Katy Perry – The One That Got Away

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Summer after high school, when we first met
We make-out in your Mustang to Radiohead
And on my eighteenth birthday, we got matching tattoos

Used to steal your parents liquor and climb to the roof
Talk about our future like we had a clue
Never planned that one day I'd be losing you

[Chorus]
In another life, I would be your girl
We keep all our promises, be us against the world
In another life, I would make you stay
So I don't have to say you were the one that got away
The one that got away

I was June and you were my Johnny Cash
Never one without the other, we made a pact
Sometimes when I miss you, I put those records on, whoa

Someone said you had your tattoo removed
Saw you downtown, singing the blues
It's time to face the music, I'm no longer your muse

[Chorus]

The one, the one, the one
The one that got away

All this money can't buy me a time machine, no
Can't replace you with a million rings, no
I should'a told you what you meant to me, whoa
Cause now I pay the price

[Chorus]

The one (the one)
The one (the one)
The one (the one)

In another life, I would make you stay
So I don't have to say you were the one that got away
The one that got away

Send "The One That Got Away" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by Agostina

Track duration: 03:47

"The One That Got Away" as written by Katy Perry, Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


The One That Got Away song meanings
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31 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:I'm just wondering, in the video, how come he dies? Like she wasn't with anyone who died, was she?
    Flag KatyPerryon May 01, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think it's about Katy messing up stuff with her boyfriend, and him moving on pleasantly and her feeling like a train wreck. She misses everything they did, him playing songs for her, etc. He experiences something terrible, however, like death, and she regrets everything. Katy believes that it was a grapevine~ if she never treated him so badly, he would be alive and they'd be okay.
    Flag xNerdWordxon December 29, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:Katy Perry's songs tend to be autobiographical. This song reminds of Perry's Thinking of You. I get a feeling both songs are about the same guy. He may have been her first love. She still loves him. She's now a wealthy woman but is saying that even with all her wealth she feels that there is nothing she can do to get him back.
    Flagged jca0on August 15, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:This brings back to me when i was a just staring out as a senior in high school. I was 17 and he was 22. He was the one that left me one a personal reason but it wasnt at all a bad ending. Just i look back and i was so young and dumb from where im at today. But this song has a bitter and happy part to it for me. It says alot to me still. But hey its life.
    Flagged Lodi340on June 27, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:The video made me cry like a baby. :(
    Flag emuInAmuumuuon May 30, 2012   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    Memory:i used to hate this song but now i love it becuz i relate to it at this time in my life...its funny too becuz we actually were going to get matching tattoos when i turn 18... i listen to this even though i almost cry every time... the part that kills me is in another life i would be ur girl wed keep all our promises be us against the world... i know how that is... in another life seriously!!!! i have so many memories and its so hard to let go of ur first love...
    Flag nyangeldreamon May 28, 2012   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:So the only thing I can tell about this guy from the song is that he drove a Mustang, stole his parents' liquor and listened to Radiohead. I can't be the only one bothered by how shallow and empty that seems.
    Flag DF Ashon March 22, 2012   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • +1
    General Comment:This is from what I've heard a sequel to Teenage Dream and in my opinion i think it is about Katty and her ex husband Russell because in the begging both of them were lovebirds and both thought they where soulmates until they filed a divorce and think of it, this was made after the divorce while teenage dream was made at the beginning of their marriage.
    Flag AlexisRutteron February 18, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think it's a story about an old woman who as a young woman was in love with a guy, but they broke up, then he died tragically and she blames herself. In her old life, she's married to some rich guy, still thinks about the guy she loved first and wonders what they could have had.
    Flag LilacTheNubianon February 07, 2012   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    Memory:I am supposedly the got away guy and finally she called me up one last time that we are done. Ever since I tried many times to patch up, and she never answers. But I am sure she misses me too. I know seeing her facebook display pics, all taken by me when we were deeply in love and we talked about those alot (we are no more friends on FB either).

    This song when plays, i remember her listening and missing me. I felt good a little bit reading reviews of people who had same breakup experiences, this is what life is I believe.
    Flagged gotAwayGuyon February 04, 2012   Link

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