This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Thick as thieves the last of leaves
In the winter sun
Holding fast this freezing branch
Is home to us
Step, step right over the line
And onto borrowed time
When it's life, not waiting to die
Waiting to divide to divide
Counting stars and passing cars
On the interstate
The end is near I feel it dear
But I am not afraid
Step, step right over the line
And onto borrowed time
When it's life, not waiting to die
Waiting to divide to divide
But you say you're getting tired
You're tired and so am I
When you follow from behind
Step, step right over the line
And onto borrowed time
When it's life, not waiting to die
Waiting to divide to divide
But you say you're getting tired
You're tired and so am I
When you follow from behind
In the winter sun
Holding fast this freezing branch
Is home to us
Step, step right over the line
And onto borrowed time
When it's life, not waiting to die
Waiting to divide to divide
Counting stars and passing cars
On the interstate
The end is near I feel it dear
But I am not afraid
Step, step right over the line
And onto borrowed time
When it's life, not waiting to die
Waiting to divide to divide
But you say you're getting tired
You're tired and so am I
When you follow from behind
Step, step right over the line
And onto borrowed time
When it's life, not waiting to die
Waiting to divide to divide
But you say you're getting tired
You're tired and so am I
When you follow from behind
Lyrics submitted by MusicLady86
Borrowed Time Lyrics as written by Anthony Joseph Penaloza Alison Sudol
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Oh my god. One comment? Seriously? I love this song. I love Sudol's voice and lyrics. This song is beautiful. Depressing, though.
i love the last minute or so, when she doesn't sing and it's just ambient. beautiful lyrics/vocals as always.
anyone else get the feeling she's taking the POV of an animal, like in the minnow and the trout? 'this freezing branch is home to us', 'the end is near, i feel it dear, but i'm not afraid'. many animals have relatively short lifespans. idk just a thought. it says on her wikipedia that she might write a book influenced by the chronicles of narnia, with the talking animals and all. so maybe she's using her songs to practice. shrugs
This album seems to be a mixture of a tragic love life juxtaposed with the lives of animals. "Rangers", "Minnow and the Trout" and this song are full of anthropomorphic imagery. <br /> <br /> She has also said she was influenced by "Alice in Wonderland" and loves fairy tales in an interview last year.
I love this song! 'Step, step right over the line and onto borrowed time...'' I love that line. I think it's about just enjoying life for as long as you can. When I first heard it, I thought of someone who found out they were dying and just going through life. This song is so gentle and sweet. It's soft, just beautiful. That's what drew me to the song.
I think I agree with everyone else, the whole point seems to be that regardless of your position in life and how much longer you have, you should focus on LIFE not just living. i think this is inspiring and almost haunting
my favorite lyric is
the end is near i feel it, dear but i am not afraid
<3
This song is simply beautiful. I agree with all the other comments. The only lyric I wish was explained is "Waiting to divide, to divide." I looked all over for an explanation to that lyrics but I can't find one! The explanation I came up with is that our time in life keeps getting divided little by little, and we need to appreciate every second of it without fearing the end and regretting not living our lives.
Haven't you thought that it may be something more mundane? Dramatic and depressing, yeah, but pretty simple and without very deep meaning?
I see it like this:
'Thick as thieves the last of leaves in the winter sun Holding fast, this freezing branch is home to us' Two people. They are a couple for long time. They see that thay can't live with each other, but still they try (like thieves - they are caught but when it's next chance, they steal again). Winter isn't good time for leaves, for life as well. When people recognise that they don't shape up it should be sing that it's the very end of their relationship. The couple from the song still hold this branch (which is near frozen, so sooner or later will fall from the tree; it's their home - they don't see other places to live, without fiance, because they still think it will be ok) and pretend that everything is alright. Sun might be good whiles, because everyone have sometimes good time with others. And this time may be mistaken with love happiness.
'Step, step right over the line And onto borrowed time When it's life, not waiting to die Waiting to divide, to divide' Chorus. From here everything is logic. The most important are first two verses to understand song's message, I think. Those lines are words of one of the lovers. He see that it's no hope. 'Come here', he says, 'Come and be with me if you like, but it's not our time! We shouldn't be together anymore, but I will stay with you as long as you finally find out that something is wrong'. It's not their time. Borrowed time. They should end the relationship and start everything from the beginning. Stop waiting to die and thinking how this life is cruel that they can't be happy. They can't, because they don't do anything to be! It's existing, not living! And they both will suffer until they'll divide.
'Counting stars and passing cars on the interstate The end is near I feel it dear but I am not afraid' When people are really sad, they try to do anything to forget about problems. Counting stars - or watching one point of ceiling - and passing cars are typical behaviours of lonely, depressed ones. And everything resembles them loved one. It's real pain when you know it's over, you can't imagine future life, but you know you must do it. You must make the decision. And you know it will never be like it was. Don't be afraid of making decisions. Don't waste your and her life.
'But you say you're getting tired You're tired and so am I When you follow from behind' At last second lover finds out what first tried to say. He recognises, that it's all true. He is tired of this relationship too. He has got enough of being tied with all those limitations that second one brings. He see that when he tries to do something he must first think if it won't hurt fience, her feelings. They both know, they can't be together any longer.
It's really great lyrics, song too. I think everyone of us had at least once such situation. I wish no one will have problem with living the life, like here. Thanks!