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Time to tell me the truth
To burden your mouth for what you say
No pieces of paper in the way
Cause I can't continue pretending to choose
The opposite sides on which we fall
The loving you laters if at all
No right minds could wrong be this many times
My memory is cruel
I'm queen of attention to details
Defending intentions if he fails
Until now, he told me her name
It sounded familiar in a way
I could have sworn I'd heard him say it ten thousand times
If only I had been listening
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me
Always between the lines
Between the lines
I thought I thought I was ready to bleed
That we'd move from the shadows on the wall
And stand in the center of it all
Too late two choices to stay or to leave
Mine was so easy to uncover
He'd already left with the other
So I've learned to listen through silence
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me be
You and me always be
I tell myself all the words he surely meant to say
I'll talk until the conversation doesn't stay on
Wait for me I'm almost ready
When he meant let go
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me
Always be
You and me
Always between the lines
To burden your mouth for what you say
No pieces of paper in the way
Cause I can't continue pretending to choose
The opposite sides on which we fall
The loving you laters if at all
No right minds could wrong be this many times
My memory is cruel
I'm queen of attention to details
Defending intentions if he fails
Until now, he told me her name
It sounded familiar in a way
I could have sworn I'd heard him say it ten thousand times
If only I had been listening
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me
Always between the lines
Between the lines
I thought I thought I was ready to bleed
That we'd move from the shadows on the wall
And stand in the center of it all
Too late two choices to stay or to leave
Mine was so easy to uncover
He'd already left with the other
So I've learned to listen through silence
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me be
You and me always be
I tell myself all the words he surely meant to say
I'll talk until the conversation doesn't stay on
Wait for me I'm almost ready
When he meant let go
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me
Always be
You and me
Always between the lines
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I can partly relate, because my memory is cruel....
It's the wife saying, "I'd rather want to believe that it's over for the wrong reasons...rather than tell me you don't love me anymore."
I always imagine this song to be played when the wife and the husband is about to sign the divorce paper in a room together with their lawyers. Those simple glares, kept tears, and silence brewing in the mind of the woman, as she sings this song, as she signs on the dotted line while giving her husband one last glimpse, as her husband looks at her in silence speaking only in surreptitious whispers in her mind that says, "Let me go."
It is simply a woman who cannot fathom her right as a wife, to have known that her husband is cheating, that she let him fall for another woman, and that the reason for their divorce is simply because he does not love her anymore.
A wife in denial, yet the only thing she could do is ask herself how as to why it all happened. The wife obviously loves the husband, but the fact that she loved him too much, or was too busy to give notice that he would cheat, or leave him for some other woman, is what devastates her.
And the last line stating, "You and me, always between the lines." It means that they could never have worked out, because even at the signs that she knew deep inside that her husband was cheating (the wife hearing the name of his husband's woman, and neglecting the fact that she even existed), or the fact that he left him with another woman (no pieces of paper in the way as the sign of the divorce papers), or that she still loved the man deeply (to burden your mouth of which you say, or tell me, your wife, if you still love me or if you ever loved me), she knows that the only thing she could do is let him go despite her heart saying she still wants another chance because she loves him...
In other words, they are always at the opposite end of the spectrum, or in different pages of a book; never knowing how to work things out because if she only realized now, seeing that her husband is giving her the condition of divorce, that their relationship has ended...despite every sign that he was giving her, it's a sign that she her love for him blinded her not to see the real picture, a typical scenario common to a one-sided relationship.
And the part where the wife was saying, "Wait for me, I'm almost ready...when he meant let go". She was blinding herself of the idea that maybe, just maybe, he still loves her. But obviously, seeing the husband is with another woman...clearly states the opposite of what reality was telling her and even the suggestion of divorce awoken to her senses that it is evidently over.
Time to tell me the truth
To burden your mouth for what you say
No pieces of paper in the way
'Cause I can't continue pretending to choose
The opposite sides on which we fall
The loving you laters, if at all
No right minds could wrong be this many times
She's finally given up pretending that he isn't cheating, she's done looking the other way. So she's telling him to tell her what she's known all along.
My memory is cruel
I'm queen of attention-to-details
Defending intentions if he fails
Until now, he told me her name
It sounded familiar in a way
I could have sworn I'd heard him
Say it ten thousand times
If only I had been listening
First part, she replays all the it was so obvious he was cheating, but staying in denial, even going so far as to defend him against other people who told her he was cheating. Second part, he'd heard the girls name mentioned by him casually before. She was hearing it, but not listening.
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me
Always between the lines
She doesn't want to know anymore. She should have read between the lines of his behavior to know he was cheating. Everything between them had been said between the lines until then.
I thought I was ready to bleed
That we'd move from the shadows on the wall
And stand in the center of it all
Too late, two choices, to stay or to leave
Mine was so easy to uncover
He'd already left with the other
So I learned to listen through silence
She thought she was ready to hear the truth. So she chose to confront him. Then she thought she had to chose to stay, or to leave him, but he told her that he was leaving her for the other woman. So in the relationship, she learned how to listen to her instincts.
I tell myself
All the words he surely meant to say
I'll talk until
The conversation doesn't stay on
"Wait for me, I'm almost ready,"
When he meant "Let go,"
To me, this is about the beginning of the relationship. He asked her to wait to get married/for him to commit, but she didn't. She pushed. So he caved. But what he'd really meant back then was for her to let go of him.
They boy and the girl were something and the girl hadn't made up her mind. The girl finally makes up her mind about him, but the boy had already moved on. He'd moved on but hadn't told the girl that he has, but he'd been dropping hints about it... but the girl wouldn't think to take notice to them because it would hurt too much. She finally takes notice and looks back on everything and see's all the signs 'between the lines'.
I'd have more to say about this song.. but if I over analysed it.. I'd probably cry. So, yeah.
This is one of my all-time favorite songs, and probably my favorite Sara song. I fell in love with her version on Little Voice, and appreciate the song even more after hearing the live version. Everything about it is flawless; the lyrics, the melody, and her voice.
This is what this song means to me:
When I first listened to this song, I assumed it was about being cheated on. But in one of Sara's live performances she stated it was about "loving someone who didn't love you back," and I saw this song in a whole new light. This simple explanation by Sara seems to embody a feeling that probably most everyone has experienced in their life; missed chances and unreciprocated love. To me, it seems to maybe be about a good friend that she had feelings for, never said anything, and now he has found someone else. She learned the hard way, and now they will always be "between the lines."
I can't say enough how much I love this song....God bless you Sara Bareilles for the heart and soul that you pour into your music, and the chance we've all had to listen to it!
"Time to tell me the truth
To burden your mouth for what you say
No pieces of paper in the way"
- She wants to hear the honest truth of how he feels
"'Cause I can't continue pretending to choose
The opposite sides on which we fall"
- She is in love with him and he isn't in love with her
"The loving you laters, if at all
No right minds could wrong be this many times"
- They both believe they have been right in the situation and neither admits their faults or miscommunications. She
thought the 'I love you' would come with time (ie loving you laters) but they haven't
"My memory is cruel
I'm queen of attention-to-details
Defending intentions if he fails Until now"
- She recalls all the times she has defending his questionable actions and realizes the little details and hints he gave to
suggest he didn't love her
"he told me her name
It sounded familiar in a way
I could have sworn I'd heard him
Say it ten thousand times
If only I had been listening"
- He reveals who he is in love with, and she realizes that this girl has always been a part of his life. He talks about her
often, but she never saw their relationship in that light because she didn't listen for it
"Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me
Always between the lines"
- He leaves without ever saying 'I love you.' His eyes were shut to love, and they were always a couple in limbo. He never
loved her, though she thought she was in love.
"I thought I, though I was ready to bleed
That we'd move from the shadows on the wall
And stand in the center of it all"
- She believed they would take their relationship to the next level
"Too late,
Two choices, to stay or to leave
Mine was so easy to uncover
He'd already left with the other"
- She was willing to stay with him and work through this, but he made the choice for her by falling in love with another
"So I learned to listen through silence"
- She learned more about their relationship and herself now that she is alone, in silence
"I tell myself
All the words he surely meant to say"
- She tries to comfort herself thinking that the break up didn't happen
"I'll talk until
The conversation doesn't stay on
"Wait for me, I'm almost ready,"
When he meant "Let go,""
- He had told her he wasn't ready and that is why they weren't in a relationship, when it was truly his excuse for not
wanting to be with her, and wanting her to let go of the idea of them together.
The speaker and the man have been together for some time with the promise of him leaving his wife/lover.
"the loving you laters, if at all"...the promise they will be together "later", but she's beginning to realize that it will never happen.
The second verse, she thought they were at the point of going public with their relationship instead of being the "shadow on the wall"...she was prepared to bleed, to take the disapproval of being the other woman. She then gave him a choice, and he stayed with his wife and cut off the affair.
The bridge, she tells herself the things she wanted to hear...he loves her, he's leaving his relationship. But she realizes now that even though he kept saying "wait for me, I'm almost ready," he said many times between the lines that she should just let go.