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, 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
You keep on fighting to remember that nothing is lost in the end
Then you burn, burn, burn your life down

Get me to the door
Out of bed
On the track
I'm not sure
Starting over

It's a different situation, a different situation
You wake up in the night and refuse to be afraid of the 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, burn, burn your life down
Then you burn, burn, 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 it, break my heart around it
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 pole



Lyrics submitted by delial

Track duration: 02:22

"Burn Your Life Down" as written by Tegan Quin Sara Quin

Lyrics © NAKED IN A SNOWSUIT PUBLISHING

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Burn Your Life Down song meanings
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  • 0
    My Interpretation:Knowing that this song is about T&S's grandmother dying, I listen to it and think of it this way:

    In the first verse, it's from their grandmother's point of view. When it says "You lay awake in the night just staring at the ceiling above / pulling pieces of it out is such a waste of time / You keep on fighting to remember that nothing is lost in the end", this is the wife (grandmother) speaking to/about her husband, who is unable to sleep at night (first line), thinking maybe about something that could've been done to prevent her death, or maybe an argument they had or something wrong that he did before she died (second line). The third line is about him holding on to his belief that they will see each other again after he dies.

    Get me to the door
    Out of bed
    On the track
    I'm not sure
    Starting over

    I think that this is from the husband's point of view, with him just wanting to leave the house (which presumably holds many memories of his wife) and go somewhere, not sure where, and start over.

    You wake up in the night and refuse to be afraid of the now

    A resolution of his, maybe, to stop living in the past (that sounds a little cold-hearted of me)

    I drive around the block and I'm not looking to my right

    The right is the passenger's side in Canada, so the husband, out of habit, doesn't look to his right when turning because he's so used to his wife telling him if there's a car coming.

    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 pole

    Originally, when I heard this song, I just knew that it was about a husband whose wife had died, so please excuse the probable inaccuracy of this next thought:

    I thought that, because he wasn't looking to his right, something happens and he runs into a streetlamp or something like that. "I feel the glass against my cheek": He has been hurt and is maybe dying, and his face is against the window.
    "I can't see you in the light": Simplistically, he can't see her in her usual spot under the light from the streetlamps. However, I like to think of it as him "going towards the light" as he dies, and not seeing his wife "at the end of the tunnel". So that makes the next line,
    "I break my heart around this, break my heart around this pole" would be about his heartbreak at not seeing his wife there, so his heart has been broken, metaphorically, around the pole that he crashed into.
    Flag Aiyarukon March 14, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:they play this in charlotte russe ALL THE TIME.
    i love it though hahaha.
    Flag teenqueen22on August 22, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I agree wie AlecsPen, I had the same idea about the car crash and the moment her life or good moments in life flash by and her girlfriend isn't a scene in this "movie". Guess this must be very disappointing.. Especially if you planned a future and so on.
    Flag Raiyneon July 11, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i LOVE tegan and sara
    and this song! one of there best!
    Flag janguaryon November 07, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i LOVE tegan and sara
    and this song! one of there best!
    Flag janguaryon November 07, 2008   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:As for the car comments, Tegan told Ragged Magazine that Sara had been really affected by something her grandfather said after her grandfather died...
    They used to go for drives together, but after she died, he looked to his right and she wasn;t there, and he just wanted to cry and go home. That's what those last couple of lines are about.
    For the rest, I'm not entirely certain. When they were writing the album, both sisters were sort of starting down a new path about things..both went through significant breakups and Tegan moved to a different city.
    I think this song is a salute to the awkward but necessary life transition...how it hurts, and we all lay in bed and feel melancholy, but we all have to start over sometimes.
    Flag misslooon November 02, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Sara wrote this about a tragic car wreck she caused in 2001. Her fiance Emy Storey was decapitated. Sara never forgave herself.
    Flagged risolon September 15, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Yes, Sara did write this mostly about her grandparents, but she also said she was also kinda thinking about Tegan.
    Flag Pamela712on August 26, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment: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.
    Flag AlecsPenon August 23, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment: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.
    Flag AlecsPenon August 23, 2008   Link

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