I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I listened in
Yes, I'm guilty of this, you should know this
I broke down and wrote you back before you had a chance to
Forget, forgotten, I am moving past this, giving notice
I have to go
Yes, I know the feeling, know you're leaving
Calm down, I'm calling you to say
I'm capsized, staring on the edge of safe
Calm down, I'm calling back to say
I'm home now, I'm coming around, coming around
Well, nobody likes to but I really like to cry
Nobody likes me, maybe if I cry
Spelled out your name and lists the reasons
Faint of heart, don't call me back
I imagine you when I was distant, non-insistent
I follow suit and laid out on my back, imagine that
A million hours left to think of you and think of that
Calm down, I'm calling you to say
I'm capsized, staring on the edge of safe
Calm down, I'm calling back to say
I'm home now, I'm coming around, coming around
Well, nobody likes to but I really like to cry
Well, nobody likes me, maybe if I cry
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Well, nobody likes to but I really like to cry
Nobody likes me, maybe if I cry
Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody
Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Yes, I'm guilty of this, you should know this
I broke down and wrote you back before you had a chance to
Forget, forgotten, I am moving past this, giving notice
I have to go
Yes, I know the feeling, know you're leaving
Calm down, I'm calling you to say
I'm capsized, staring on the edge of safe
Calm down, I'm calling back to say
I'm home now, I'm coming around, coming around
Well, nobody likes to but I really like to cry
Nobody likes me, maybe if I cry
Spelled out your name and lists the reasons
Faint of heart, don't call me back
I imagine you when I was distant, non-insistent
I follow suit and laid out on my back, imagine that
A million hours left to think of you and think of that
Calm down, I'm calling you to say
I'm capsized, staring on the edge of safe
Calm down, I'm calling back to say
I'm home now, I'm coming around, coming around
Well, nobody likes to but I really like to cry
Well, nobody likes me, maybe if I cry
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Well, nobody likes to but I really like to cry
Nobody likes me, maybe if I cry
Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody
Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Encircle me, I need to be taken down
Lyrics submitted by delial, edited by zooooomzooom
The Con Lyrics as written by Tegan Quin Sara Quin
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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i think this song is about really losing control of yourself and doing things that you aren't proud of. It sounds like she maybe cheated on her girlfriend when she was out on the road, thus 'i am guilty of this, you should know this,' and 'a millions hours left to think of you and think of that.' It suggests that she had to spend the remainder of the tour feeling guilty about it. When she says 'encircle me, i need to be taken down,' it sounds kind of like a cry for help. like she's saying 'some one come here and stop me from doing all of this crazy shit.'
omg i love what you say...
@0wls She's guilty of having "listened in" from the previous line.
This song is about how Tegan Quin fell in love with a straight girl.
' “And,” she adds, “I was trying to date this girl who wasn’t available.”
The object of Tegan’s affection wasn’t interested in dating women, but, as The Con’s scathing title track details, that didn’t deter Tegan from pursuing her anyway. As the two women formed a friendship, Tegan’s pitch became more desperate, more aggressive.
“We were talking hours and hours a day and sending hundreds and hundreds of texts and e-mails, and spending all this money on trips, and there would be times where I would pull away and just ask her, ‘Why? Why are you still calling me? Why is this still continuing?’” Tegan recalls. “I felt like I was conning her. There was some magic in me that was making this person question everything and continue this dance with me.
“During this whole ordeal I was very confident and outgoing, but in my alone time I was crying on the floor every day–and I enjoyed it,” Tegan adds. “I enjoyed every second of my misery. The deeper and the darker it went, the more pleasant it felt.”
On “The Con,” Tegan brandishes her tears as a weapon, a means to elicit guilt and, subsequently, affection from her love interest. “Nobody likes me,” she sings as if working out her next move, “maybe if I cry…”'
"the con"....as in deceving someone. in the song, there's an argument or a dispute, and the singer is thinking about how easy it would be if she just 'cried' because then people would feel bad for her. it's easy to do that. thinking about crying as means of taking the easy road, you become 'capsized staring at the edge of safe'. you get taken over by the thought of taking the easy road. because when you know you've fucked up, if you cry people will feel bad for you, even if you're not sorry. you just don't want to hear anymore shit. so you cry, hoping people are conned into believing you're sorry.
Doesn't she say "nobody blames me, maybe if I cry"? I think it makes much more sense than "nobody likes me"
It's actually "erring on the edge of safe" not "staring..." - that makes no sense! Source: Album
i know this would be an obvious meaning to the song... since i'm interpreting it literally based on the lyrics (not sure how the songwriter using the lyrics in a literal sense or as a metaphor), but...
i think she found out that her girlfriend cheated on her, and witnessed it. Then confronted the girlfriend about it, and realized that their relationship is over and the girlfriend is leaving for her new mate.
wow. What can i say about this song? I agree with jbabylove. I think it's about cheating as well. My sister recently went thru an affair. I don't know how many times I've cried while listening to this.
It sounds to me like she cheated on her girlfriend while on tour...hence the "I'm home now. I'm coming around. I'm coming around," once she's done touring.
She's obvioulsy feeling bad about it...and sorta wants to punish herself. "Pain of heart. Don't call me back." She has spent a alot of time thinking of her and thinking of "that."
Yet at the same time, she wants to take the easy way out and cry...hoping her GF will feel pity and forgive her. That is the "edge of safe" she's staring at.
"Encicle me, I need to be taken down." Just like Owls said, she has lost herself. She knows how many she has hurt. Maybe she can't stop. Somebody needs to bring her back down to earth.
Those are my interpretations anyways. Whatever it means, I can most defintely feel the anguish and pain this is supposed to convey. Gosh, songs like this remind me of how much I love tegan and sara.
I love this song with a passion. It pretty much explains my life, haha. It's about being in love, and feeling weak about it. It's about falling apart and taping the pieces back together. It's about crying for attention. It's about feeling extremely sad. It's about feeling alone. I LOVE IT.
I think that the singer (Tegan, of course) found out her respective other (girlfriend/maybe girlfriend/ect) was cheating on her while she was off on tour. And she didn't want it to ruin their relationship because she is just so alone she needs any person who will have her.
I'm pretty sure its about a person she was almost going to date found someone else while she was gone. It's a starve for the person and attention during a time where she's been single and her sister has had a girlfriend for so long.
Beautiful, and so godamn catchy.
I like your interpretation as well as some others. <br /> And when you said that the person she was almost going to date found someone else I thought about Lindsey Byrnes instantly. Because Tegan once said that she was rejected by her over and over again and then she (LB) dated someone else instead but she(Tegan)got her in the end.
i think that this song is obviously about a break up. to me, they are trying to convey the feeling of what it's like to know that a breakup is going to happen, or being paranoid about it happening.
This is pretty much how I interpret it, but it may be because that makes it most familiar to me. :(