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You only know what I want you to
I know everything you don't want me to
Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
You think your dreams are the same as mine
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
I always will
I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back
The less I give the more I get back
Oh your hands can heal, your hands can bruise
I don't have a choice but I'd still choose you
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
I always will
I always will
I always will
I always will
I always will
I know everything you don't want me to
Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
You think your dreams are the same as mine
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
I always will
I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back
The less I give the more I get back
Oh your hands can heal, your hands can bruise
I don't have a choice but I'd still choose you
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
I always will
I always will
I always will
I always will
I always will
Lyrics submitted by yourebeatingmyheart
Track duration: 03:39
"Poison & Wine" as written by John White, Joy Williams, Chris Lindsey
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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You only know what I want you to
I know everything you don't want me to
- He is saying she doesn't know his feelings and the complicated-ness
- She is saying yes she knows everything, it's just all unsaid.
Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
You think your dreams are the same as mine
- Being with her is wrong but also right at the same time
- They both have things in common
I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back
The less I give the more I get back
- The girl wishes that he would be with her, and not let her go. Or when she pulls away she wishes he would tell her he needs her
- The guy is saying when he pulls away he receives more in return
Oh your hands can heal, your hands can bruise
I don't have a choice but I'd still choose you
- Touching and being together is like a medicine, they need it but it's also wrong and they shouldn't
- He is in a situation where he can't be with her, and even though he doesn't have to choice to be with her, he would always choose her.
Oh I don't love you but I always will
- They love eachother but are not willing to talk about it, they deny their feelings for eachother. Even though they can't love eachother, they always will.
I see this about a relationship between a guy and a girl (best friends perhaps) that can't be together for whatever reason, maybe he or she is with someone else. But they have fallen in love, and it hurts because they can't be together nor admit their feelings. All their feelings are unsaid but they both feel it.
This may be biased though, but this is what I feel when I listen to this song.
"that can't be together for whatever reason, maybe he or she is with someone else."....Oh, they can't. That's what you got out of it.
Maybe? Really. Cool. Ya think they were together last night. I suppose when someone has the same well-worn routine perfected over the years, it's difficult to leave it. Risk takes balls.
Thanks for your interpretation. I don't think you're biased. Dramatic, perhaps, but not biased. This is enough for one day. Now it's time to live with people in the present, not on-line. I tend to be an in-your-face type of person; I like risk and reward.
But I also have another interpretation, I imagine a impossible love, just like clary and jace of the mortal instruments, they thought they were brother and sister, when they say i don't love you, it's like ~I can't love you, but I always will~ you know? Or when they say ~I don't have a choice but I'd still choose you~
It's a lot of BS between the two, meaning trying and walking away and chickening out and never being able to really acknowledge the feelings.
But when you boil it down, there is this ridiculous love that is undeniable. And that's the truth. Even with all the BS.
davidabramsbooks.blogspot.com/2011/04/…
However this is how I feel about this song. Love it Love it Love it. Even though it breaks my heart.
In the video, Williams and White enter a house after attending what could be a wedding or a funeral (another subtle nod to the song's theme of divisiveness--it implies the idea of coming together and the need for departure). Or, even more likely, perhaps they've just returned from their attorney's office. They don't look at each other and you sense we're witness to the silent aftermath of an argument, one that's been building for a long time. As they each start singing their lines, they go to separate rooms, their faces pinched with sadness.
Your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
You think your dreams are the same as mine
Oh I don't love you but I always will
....
Oh your hands can heal, your hands can bruise
I don't have a choice but I still choose you
Oh I don't love you but I always will
What starts as a somber meditation on the brutally honest things you can't tell your lover rises to a mutual cry of pain. Each partner in this relationship is building their own brick wall, but it's a melancholy task. Then, in a brilliant moment of editing around 2:45, they are together in the same frame, nose to nose and still singing "I don't love you but I always will." If you're anything like me*, you'll be coughing down that lump in your throat at this point. This, then, this was the moment my admiration for The Civil Wars turned to love. The dichotomy of emotion in the climax of the song nearly shattered my computer monitor in half.
In an ideal world, we find our soulmate, fall madly in love with them, and stay madly in love with them for the rest of our life. But the world isn't always ideal, and sometimes, no matter how hard we try or how much we don't want it to happen, we grow apart, and we fall out of love. And I think that's what this song is about - two people who have slowly drifted apart in their relationship, who have gradually and painfully fallen out of love, and who are now at that crossroads where they're choosing to confront it, with brutal, beautiful honesty. It's no one's fault that this has happened - note, this isn't an accusatory or otherwise mean-spirited song - it just happened, and it does happen, no matter how hard people may sometimes try to fend it off. To me, this is a breakup song, yes, but in a world of catchy pop songs about breaking up, and being jaded, and name-calling, and seeking revenge, this is a breakup song for adults. It's a song for, and about, people who understand the human condition, who aren't afraid to address what's really happening to their relationship, and who aren't afraid to confront it head-on, for better or for worse.
"I don't love you, but I always will" is the gut-shot of this song, the repeated line that pounds us into a state of breathlessness and stays with us long after the song has ended, long after it has broken our heart. It's a line that, to me, speaks to the marked difference that exists between loving someone and being "in" love with someone. Despite the fact that the individuals here have fallen out of love and likely won't survive as a couple, they're grateful for one another - for the experiences they've had together; for everything they've given one another over years; and for the memories they'll always share, no matter where their separate roads may lead them in life from this point - and this is why, even though they may no longer be "in" love, they both know that they'll always have a piece of the other's heart.
"Poison & Wine is a musical snapshot about the dichotomy of love - that while it can be the thing that destroys you, it can also be the very same thing that beckons and builds you. JP and I are both married have been for several years now - and we got to talking one day about what a tug and pull our individual relationships can be. The longer you know someone - and the longer you allow someone to know you - the more the light and shadows inside each person become more vivid. This song was our attempt at being as brutally honest about the dangerous and beautiful process of knowing and being known. (-Joy Williams, The Civil Wars)"
With that said, it's clear that we're on opposite ends of the spectrum, regarding the notion of love. I believe we can choose how we REACT to love. In other words, we can choose to enter into a relationship with someone; we can choose to be faithful to them; we can choose to stay together, choose break up, or choose to try and make it work when our relationships hit a snag. But when it comes to the existence of love, I don't believe we get to choose whether or not it it's there.
If it were true that "we have the choice to love or not love someone," then there would never be a heartbroken person in the world. Having loved someone who didn't love me back - a situation we've probably all been in at some point in our lives - I can say, with certainty, that I wish it had been as simple as choosing to stop loving them, knowing it was totally one-sided. Unfortunately (at least in my experience) it's not something we can control that easily - we cry over it, we lose sleep over it, we make ourselves emotionally sick over it, and sometimes even worse. I just struggle with the idea that someone would choose to endure this and would choose to continue loving someone who doesn't love them back; but again, that's probably because I'm of the opinion that love isn't driven by choice but rather by something far beyond our control.
"Poison & Wine is a musical snapshot about the dichotomy of love - that while it can be the thing that destroys you, it can also be the very same thing that beckons and builds you. JP and I are both married have been for several years now - and we got to talking one day about what a tug and pull our individual relationships can be. The longer you know someone - and the longer you allow someone to know you - the more the light and shadows inside each person become more vivid. This song was our attempt at being as brutally honest about the dangerous and beautiful process of knowing and being known. (-Joy Williams, The Civil Wars)"
(a little long, but bear with me)
1. "You only know what I want you to
2. I know everything you don't want me to"
1. He's saying that she only knows what he tells her and/or from what she sees.
2. When in reality, she isn't that naive and she finds out everything she doesn't want to know that hurts her; and everything he thinks he's hiding.
3. "Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
4. You think your dreams are the same as mine"
3. Their lips are poison but at the same time it nourishes both of them. It's like having an addiction to something that is harmful to your health: it's bad for you, but you just can't stop.
4. As for the dreams being the same, she is saying that he thinks she doesn't have her own dreams. He thinks she is lost in him because she loves him so much that he IS her dream come true. But really, she has dreams of her own but sacrifices those for him because when you love someone you'd give up the world to be with them. She's not as weak as he thinks she is.
5. "I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back
6. The less I give the more I get back"
5. She wishes that when she acts like she doesn't care or that she's going to end the relationship and leave that he would chase after her. She wants him to prove that she's not holding on to nothing and that he will fight for her and their love.
6. He knows she is doing this and he doesn't react to it because he thinks she will always be there for him. He knows that she will always hold on to their love no matter what happens. The less he gives her and pulls away, the harder she fights to keep it together. Which in the end means he is always the one being pleased and always getting what he wants because of it. She wants to make him happy so he'll stay.
7. "Oh your hands can heal, your hands can bruise
8. I don't have a choice but I'd still choose you"
7. She's saying that when he hurts her he always comes back and fixes it; He heals the emotional wounds he caused. But just as much as he can heal her and save her from the pain, he also is the one that causes it. Therefore, he heals and bruises.
8. You cannot control your heart and who it decides to love. He's saying that even if he had the choice to pick anyone in the world to love, he would still choose her regardless of everything they go through.
9. "Oh, I don't love you, but I always will"
9. I saved this for last because I believe this lyric is the full meaning of the song. As much as they do not want to love each other, they can't help but do the complete opposite. They are forever ambivalent in their love with one another. They are unable to live without one another, but staying together is too painful; As much as they hate each other, they love each other that much more. It's an addicting type of love that they are unable to control. He manipulates her because he can and she deals with it because as hard as it is to be with him, it'd be even harder to be without.
"Unless it's mad, passionate, extraordinary love, it's a waste of your time. There are too many mediocre things in life. Love shouldn't be one of them."
- Unknown