Got a date a week from Friday with a preacher's son
Everybody says he's crazy; I'll have to see

I finally moved to Jackson when the summer came
I won't have to pay that boy to rake my leaves

I'm probably going on and on
It seems I'm doing more of that these days

I probably wouldn't be this way
I probably wouldn't hurt so bad
I never pictured every minute without you in it
Oh, you left so fast
Sometimes I see you standing there
Sometimes it's like I'm losing touch
Sometimes I feel that I'm so lucky to have had the chance to love this much
God gave me a moment's grace
'Cause if I never see your face
I probably wouldn't be this way

Mama says that I just shouldn't speak to you
Susan says that I should just move on

You ought to see the way these people look at me
When they see me 'round here talking to this stone

Everybody thinks I've lost my mind
But I just take it day by day

I probably wouldn't be this way
I probably wouldn't hurt so bad
I never pictured every minute without you in it
Oh, you left so fast
Sometimes I see you standing there
Sometimes I feel an angel's touch
Sometimes I feel that I'm so lucky to have had the chance to love this much
God gave me a moment's grace
'Cause if I never see your face
I probably wouldn't be this way

I probably wouldn't be this way

Got a date a week from Friday with a preacher's son
Everybody says I'm crazy
Guess I'll have to see



Lyrics submitted by sumonomen

Track duration: 03:38

"Probably Wouldn't Be This Way" as written by John Davis Kennedy, Tammi Lynn Kidd

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Probably Wouldn't Be This Way song meanings
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  • 0
    My Interpretation:I rememher the first time I was this video, I didn't know what was going on. It took a couple tries for me to understand, but this is what I came up with:

    You see Leann with a wedding right on her finger, and they show the dress and the pictures in the video, so it's pretty obvious to me that she's married...or maybe engaged? I always go with married just because of the pictures on the wall. And this marriage wasn't a long one, because she's still got the dress out, and she says, "You left so fast".

    I don't believe this song is about a break up. Personally, I think the song is about her husband/fiance dying, because she says that she's talking to a stone--a tomb stone.

    What I find tragic about this song is that she's still holding on to her love for him after what seems like a pretty long time. She says that her mom and her friend keep telling her she should move on with her life; she moved to a different city even. But she's still got the ring, the dress, the pictures. There's even a shot where Leann tries to kill herself in the bathtub. Or at least, that's how I took it, since she just went in and stuck herself under water...

    I'm pretty sure everyone can agree that no matter what you hear in the song, Leann's character has lost her mind. Talking to a tomb stone out loud is one thing--hell, I do that when I visit my family's graves. But when you're holdin on this long, even saying that you're disconnecting from reality (in the chorus) that's when ou've crossed a little bit of a line. What's truly haunting is that, in the chorus, she says that she was lucky to have know him, almost like she's gong for closure, and then says that she can't go on without him. In the start and finish of the song, she talks about going on this date with a new guy, but you can tell she really doesn't want to--it's almost like a formality or something.

    Still, this is one of my favorite songs of all time. Leann Rimes sings it perfectly, and she was amazing in that music video.
    Flag Em4musicon November 04, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think that it is meant to be about death, but she left it open so it could be interpretted either way. The video doesn't show a graveyard, and I think they did that so it could also be taken as a break up, and this way more people could relate to it.
    Flag JanessaFaithon March 11, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I was told one that when you break up with someone its like having a funeral. you feel like you have lost them forever and in reality you have. but you keep hoping that they will come back. but they don't i kind of got the impression in this song that her husband died. but maybe it was all in her head. who knows. maybe he was dead to her, because there relationship had died and he left her and she went crazy.
    Flag Jenison July 19, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I love LeAnn Rimes. The end.
    Flag xx open seasonon February 08, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is so depressing... but it's still really good.
    Flag squeakymarieon January 03, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is really depressing song but she sounds lovely. It really is heartbreaking but the video is great, she acts flawlessly in it.
    Flag sambeeon September 10, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:[[Got a date a week from Friday with a preacher's son
    Everybody says he's crazy; I'll have to see]]

    She's got a date with this guy, and people are saying he must be crazy for dating her. She says she'll just have to see if he is.


    [[I finally moved to Jackson when the summer came
    I won't have to pay that boy to rake my leaves]]

    Self-explanatory


    [[I'm probably going on and on
    It seems I'm doing more of that these days]]

    Often when people grieve, when they start to talk about what they are mourning over, the words just seem to spill out and they can't seem to control letting everything spill.


    [[I probably wouldn't be this way]]

    I wouldn't be this way (mourning, grieving) if we had never met.


    [[I probably wouldn't hurt so bad]]

    Same, I wouldn't be in so much pain if we'd never been together.


    [[I never pictured every minute without you in it
    Oh, you left so fast]]

    She figured they'd grow old together, but he was gone in the blink of an eye.


    [[Sometimes I see you standing there]]

    Sometimes she can see him there, like a ghost, or her mind playing tricks on her.


    [[Sometimes it's like I'm losing touch]]

    Sometimes it's as if she's losing touch with reality and can't quite decipher what is real and what is her mind, what is truth and what is there because she wants it to be.


    [[Sometimes I feel that I'm so lucky to have had the chance to love this much]]

    She can't quite let herself be upset over having been with him. She's grateful to have been giving the chance to love someone as fiercely as she loved him, and even though she lost him, it was worth the pain.


    [[God, give me a moment's grace
    'Cause if I'd never seen your face
    I probably wouldn't be this way]]

    She's praying that God gives her a moment of peace, because she was hooked on the man she loves from the moment she set eyes on his face, and now he's gone. Even if they'd never been together, just having seen his face and then now she'll never see it in person again... she's grieving for her lost love.


    [[Mama says that I just shouldn't speak to you]]

    Her mom thinks it would be easier to move on if she didn't continue to talk to "him" as if he were still alive, because that will only push her deeper into this unreal world she's created where he's still with her.


    [[Susan says that I should just move on]]

    Susan thinks that she needs to quite dwelling on the past and forgetting to live.


    [[You ought to see the way these people look at me
    When they see me 'round here talking to this stone]]

    People keep looking at her with that mixture of sorrow, pity, and sadness for her. They see her just sitting there talking to a headstone and they pity her loss and that she can't seem to move on. Perhaps it's because she's there so often.


    [[Everybody thinks I've lost my mind
    But I just take it day by day]]

    People are sure that she's lost herself in her sadness, but she thinks to herself that she's just taking her grief one day at a time, letting herself have time to heal before she jumps back into life.


    I probably wouldn't be this way
    I probably wouldn't hurt so bad
    I never pictured every minute without you in it
    Oh, you left so fast
    Sometimes I see you standing there

    [[Sometimes I feel an angel's touch]]

    Sometimes she can almost feel this softness, such as a breeze-like touch on her shoulder, and she believes it to be an angel, as if it's watching over her.


    Sometimes I feel that I'm so lucky to have had the chance to love this much
    God gave me a moment's grace
    'Cause if I never see your face
    I probably wouldn't be this way

    I probably wouldn't be this way


    [[Got a Date a week from Friday with a preacher's son
    Everybody says I'm crazy
    Guess I'll have to see]]

    She's going on this date, etc. Everyone is convinced that the loss of her husband has made her go crazy, and she's saying something like, "I guess I'll have to see if they are right about me. Only time will tell if I truly have lost my mind."
    Flag amandamw04on June 20, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"Everybody thinks I've lost my mind
    But I just take it day by day"

    that passage is just so damn heartbreaking - the lyrics, the melody, and the way she sings them. great song, but that part especially just kills me.
    Flag sadmachineon March 02, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Well i think that this is about a death of a love one. Most likely a husband because it talks aobut her going on a date soon and how people think that she is crazy. Some people think that it is not about death and i thought that first too. But when you actually listen to it you realized when she sings "Mama says that I just shouldn't speak to you
    Susan says that I should just move on

    You ought to see the way these people look at me
    When they see me 'round here talking to this stone" that it is about a death. What stone would she be talking to if it wasn't? I also get from this song that she is just kinda holding it all in. She is tryign to go pon a date already and people are sayingthat she is crazy for doing this. She is just trying to move on and take everythign the way that it goes!
    Flag lost_sissy_4lifeon February 19, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I just really listened to this song this morning. Before, I just kind of used this song for background noise. But this morning I heard it, and I thought of a guy I had a relationship with a while back. I thought about the first time I saw him, all those good times we shared, and then I thought about the relationship we have now. We're just friends. Nothing more. And it's cool that we're friends. I love him and I love being friends with him, even if we're not lovers anymore. But this song still reminded me of the hurt when he stopped our relationship. I still think about it sometimes. This is what the song means to me, and I know the song is about a dead husband, but this guy is the closest thing to real love I've ever had.
    Flag zacsteron September 03, 2005   Link

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