sleight of hand he definitely isnt talking about death

the line i dont live forever you cant keep me here is saying that he doesnt have much time on this earth and you cant keep him in reality, he wants to dream and experience new things

Log in to reply
richie8092
04-01-2006

Rated 0 
and if this song was about death then how would "i've lived all these lives
it's been wonderful at night" fit in to death

maybe it applies to both, maybe this man is sick of living through his dreams when nothing is going well for him and he just wants to die, but i stand by my interpretation
i forgot to explain that my point when i said eddie didnt write other side was that maybe eddie and jeff(im not positive jeff wrote other side but i thnk he did) have different views on what the term other side means-either death or dreaming

Log in to reply
richie8092
04-01-2006

Rated 0 
"I want a last breath I don't let out" this is the one line that fucks up my whole interpretation-but this line follows "i wanna race with the sundown" which is definitely refering to dreaming

eddie is known for making songs that can be interpreted a few ways and i think he does this so a lot of people can relate to his songs-idk either dreaming or death is a good argument i just think there are to many lines talking about dreaming for it to be about death

Log in to reply
NoCode51
04-01-2006

Rated 0 
Well, you make a good case I guess. I still favour the death explanation but yeah, either interpretation is viable.

Log in to reply
TommyCap77
05-19-2006

Rated 0 
I definetly think it is about death. This song has a chilling air to it, like a cold day where the coldness seems to go straight to the bone. The music is both unnerving and brilliant.

Log in to reply
CCDevlin
04-14-2007

Rated 0 
What I love about the album Riot Act is that it starts with Can't keep, clearly to me about suicide and actually pointing out the wonderful sides of death even, an then the song "Save you" which to me is about the first person in Can't Keep. A friend of his or hers who said "Fucke me if i care but im not leaving you".

I love the way pearl jam albums have sons that seem to be in dialogue with eachother. Isn't that just genious.

Log in to reply
no code88
03-22-2008

Rated 0 
Oh, most of you seem to think this song is about death, that's pretty strange to me cause I always thought it's about life!
About celebrating life!
About wanting to live life to the fullest, wanting to experience all the beautiful things that world can give you,wanting to see everything, to do everything, I think meaning is extremely positive!
Because of that, this song was always one of my favorite PJ songs, and I find a personal meaning in it because that feeling: "you can't keep me here" has followed me since I was a little child, I always wanted to go and discover the world but many things and people stopped me, including myself.
Also, I always felt this is one of Eddie's more personal songs in which he's really speaking about himself, about how he really feels, just look at the lyrics!
And the last line I personally like to think of in sense that he (Ed) will live forever and their music also will, that because of their music he'll never
die. The song's wonderful!

Log in to reply
jaba88
09-29-2008

Rated 0 
i think this song is about a person who doesnt want to live forever here on earth because he knows earth is a corrupt and dirty place, and he wants to be in Heaven, this is just what it means to me

Log in to reply
kayakr
11-20-2009

Rated 0 
From a buddhist phylosophical point of view, this song's meaning is crystal clear. You can't keep me on this dirty earth when I die. Instead I'm going to merge with the ocean of existence and experience the bliss of freedom.

References to important buddhist themes run throughout. Composure during the death process, no need to know all the answers, oceans, etc.



Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here