Lyrics for Any Other World as interpreted by vickiminx

Any Other World Lyrics
In any other world
You could tell the difference
And let it all unfurl
Into broken remnants
Smile like you mean it
And let yourself let go

Cause it’s all in the hands of a bitter, bitter man
Say goodbye
To the world you thought you lived in
Take a bow
Play the part of a lonely, lonely heart
Say goodbye
To the world you thought you lived in
To the world you thought you lived in


I tried to live alone
But lonely is so lonely you know
So human as I am, I had to give up my defences
So I smiled and tried to mean it
To let myself let go

Cause it’s all in the hands of a bitter, bitter man
Say goodbye
To the world you thought you lived in
Take a bow
Play the part of a lonely, lonely heart
Say goodbye
To the world you thought you lived in
To the world you thought you lived in

Cause it’s all in the hands of a bitter, bitter man
Say goodbye
To the world you thought you lived in
Take a bow
Play the part of a lonely, lonely heart
Say goodbye
To the world you thought you lived in
To the world you thought you lived in

Say goodbye
To the world you thought you lived in
Say goodbye
To the world you thought you lived in
Say goodbye

In any other world
You could tell the difference


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LillyDarko
02-12-2007

Rated 0 
This song just sends me into space! I can't help but think it's about coping with love, how you're letting the decision fall into the hands of your partner. Probably wrong, I can't define too well...eek.

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lyricjunkie
02-16-2007

Rated 0 
If I was to try to interpret this literally I would…“Cause it’s all in the hands of a bitter, bitter man” reminds me of being in a controlling relationship and being told to smile, and numbing yourself not to feel anything. You have to give up all of your being and let your self let go. You are with the other person just so you are not alone. But the way the song sounds I feel that it’s about a person dying, and they are now seeing the truth in their life, and having to say good bye to their world they thought they lived. It has been a deception and they are no finding this out as they are turning their life over to someone else. I don’t know…just a thought or two, tell me what ya’ll think?...:)

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lyricjunkie
02-16-2007

Rated 0 
If I was to try to interpret this literally I would…“Cause it’s all in the hands of a bitter, bitter man” reminds me of being in a controlling relationship and being told to smile, and numbing yourself not to feel anything. You have to give up all of your being and let your self let go. You are with the other person just so you are not alone. But the way the song sounds I feel that it’s about a person dying, and they are now seeing the truth in their life, and having to say good bye to their world they thought they lived. It has been a deception and they are no finding this out as they are turning their life over to someone else. I don’t know…just a thought or two, tell me what ya’ll think?...:)

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silverprod
03-04-2007

Rated +2 
To me it sounds like a waking up after being in "love." He sees the a whole new world, cold, bitter, alone. And he says "smile like you mean it" as opposed to smiling on the outside only. So he says to let yourself let go... it's time to move on and smile but that just can't happen. I've been smiling on the outside and feeling what he's feeling for the past 5 months :(

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MavDude
03-12-2007

Rated 0 
I completely agree with silverprod. Same feeling here. :(

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bertrand9483
03-28-2007

Rated 0 
I also think that silverprod is right. To me this is a woman talking to his friend and she is so sad because she just realised that her love story is over. This friend lived the same situation some time ago and explained that life is really hard when you're alone and even if it is really difficult to trust someone after having suffered so much we don't have any other chance to "give your defences". The first part of the song can be explained to me because this is the human being is the only living species able to feel love and in any other place or world such feeling would just be "remnants".

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JeanneMe
04-01-2007

Rated +1 
This struck me as more of a global song. I thought of the bitter, bitter man as Geo. W. and about having my liberties taken away. Mika is from a war-torn area and has lived a life I cannot imagine, and so I wonder if this song is about living under a dictatorship -- smile and take it because you have no choice and you don't know any better anyway because you haven't been allowed to leave and travel anywhere else, to see any other world.

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JeanneMe
04-01-2007

Rated 0 
This struck me as more of a global song. I thought of the bitter, bitter man as Geo. W. and about having my liberties taken away. Mika is from a war-torn area and has lived a life I cannot imagine, and so I wonder if this song is about living under a dictatorship -- smile and take it because you have no choice and you don't know any better anyway because you haven't been allowed to leave and travel anywhere else, to see any other world.

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[ hutch ]
04-04-2007

Rated 0 
it just grabs me and takes me to another place.

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courtneyay
04-04-2007

Rated 0 
I love it, but does anyone know who the woman at the end of this song, and Ring Ring is?

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Del Marquis
04-06-2007

Rated 0 
Mika quotes in an interview:

There is a little spoken introduction that many people may miss.

It’s a family friend of mine who lost her eye during the war in Lebanon and I realised in everyone’s life their comes one point — or several points — where something happens and you have to completely change the way you have lived your life because of one event.

And it really makes you readjust and rethink and rejudge parts of your life all over again.

That happens to some people in a dramatic way like Rafa who lost both her eye and her husband within six months. Or it can be in a much quieter way like when you are 22-years-old and you finally leave university after being in education all your life or when you lose your job.

I wanted to put that in the song, because when you’re 68 or 14, it’s still the same feeling and it’s still just as hard.

I wanted to try to capture that quite difficult period that people have to go through at least once in their life.

:-)

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white_stone_3
04-07-2007

Rated 0 
This song makes me think of losing someone very important to you, weather its from death or you have just grown apart, friend or family.

A good thing about this song is that it made me think about living in another world and instead of imagining a real world, I made one up. It was full of trees and rivers and it gave me a scence of peace within me, i think everyone should have a safe haven inside of their own minds that cannot be currupted by others. its a nice change

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uptoearth
04-09-2007

Rated 0 
theres so much to this song and so complex whether we are smiling like we mean or trying to make ourselves happing we're are trying to live in this world and it can just weigh on us to the have to let go and give up, let go to what we cling to we have to let life happen and trust that it will be ok if never let anything happen to ourselves nothing good will ever happen to us.

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mikalover
04-10-2007

Rated 0 
bitter bitter man. It makes me think. why are there so many people this could refer to? why is earth so messed up? cant we just forget about war, and ownership of everything and just live and get on with problems we cant change. Why is there terrorism. why do people think its right? makes you think... makes me cry

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ghostabc123
04-20-2007

Rated 0 
"I wanted to try to capture that quite difficult period that people have to go through at least once in their life."

and he did it, perfectly.

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luvme520
04-25-2007

Rated 0 
i thin kthat this song means that u have lost someone or "grown apart" "breaken up" with that very SPECIAL person. when i hear of this song it reminds me of a story of me and my BF which we now happen to hate eachother but i think i have GROWN OVER my FEELINg for HIM!

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luvme520
04-25-2007

Rated 0 
i thin kthat this song means that u have lost someone or "grown apart" "breaken up" with that very SPECIAL person. when i hear of this song it reminds me of a story of me and my BF which we now happen to hate eachother but i think i have GROWN OVER my FEELINg for HIM!

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sunnysenny
04-26-2007

Rated 0 
AMAZING song, my favorite by Mika. Makes me cry every time.

I also think it's a global song, and I love the quote from the interview from Del Marquis, thank you.

I think this song has to do with how sad this world is. There's a moment we all realize this, when everything you knew is torn apart and you feel only pain.

It could have to do with breaking up, but I don't think that's an essential part of this song, just one of the many possibilities.

The "bitter, bitter man" does not refer to a specific person, but to so many people. I love the compassion in that line, instead of being mean to that man, it is quiet sympathetic.

What confuses me is the purpose of the "(any) other world" reference. What truly does it mean?

Lyric corrections:
"But lonely is so lonely alone"
What does the woman say at the end?

Amazing song

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blue25000000
05-20-2007

Rated 0 
The woman at the end (I'm guessing perhaps she is Rafa?) sounds like she is saying: "I never ever, I forget my story. My face is no sad, but sometimes, I am sad."

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koolzies
05-23-2007

Rated 0 
i always thought it said: “i tried to live alone, but lonely is so lonely alone.”

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RICH2theARD
05-28-2007

Rated 0 
I'm certainly in the minority here, but I personally interpreted this song to be one of unforeseen, incredible dismay as a result of the realization that being gay (of which Mika has been speculated and refuses to confirm or deny) in a society downcast with rampant oppression and bigotry isn’t the world he “thought [he] lived in” – a world where a “bitter, bitter man” at the helm of a country such as the United States can legally discriminate against you and withhold your rights as a fellow human being just as deserving of love as anyone else. The lines in the stanza beginning with “I tried to live alone. . .” compels me to specifically view this as a coming-out/self-acceptance journey, albeit gloomily disheartened, in which he initially secluded himself from love, feeling undeserving and shameful, ultimately realizing and embracing his equality (“human as I am”) and his subsequent need to “give up [his] defenses” and “let [him]self go.” Overall, it seems like a sort of awakening, but to an unexpected nightmare where the world he naively thought he knew isn’t quite the loving place he once dreamt. “In any other world, you could tell the difference” between love and hate; right and wrong; acceptance and rejection; empathy and apathy; oppression and kindness. . .

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Sarah-Stagedive
05-28-2007

Rated 0 
I think you guys hit the nail on the head, BUT, does anybody think that maybe the 'bitter, bitter man' part could be about God? I hope not, due to the fact that if it is, it's controversial, and Mika would be going against everything he represents.

Possibly?

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Sarah-Stagedive
05-28-2007

Rated 0 
Ps; I love this song. I think it's one of the most incredible and influencial things I've heard in a long time.

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candy21
06-05-2007

Rated 0 
This is what Mika said about it!

"There is a little spoken introduction that many people may miss.

It's a family friend of mine who lost her eye during the war in Lebanon and I realised in everyone's life their comes one point, or several points, where something happens and you have to completely change the way you have lived your life because of one event.

And it really makes you readjust and rethink and rejudge parts of your life all over again.

That happens to some people in a dramatic way like Rafa who lost both her eye and her husband within six months. Or it can be in a much quieter way like when you are 22-years-old and you finally leave university after being in education all your life or when you lose your job.

I wanted to put that in the song, because when you're 68 or 14, it's still the same feeling and it's still just as hard.

I wanted to try to capture that quite difficult period that people have to go through at least once in their life."

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DeathsRose
07-05-2007

Rated 0 
to me this song is about someone who loses someone they love, and they have to try and get on with their life, because even though their life is falling apart the world isnt going to stop for them, hence...

"In any other world
You could tell the difference
And let it all unfurl
Into broken remnants"

btw, love the violin part. its such a beautiful and heart-breaking song.

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