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Helena, don't walk away
Before you give me back my heart
If it were mine it would be yours to take
I'm sorry I let down my guard, oh Helena
You looked so sweet
I should have seen
While I was playing for fun
You were playing for keeps
You win I lose
Is there some way
You can leave me
In your debts oh my girl
And I can live to die another day
On that day I won't forget you Helena
You look so sweet
Waiting for me
While I wait for her
To give me any reason to leave
Don't waste your pretty sympathy
She's gonna be just fine
Helena so will we
So will everything in time
Helena don't walk away
Did you hear one word I said oh well
I never really liked her anyway
And I forgot her: I'll forget you Helena
You're not that sweet
And neither is she
Go ahead and tell her anything
You are good Helena
Guys like me never sleep alone at night
I don't need your sympathy
Cause I'll always be
Just fine
Yeah I'll always be
Just fine
Yeah I'll always be
Just fine
Before you give me back my heart
If it were mine it would be yours to take
I'm sorry I let down my guard, oh Helena
You looked so sweet
I should have seen
While I was playing for fun
You were playing for keeps
You win I lose
Is there some way
You can leave me
In your debts oh my girl
And I can live to die another day
On that day I won't forget you Helena
You look so sweet
Waiting for me
While I wait for her
To give me any reason to leave
Don't waste your pretty sympathy
She's gonna be just fine
Helena so will we
So will everything in time
Helena don't walk away
Did you hear one word I said oh well
I never really liked her anyway
And I forgot her: I'll forget you Helena
You're not that sweet
And neither is she
Go ahead and tell her anything
You are good Helena
Guys like me never sleep alone at night
I don't need your sympathy
Cause I'll always be
Just fine
Yeah I'll always be
Just fine
Yeah I'll always be
Just fine
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He had a relationship with Helena, and he moved on, and found somebody else, but he still thinks of Helena, probably because his and Helena's relationship was light, and his new girlfriend is complicated.
He led Helena on, which he states in "While I was playing for fun, you were playing for keeps"
And thats probably why she didn't want him anymore.
"While I wait for her, To give me any reason to leave," is in reference to the other woman in his life. What I see happening here is there being a woman in his life who he's in love with, and while they're on a break or something (maybe he cheats on her; that's what a lot of people seem to think is happening, although I never got that from this song until I read it here) he rebounds to Helena. He's waiting for the other woman to let him go, because he's not entirely sure if he's fallen out of love with her yet; he has no real reason to, and he's waiting for her to give him one.
Even so, he decides to stay with Helena, that's why he's telling her not to "waste [her] pretty sympathy," on the other woman. But for some reason she decides to leave and that's when the tone of the song switches to anger and resentment. Even though he thought he loved her, he's now telling Helena that just like the other woman, she's nothing special, and he could get anyone. "I'll forget you too/ Guys like me never sleep alone."
The "Go ahead and tell her anything," part is what makes it seem like maybe he was cheating on someone with Helena. But it could also just mean that Helena is trying to warn his new girlfriend of how indecisive and flaky he can be.
Either way, the song ends with him regretting falling in love with Helena, and telling her that she meant nothing to him, even though the end repeating lines of "I'll be just fine..." seem more like he's trying to convince himself of it.
The line "While I wait for her to give me any reason to leave" is talking about how he's waiting on "she" to dump him instead of him getting rid of her.
By "I was playing for fun, you were playing for keeps" means that he was just using her in a sexual sense, but helena thought that they were in an actual relationship that was moving somewhere.
"Don't waste your pretty sympathy. She's gonna be just fine." This is where Helena finds out about "she", and doesn't like it. The Narrator tells her not to feel sorry for her, she'll be ok.
"Helena don't walk away. Did you hear one word I said? oh well, I never really liked her anyway, And I forgot her: I'll forget you Helena" He loses Helena at this point, and by now his relationship with "she" is over too. He tells Helena that he will forget her just like he forgot his last girlfriend.
"Go ahead and tell her anything" Helena has, or is going to tell "she" about the narrator's relationship with her, and he tells her that shes not that sweet, and niether was "she".
"you are good Helena" is likely sarcastic and spoken from anger. The narrator now has niether woman, but he claims that guys like him never sleep alone, meaning he will simply find another girl to be with, and that he'll be just fine.
Fantastic song from a fantastic album.
helena, don't waste your pretty sympathy on me, go and tell her anything you want, guys like us never sleep alone at night. i'll always be just fine. just fine.
i'm out of what was a long run of being a player. john mayer's assassin nails this feeling too. i don't have huge regrets, i don't wish i could do it all over, i don't have the time for that kind of self pity. did i have some fun? absolutely, it's a blast being an asshole and having a different girl every week. but it ends, like everything must, and now i have this weight to carry with me and a list of great girls who i didn't treat right. i can't bitch about them being with tools and settling for less, because they were doing that with the guy i used to be too.
I immediately thought of this song. Just like Helena, my friend was nothing more than a filler girlfriend.
The arrangement of the song tells the story just as much as the lyrics do, in my opinion. It starts out so slow and simple in the first verse but builds quite gradually as the narrator's insistence grows. I imagine Sara's fiddle solo after the first verse to be Helena's sad response - pleading with the narrator to please not leave her, even as he tells her there's another woman she begs him to stay with her.
The narrator's second verse (and his reply to Helena) is harsher and more insistent as he tries to paint a clearer picture for Helena. I think that deep down he cares about her, but he makes himself out to be such a "jerk" in order to make the split easier on Helena. He knows that he's in love with the other girl, but still knows that Helena deserves better than him.
She won his heart, and he loses because he can't be with her without hurting his first girl. He wants her to "leave him in her debts", basically have something to collect later after he and his girl's time has finally passed without her as a reason. He doesn't want her to have any part in his confusion with his original girl. And when they do break up, he plans to go back to Helena.
The lyrics should be YOU'LL look so sweet waiting for me. And this part is self-explanatory. He's just daydreaming Helena waiting in love as ever until his current relationship fades due not to him but to the other girl. This really shows how sad the guy is. He doesn't know how to deal with his feelings at all. He actually loves Helena, but what he has with his current girl is so good that she isn't reason enough for him to leave or he just doesn't want the breakup to be on him. This is not the first instance that shows he doesn't like the blame cast on himself. That was shown when he didn't intentionally fall for Helena and says it's her fault. He's also attempting to sweet-talk her into waiting by calling her sweet and saying she has his heart.
But Helena feels bad for the other girl. The guy just doesn't get it and pushes Helena farther away until it's too late. She leaves with his heart. He doesn't really understand why. He had such a *convincing* argument for why she should wait. He turns to bitterness in order to not feel heartbroken by telling her that he'll just forget about her even though it's obvious he won't.
He attempts to break her down and make her feel guilty by saying that she can say whatever she wants because he's such a charming and good-looking guy that he can get any woman he wanted anyways. Helena, because she has his heart and can actually figure out what he feels, sees how pathetic he is (not the bad pathetic, the sad pathetic), but he tells her he doesn't need her sympathy and tries to convince himself that he'll be alright even though he won't.