Paramore – Careful

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  General Comment:To me, this sounds like a person (not neccesarily in a romantic relationship, but more like a close friendship). These people rely on each other heavily for support, and one of them (the singer of the song) tends to be the one who stays strong for the other, who has more severe problems than her. But when she starts to have severe problems, the other person is just as screwed up as her. But unlike her, they're not willing to look for the help they need. They're pushing it to the side or letting themselves suffer and wallow in self-pity, basically killing any chance they can of getting better before it's too late. She's angry, because she still wants to help even though she knows it's hurting her too. She's basically saying for the person to get a grip and grow up.

  Flag pacohaleyon November 22, 2012   Link

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  My Interpretation:I believe this song concerns a relationship (not necessarily a romantic one) that keeps you from doing what you want or what you know you're capable of doing.
  
  "I settle down a twisted up frown
  Disguised as a smile, well, you would have never known
  I had it all, but not what I wanted
  'Cause hope for me was a place uncharted and overgrown"
  
  This first part, in my opinion, is the girl confessing that she faked being happy during the relationship, and that she had many things but not exactly what she wanted.
  
  "You'd make your way in
  I'd resist you just like this
  You can't tell me to feel
  The truth never set me free
  So I did it myself"
  
  She's basically saying here that the other person has no right to tell her how to feel about things, or how to react to certain events. She ended the relationship because she felt trapped and controlled and now she's telling it as it is.
  
  "You can't be too careful anymore
  When all that is waiting for you
  Won't come any closer
  You've got to reach out a little more
  More, more, more, more"
  
  In the chorus, Hayley means that you have to do what's best for you, not necessarily what you're familiar with. You have to try new things and reach out more. She is freeing herself from bondage so that she can truly experience life.
  
  "Open your eyes like I open mine
  It's only the real world, life you will never know
  Shifting your way to throw off the pain
  Well, you can ignore it, but only for so long"
  
  She's calling the person naive, and stating that they will never understand the real world because they're too afraid/ignorant. She believes that the person tries to ignore the constant pain and guilt they harbor for doing wrong, but eventually they will have a breakdown and will have to learn to come to terms with whatever they did.
  
  "You look like I did
  You resist me just like this
  You can't tell me to heal
  And it hurts remembering
  How it felt to shut down"
  
  Hayley is saying that the person is at the same state as she was some time ago: lost and confused. She indicates that she has to heal on her own time and no one can tell her to feel bettter when she's not ready.
  
  In many ways, this song reminds me of my breakup with my boyfriend. We were in love, I suppose, but it was a skinny kind of love. We didn't really understand each other or agree on many things. In short, we weren't on the same level - weren't seeing eye-to-eye. He often told me I was overreacting when something upset me. By breaking up with him (which wasn't easy or pain-free, by the way), I felt like I had more freedom and more opportunities. I had to "reach out a little more," and that was good for me after being bound to him for 9 months.

  Flag veraicon44on October 10, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:The song appears to be taken differently from each person. I'm going to give my take on what the song means to me.
  
  "I settled down
  A twisted up frown
  Disguised as a smile, well
  You would have never known
  I had it all but not what i wanted
  'cause hope for me was a place uncharted
  And overgrown"
  
  I get the impression that 'she' settles down in a relationship. However, there seems to be a certain past with her that is rather distressing. She masks her inner self from the other as implied by the disguised smile and that 'you would have never known'. It sounds like this person was ordeal for her but she did not want to experience such feelings as determine by the theme created in the first phrases. Her feelings were 'uncharted', unexplored, new to her, and were never experienced or ventured towards. She has essentially dealt with her emotions by essentially detaching from them.
  
  "You make your way in
  I resist you just like this
  You can't tell me to feel
  The truth never set me free
  So i did it myself"
  
  This is the moment where we see that this person made his way into her heart but she resisted it as these feelings were 'different'. He was forcing her to embrace these feelings. It sounds like these feelings were 'true' but distressing to her. And as implied above, she deals with them by detaching herself. 'So I did it myself' implies that she ended the relationship before he got too close or had these feelings in her be awakened, in a sense.
  
  I sort of picture this song as having a sense of growth to it. It starts off with pushing someone away that was getting close and having her embark on feeling a side of her she either has never experienced or attempts to detach herself from.
  
  "You can't be too careful anymore
  When all that is waiting for you
  Won't come any closer
  You've got to reach a little more,more,more,more,more"
  
  This seems to be a moment of self realization. In order for her not to be hurt by this experience, she needs to be more careful, but the rest of the verse states that if she is too careful, she won't ever be able to experience such. You need to 'reach', or give it a go or take the first few steps, or find it in yourself in order to break out of your shell.
  
  "Open your eyes like i opened mine
  It's only the real world
  A life you will never know
  Shifting your weight to throw off the pain
  Well you can ignore it
  But only for so long"
  
  I'm a little confused on what perspective is being taken here. Is this a narration where she was previously telling a story and the reader is to learn from her mistakes or is it the other person, he, talking to her, trying to show her that she needs to open up; it's a great feeling, don't run from it. This is 'life', 'love' is present in the real world. Eventually you'll have to deal with it as you are essentially human. However, keeping the same meaning, the later verses seem to paint that this is the author talking to the person or the self-realization from an 3rd person perspective. This perspective is trying to teach her that you can't run from detaching yourself from him, and all the feelings she once felt are coming back to her know as implied by 'but only for so long'.
  
  "You look like i did
  You resist me just like this
  You can't tell me to heal
  And it hurts remembering how it felt to shut down"
  
  It sort of seems that one of them is telling the other how much it hurt to be pushed away as they got too close. It is hard to accept them back into their lives as they'll remember how much it hurt. And she still hasn't gotten over it.
  
  The rest of the song just goes over the same principle of that if you want him/her back or you want to embrace these feelings again, you are going to need to try.
  
  I like the perspective that others have given where this is about having to 'try' to get out of dire situations. 'Life is hard, but you need to try...'
  
  
  Anyways, that's my input. It is more then likely going to change...but it is an interesting perspective...that sort of links to my current position.

  Flag Rodinskion April 22, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:I get a different vibe from the song because I've compared the song to my emotional damage from previous relationships in my life to the current one I've recently been involved in.
  
  Lines 1 - 4: She's expressing how she settled for someone who doesn't meet her expectations of a perfect relationship but has faked that she was content in the relationship and by saying "you would have never known" that she was unhappy, is just reiterating that he is not in tune with how she feels.
  
  Lines 5 - 10: He's not proving his love. She feels as though there's no such thing as a perfect relationship because it's ending the same way all her other relationships have.
  
  Lines 11 - 15: She's saying that he can SAY all he wants that he loves her but he can't MAKE her feel that way without showing her. Him resisting her and not telling the truth about how he feels isn't setting her free from her insecurity so she's setting herself free from him.
  
  The chorus: She's telling him stop holding back because she's waiting for him to show her something more but he wont put in the extra effort for her. He's got to try a little harder to prove his love to her.
  
  Lines 1 - 3: She's telling him to stop living in a false sense of reality and become part of the real world, a world he will never experience if he doesn't open up.
  
  Lines 4 - 7: He can find other girls but will always end up alone if he doesn't let down his walls and he can ignore it all he wants but only for so long before it's going to catch up to him.
  
  Lines 8 - 12: She's saying that she used to be the same way he was and that he seems to be resisting her wishes. She can't heal from her past relationships just because he tells her to get over it. And because she's leaving him she's reminded of how bad it feels to be rejected once again.
  
  
  Her repeated line, "The truth never set me free"
  Is almost like she's afraid of the truth being something that wont set her free,
  so she's going to set herself free and save herself the heartache

  Flag BYJgirl95on March 16, 2012   Link

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  My Opinion:I love this song. sometimes it makes me cry. I completely relate to it especially "I had it all but not what I wanted." "You can't tell me to feel" and "You can't tell me to heal."

  Flag HalfFullon May 21, 2011   Link

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  My Interpretation:For me, it's about never giving up, and taking risks and doing whatever you can to reach your goal. Also, I think another thing it's about is how she's also in a relationship or something, and it's not working out, and she knows it, so she's pushing whoever is trying to keep it together away.
  
  "You'd make your way in
  I'd resist you just like this
  You can't tell me to feel
  The truth never set me free
  So I did it myself"
  
  Then, when it says:
  
  "You look like I did
  You resist me just like this
  You can't tell me to heal
  And it hurts remembering
  How it felt to shut down"
  
  Then the other person feels it, so something like that. It's my life story at the moment. Like, exactly.
  
  
  

  Flag EpisomeDolphinon May 14, 2011   Link

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  Song Meaning:"The truth never set me free"
  is her arguing with the bible
  In the book of the John, it says "and the truth shall set me free"
  
  
  I love Hayley and her voice is amazing. This song is awesome.
  I am not trying to insult her... I was just opening up conversation.

  Flag jalynmichelleon April 04, 2011   Link

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  Song Meaning:i know about the band's alleged beliefs, but does anyone else see this as anti-christian?
  
  seeing christianity as "shifting your weight to throw off the pain" and in response "you can ignore it, but only for so long" referring to what she sees as "the real world", which a christian "will never know". the biggest thing that jumped out at me was "the truth never set me free, so i did it myself". God never set her free, as promised, so she is taking matters into her own hands. i don't know, it seems sort of blatant to me.

  Flag professorputon November 03, 2010   Link

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    i've thought this for a while...

    Flag daisyjackon April 10, 2013  
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  General Comment:I feel like this song is about Hayley encouraging someone to go after their dreams and take a risk. Especially during the chorus. Thats all i got

  Flag Solid2k10on October 17, 2010   Link

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  Song Meaning:honestly i kind of think this song is taken from a spiritual perspective. basically how God keeps nudging at her heart and she kept resisting Him, but He kept pursuing her.
  
  "I settled down
  A twisted-up frown
  Disguised as a smile
  Well, you would've never known
  I had it all, but not what I wanted
  'Cause hope for me was a place uncharted
  And overgrown"
  
  -she has it all in life but she feels like there is someone or something missing... she feels like shes being someone that shes not. her hope is not anything that she can reach or be truely happy in, something that is "overgrown" (media or material things perhaps?)
  
  "You'd make your way in
  I'd resist you just like this
  You can't tell me to feel
  The truth never set me free
  So I did it myself"
  
  -God kept pushing at her heart to let Him in and, like so many of the rest of us in this world, we push back and resist. she tried to fix everything herself.
  
  "You can't be too careful anymore
  When all that is waiting for you
  Won't come any closer
  You've got to reach out a little more
  More, more, more, more"
  
  -you cant be too careful of the "things" you chase in life. because it only goes so far. and you have to constantly "reach" for it.
  
  "Open your eyes
  Like I open mine
  It's only the real world
  A life you will never know
  Shifting your weight to throw off the pain
  Well, you can ignore it
  But only for so long"
  
  -this is kind of her redeeming verse. "i opened my eyes to the real world" and shes found God, a life you can never comprehend or fully fathom with Him. your constantly shifting back and forth trying to relieve your pain when Hes the only One who can take it from you. and you CAN ignore it, but eventually. you break.
  
  "You look like I did
  You resist me just like this
  You can't tell me to heal
  And it hurts remembering
  How it felt to shut down"
  
  -this is the conviction/empathy verse. "you look just like i did when i was pushing Him away" and she looking back and relating how it feels to completely shut down and feel pain.
  
  "Can't be too careful anymore
  When all that is waiting for you
  Won't come any closer
  You've got to reach out a little more
  More, more, more, more"
  
  -""
  "The truth never set me free
  The truth never set me free
  The truth never set me free
  So I'll do it myself"
  
  -what we so often tend to do. fix everything ourselves. we dont need "The Truth" to set us free cuz we are comfortable in our own selfish ways.
  
  "You can't be too careful anymore
  When all that is waiting for you
  Won't come any closer
  You've got to reach out
  
  Can't be too careful anymore
  When all that is waiting for you
  You won't come any closer
  You've got to reach out more
  More, more, more, more"
  
  -""
  
  
  hope this made sense to some of you haha
  this song means so much to me cuz i can relate with everything shes saying in a spiritual manner. hopefully you can relate in that as well. =]

  Flag pandaloveschachion October 05, 2010   Link

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