I threw a wish in the well
Don't ask me I'll never tell
I looked at you as it fell
And now you're in my way
I'd trade my soul for a wish
Pennies and dimes for a kiss
I wasn't looking for this
But now you're in my way

Your stare was holding
Ripped jeans, skin was showin'
Hot night, wind was blowin'
Where you think you're going baby?

Hey, I just met you and this is crazy
But here's my number, so call me maybe
It's hard to look right at you baby
But here's my number, so call me maybe
Hey I just met you and this is crazy
But here's my number, so call me maybe
And all the other boys try to chase me
But here's my number, so call me maybe

You took your time with the call
I took no time with the fall
You gave me nothing at all
But still you're in my way
I beg and borrow and steal
At first sight and it's real
I didn't know I would feel it
But it's in my way

Your stare was holding
Ripped jeans, skin was showin'
Hot night, wind was blowin'
Where you think you're going baby?

Hey, I just met you and this is crazy
But here's my number, so call me maybe
It's hard to look right at you baby
But here's my number, so call me maybe
Hey I just met you and this is crazy
But here's my number, so call me maybe
And all the other boys try to chase me
But here's my number, so call me maybe

Before you came into my life
I missed you so bad
I missed you so bad
I missed you so so bad
Before you came into my life
I missed you so bad
And you should know that
I missed you so so bad

It's hard to look right at you baby
But here's my number, so call me maybe

Hey, I just met you and this is crazy
But here's my number, so call me maybe
And all the other boys try to chase me
But here's my number, so call me maybe

Before you came into my life
I missed you so bad
I missed you so bad
I missed you so so bad
Before you came into my life
I missed you so bad
And you should know that
So call me maybe



Lyrics submitted by Breakingbenjaminfan, edited by Mellow_Harsher

Track duration: 03:13

"Call Me Maybe" as written by Carly Rae Jepsen, Joshua Keeler Ramsay, Tavish Joseph Crowe

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Call Me, Maybe song meanings
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21 Comments

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  • 0
    My Interpretation:I'm surprised that no one has figured this one out yet! It took me a while, but close study of the lyrics of this song has made it very clear to me what the hidden meaning of this song is. I think it really helps to see the music video, as well, since at the the end you find out that the guy she's going after is gay.

    While at first it seems like a stupid song about giving your number to a stranger hoping everything will turn out okay. But there's one part of the song that doesn't quite fit that interpretation:

    "Before you came into my life
    I missed you so bad."

    Huh? How can you miss someone before you've met them? This used to irritate me a lot, with my logical mind. But after I thought about it some more, I realized what she's really saying: she's a time traveler!

    It fits perfectly. See, she had a relationship with this guy, but then she found a time machine, and traveled back in time. The machine must've been one that simply rewinds time (either that or she killed her past self, though nothing in the song would suggest this). Time, in this story, works by revision, and somehow she did something in the past that changed the way things were supposed to happen. Now, she's finally arrived at the time she's supposed to fall in love with him, but something's not right. She's very nervous, because she doesn't want to miss her chance for the relationship to happen, but it has to happen in a completely different way now, since she changed the circumstances.

    "I threw a wish in the well
    Don't ask me I'll never tell
    I looked at you as it fell
    And now you're in my way"

    Here, she's wishing for everything to work out, but she obviously can't tell him she's a time traveler, or he'll think she's crazy! He's "in her way" either because she has some other pressing time travel-related mission to complete, or because his aloofness is making it hard for her to get with him.

    "I'd trade my soul for a wish
    Pennies and dimes for a kiss
    I wasn't looking for this
    But now you're in my way."

    This stanza reinforces the idea that she had another mission to accomplish when she suddenly ran into him, and the "in my way" could mean that she really needs to accomplish this mission, but at the same time she doesn't want to miss her chance at starting the relationship. Things aren't happening the way she remembers them.

    "Your stare was holding
    Ripped jeans, skin was showin'
    Hot night, wind was blowin'
    Where you think you're going baby?"

    Here she is overtaken by her love for him, and decides to go for it.


    "It's hard to look right at you baby
    But here's my number, so call me maybe
    Hey I just met you and this is crazy
    But here's my number, so call me maybe
    And all the other boys try to chase me
    But here's my number, so call me maybe."

    Here her desperation hits its peak, and she tries to push him into the relationship as quickly as she can. She acknowledges that this approach is unorthodox, and might even creep him out, but she doesn't know what else to do, given the circumstances.

    "You took your time with the call
    I took no time with the fall
    You gave me nothing at all
    But still you're in my way
    I beg and borrow and steal
    At first sight and it's real
    I didn't know I would feel it
    But it's in my way."

    He isn't as enthusiastic about it as she'd hoped, and she's scared that she failed. He isn't calling, and she is "falling" into depression over the fact that she probably lost him for good. She had no idea this would happen, and it's "in my way," distracting her from her mission.

    And then, of course:

    "Before you came into my life
    I missed you so bad
    And you should know that
    I missed you so so bad."

    She slips up her, blowing her cover. Before he came into her life, in this new timeline, she missed him. She really wants him to know that, but of course that wouldn't make sense to him.

    Finally, the end of the music video shows that he's gay. But she was in a relationship with him last time! Three possibilities here: one, she went back in time and changed something such that, in this new timeline, he's gay; two, he was already gay before, but now that they're not together, he is more willing to freely express himself; or three, he's actually bisexual.

    So, recap: She goes back in time, changes something, breaks the time machine, and lives her life up until they are supposed to get together. She has some sort of mission to take care of, but at the same time she finds the love of her life again and desperately tries to hook up with him, even though doing so will take time away from her mission. But she fails, and he hooks up with the guitarist in her band instead.

    This song is more than a silly pop song. It's a time travel drama, cryptic in its delivery because the narrator must be cryptic in order to keep her once lover from thinking she's delusional. It's a very touching story, and the ending, while at first glance comical, appears poignant in the light of this new interpretation.
    Flag Sekalon May 21, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is not about love at first sight. She doesn't love him when she first see's him - she wants him gone, he's in her way.

    This song is about not knowing what one really wants. It starts with making a wish. Having a dream or desire that one wants. We never hear what it is, is it to go to medical school and become a doctor or just for a new pair of shoes? What doesn't matter, what matters is that a male is viewed as being in her way and preventing her from obtaining her wish. The boy is essentially all men, he represents the cultural glass ceiling which oppresses and holds women down.

    She tells the boy he's in her way and he gets out of her way, she is free to move toward whatever it is she wants. She doesn't move on she now wants the boy instead persuading her goal she is more interested in where the boy is going. Once given the opportunity to pursue her dream it was no longer important, when given the choice between a successful independent female or a dependent housewife she chose the later, she goes after the boy.

    The real meaning of the song is that no matter how crazy it seems women prefer their traditional roles to the more modern feminist narrative.
    Flag RichardPooon May 19, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It's hard to look right at you baby
    Cos you're a ghost, you're Patrick Swayze
    Flag Yellowvanblakeon May 02, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The prelude to the movie "When A Stranger Calls"
    Flag FishKIsseron May 01, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i think the only thing i like about this song is all the parodys
    Flag happyloveon January 22, 2013   Link
  • +3
    General Comment:i really think carly is trying to connect to her audience by using the boy as a synechdoche to all the problems in the world, and asking him to call her will satisfy her puny life on earth
    Flagged rockreviewon December 03, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:cool,a great voice and the music and everything is stunning but iam disagree with the quick falling in love, may be she knew him before but if she saw him for the first time it would be a weakness point about how much emotions and felings toward him..generally i like the song too much
    Flag tromanon November 11, 2012   Link
  • -4
    General Comment:i masturbate to the guy on chatroulette dancing to this song
    Flagged BockClockon August 16, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think her wish is that he porks her.

    just a guess.
    Flag chodmcvon July 30, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:This song is stupid and meaningless. And on top if that its annoying.
    Flagged aleri0non July 22, 2012   Link

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