Lyrics for Burn Your Life Down as interpreted by delial

Burn Your Life Down Lyrics
Tell me that you know another way to get it done
It's not me, or how I would be, but it's a different situation
You lay awake in the night just staring at the ceiling above
Pulling pieces of it out, it's such a waste of time

Keep on fighting to remember that nothing is lost in the end when you burn your life down

Get me to the door, out of bed or on to track, I'm not sure
Starting over, it's a different situation
You wake up in the night, and refuse to be afraid of it now
unfolding pieces of it faster, don't you waste your time

You've been planning to remember this, so nothing will be lost in the end
Then you burn your life down

I drive around the block and I'm not looking to my right
i feel the glass against my cheek and I can't see you in the light
I break my heart around this

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abi999
06-04-2007

Rated +1 
I love how she prononces 'light' i dnt really know what its about but i just love it!

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slyogi
06-17-2007

Rated 0 
I think this song is about a car wreck.. hence
"I travel around the block and I’m not looking to my right
I feel the glass against my cheek
and I can’t see you in the light"
and i think she cant get over the fact she got into a car accident with her loved one in the passenger seat.
and shes having a hard time dealing with remembering it. she wants to remember it, but then again, she doesnt.

[personal experience reflects from it haha.]

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jbabylove
06-17-2007

Rated 0 
UGH. My FAVORITE song off the new album! I absolutely love it.

I think it is about someone who over analyzes life.

And I agree with "slyoqi" think the last part is about a car crash.

She obviously go hurt somehow and she is basically saying that you shouldn't go around over analyzing life because life is too short and you never know what can happen in a blink of an eye.

This song says so much to me. It represents my life in a way. I'm kind of like the person who is over analyzing their life.

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fivergirl
06-19-2007

Rated 0 
^ I agree. I was immediately interested in the title of the song. I agree it's about someone who overanalyzes their life. I think a lot of T&S's songs (and maybe this album) bring up the point of messing something up (maybe a relationship or your life) by overanaylzing it.

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agapi918
06-25-2007

Rated 0 
I feel like this could definitely be about a car wreck, but I don't think that the loved one was in the passenger seat, nor was this person lost. To me it sounds like the narrator of the song was in the passenger seat.
"I travel around the block and I'm not looking to my right"
(if she were in the passenger seat and not looking to her right she wouldn't see a car coming from that side)
"I feel the glass against my cheek and I can't see you in the light"
(when the car hit the headlights would have been blindingly bright, thus making her not see the driver as she was looking at her)

I think the beginning of this song (i.e. before the lines "I travel around the block," etc.) are meant to show how the two people involved are dealing with it differently as shown in the part,
"but it’s a different situation a different situation
you lay awake in the night just staring at the ceiling above
pulling pieces of it out is such a waste of time"
If the subject of the song was the driver, she would most likely be dealing with the situation in a much heavier way, blaming herself, etc.

And then in the following verse it feels to me like there is some sort of resolution:
"You wake up in the night and refuse to be afraid of it now.
Unfolding pieces of it faster don’t you waste your time."
It seems like the subject, or driver, wakes up in the night with some sort of revelation and finally talks about it (unfolding pieces of it... like telling a story).

p.s. If it turns out this song isn't about a crash, then I'm going to feel like a complete crazy person, haha.

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vegetable_carrot
06-28-2007

Rated 0 
and i can't see you in the loight!! hehehe that's so cute the way she pronounces light hehehe!

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forgosoma
06-28-2007

Rated 0 
It seems that this song is about someone going through a complete change in her life; she's starting over, from the ground up. As a result, however, her relationship with the speaker will suffer.

[It also seems that the situation is out of the subject's control (i.e. "pulling pieces of it out is such a waste of time"), although details about the reason for the change aren't given. The speaker is still making some level of decision, since she "[burns her] life down." It makes sense then that she is making the decision to change, but she was forced into it somehow. The actual change itself would most likely be moving a large distance away, a TnS motif. Not much info. is given here, either. The song, instead, focuses more on the consequences of the change, on both the speaker and the subject]

The speaker wants "you" to find "another way to get it done...for [her]." The subject is scared of her future, as well, laying awake at night analyzing whether everything will be alright. She comforts herself, though, remembering that "nothing is lost in the end;" she'll still have the memories, even if she burns her life down.

The beginning of the second verse sounds like the subject is getting the speaker to move on. This may mean a physical move (i.e. out of her house) or emotional, I can't really say. This subject, however, has solidified her decision. She realizes this is not truly her decision, but what she must do.

In the end, you find the speaker completely removed from the subject. She's probably driving away from the subject's home (continuing the idea of physical removal), and has an accident in her distraught state.
The accident may actually be on purpose, considering the last line "I break my heart around this...pole." The fact that she can't see the subject in the light probably was meant to have multiple meanings; it shows that the subject is no longer there for her in her times of need (the reason for her distress to begin with), and may also act as a metaphor as the speaker no longer seeing the subject in a beneficial way (light meaning good).

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yesterdaystomorrow1
07-22-2007

Rated 0 
I kinda refuse to believe that the end is really about a car crash. It simply sounds so *literal* and Sara (who wrote this) usually uses alot of metaphors. It doesn't seem like her at all. Besides, I doubt she even has a driver's licence.

I think this songs is about starting over...burning your life down completely. And the anxiety that causes. I would know the feeling. You lay awake the whole night thinking of all that could potentially go wrong...of all you've lost. And Sara is trying to say that in the end, it doesn't matter anyways. This is all a con...everything we build around ourselves is gone once we die (especially for those of us who don't have a defined faith that is...tegan and sara included). So why waste your time thinking about non-important stuff?

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laxgoalie458
07-28-2007

Rated 0 
Sara (of Tegan and Sara) has said that she wrote this song about her Grandfather. His partner, their grandmother, had just died. He had told Sara that it was really tough for him to be in the car now because when his wife was living they used to go on road trips and he's so lonely now without her. The song makes a lot of sense if you think about it in that context.

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e money
08-03-2007

Rated 0 
Yeah I don't think the end is about a car crash since I don't think Sara has her liscense. I think it's a metaphor for her not being careful and then someone she was close with got hurt because she wasn't watching out for them.

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energydrag
08-08-2007

Rated 0 
i saw tegan and sara in concert last week and she said that the song is about her grandmother dying a few years back...

love them ! :]

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FrengerLovely
08-17-2007

Rated 0 
"I drive around the block and I’m not looking to my right
I feel the glass against my cheek
and I can’t see you in the light
I break my heart around this break my heart around this"

Sheer perfection. This is one of my favs from this album.

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RainbowsintheDark
08-28-2007

Rated 0 
I adore this song farrrr too much, but I'm confused as to what Sara means by "pole" in the last line(?)

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MuhRee
10-25-2007

Rated 0 
I agree with jbabylove. I think it makes sense to think that it is about over analyzing life.

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lerinjerin
11-05-2007

Rated 0 
is it possible that this is a song talking from two points of view?

one being the person saying "i'm not unfaithful but i'll stray" and the other being, obviously the other person in the relationship who is being strayed away from, who is saying "i just want back in your head" because she's feeling neglected, seeing that her partner has wandering eyes?

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Sasuke18
11-16-2007

Rated 0 
i read on teganandsarafans.com that it's about their grandmother dying a few years ago and how their grandfather feels about it because they used to go travelling everywhere in a van together. thats why he can look to his right.
beautiful song.

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Sasuke18
11-16-2007

Rated 0 
*cant look to the right even.

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au_revoir_vanessa
11-18-2007

Rated 0 
i wrote a short story based on this song..
about someone who overanalyzes, and who eventually does sorta burn their life down.

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ecureuil69
12-22-2007

Rated 0 
For some reason, I feel like this song isn't ABOUT a car wreck, per se. I think the last part alludes to a wreck, but I don't think it's the central theme of the song.

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keettee
02-07-2008

Rated 0 
It's kinda funny. Everyone says it's about a car accident. Sara wrote this song, the one who cannot drive...:D

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thecrimeoflovingyou
02-29-2008

Rated 0 
"Burn Your Life Down"

Look at that. Read it. Think.
It means she's starting over. That's what happens with anything burns down. You clean up the mess and move on. Start over.

It's NOT about a car accident, that's just a symbol of her memories with somebody she's lost.

"Tell me that you know another way to get it done
It's not me, or how I would be, but it's a different situation
You lay awake in the night just staring at the ceiling above
Pulling pieces of it out, it's such a waste of time"

-She's trying to figure out what went wrong. What she could have done, how things fit together. When she knows that she's just wasting her time on something she shouldn't bother with.

"Keep on fighting to remember that nothing is lost in the end when you burn your life down."

-You know you need to go on after you end a relationship. Ending a relationship may make you feel like your alone, and that there's a chunk of you missing but you lived before that and you can after.

"Get me to the door, out of bed or on to track, I'm not sure
Starting over, it's a different situation
You wake up in the night, and refuse to be afraid of it now
unfolding pieces of it faster, don't you waste your time"

-She relates it to all of us, as the message of everything. She's realizing how it's left her out of place and alone, and knows that she needs to get her life back together even though starting over is tough. Now she realizes how usuless it is to figure out went wrong. She knows it's time to move on.

"You've been planning to remember this, so nothing will be lost in the end
Then you burn your life down"

-She relates this to you guys once again that, everyone thinks of the end when they enter a relationship. It's the first thing you do. So even though it doesn't seem like it, you can handle the end of it. And slowely start over with the emotional saftey net you made from day one.

"I drive around the block and I'm not looking to my right
i feel the glass against my cheek and I can't see you in the light
I break my heart around this "

There are times when she'll come back to a time when she always had them there, and realize how much she misses them. Even though she's starting over, it still breaks her heart to think of what once was.

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tegs
05-04-2008

Rated 0 
i saw them live in victoria, and sara said this song was about her gampa dying in a car crash?

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CALLEY_roadtojoy
05-11-2008

Rated 0 
i was listening to this yesterday and i suddenly thought it was about terrorism and suicide bombers. i know this probably isn't true but this is my weird take on things :)

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jtown80
06-21-2008

Rated 0 
ok.. some of you are close.. but not quite there... tegan and sara's grandfather was a farmer... twice a year he would go buy tractors for his farm.. his wife never wanted to go with him but he talked her into it... when she died he couldn't remember how to live without her.. he explained to sara that he couldn't even drive anymore because everytime that he did all he could see was his wife in the passenger seat.. (she brought this up at a show i saw in europe)

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AlecsPen
08-23-2008

Rated 0 
I thought this song written about someone getting into a car crash and, while having seen their life pass them by in the light, they didn't see their lover. So they think they've found out that they're not going to end up with them when they really thought that they were in love. It could be used as a metaphor for overanalyzing everything and finding out what you don't necessarily want to know by doing so.

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