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I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?
Yeah, I, I know it's hard to remember,
The people we used to be
It's even harder to picture,
That you're not here next to me
You say it's too late to make it,
But is it too late to try?
And in our time that you wasted
All of our bridges burned down
I've wasted my nights,
You turned out the lights
Now I'm paralyzed,
Still stuck in that time,
When we called it love,
But even the sun sets in paradise
I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?
If "Happy Ever Afters" did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of shit
One more fucking love song , I'll be sick
Oh, you turned your back on tomorrow
'Cause you forgot yesterday
I gave you my love to borrow,
But you just gave it away
You can't expect me to be fine,
I don't expect you to care
I know I've said it before,
But all of our bridges burned down
I've wasted my nights,
You turned out the lights
Now I'm paralyzed,
Still stuck in that time,
When we called it love,
But even the sun sets in paradise
I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?
If "Happy Ever Afters" did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of shit
One more fucking love song, I'll be sick
Now I'm at a payphone
Man, fuck that shit
I'll be out spending all this money
While you're sitting round wondering
Why it wasn't you who came up from nothing,
Made it from the bottom
Now when you see me I'm stunting,
And all of my cars start with a push of a button
Telling me the chances I blew up
Or whatever you call it,
Switch the number to my phone
So you never could call it,
Don't need my name on my show,
You can tell it I'm ballin'
Swish, what a shame could have got picked
Had a really good game but you missed your last shot
So you talk about who you see at the top
Or what you could have saw but sad to say it's over for
Phantom pulled up valet open doors
Wiz like go away, got what you was looking for
Now it's me who they want, so you can go and take
that little piece of shit with you
I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?
If "Happy Ever Afters" did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of shit
One more fucking love song, I'll be sick
Now I'm at a payphone
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?
Yeah, I, I know it's hard to remember,
The people we used to be
It's even harder to picture,
That you're not here next to me
You say it's too late to make it,
But is it too late to try?
And in our time that you wasted
All of our bridges burned down
I've wasted my nights,
You turned out the lights
Now I'm paralyzed,
Still stuck in that time,
When we called it love,
But even the sun sets in paradise
I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?
If "Happy Ever Afters" did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of shit
One more fucking love song , I'll be sick
Oh, you turned your back on tomorrow
'Cause you forgot yesterday
I gave you my love to borrow,
But you just gave it away
You can't expect me to be fine,
I don't expect you to care
I know I've said it before,
But all of our bridges burned down
I've wasted my nights,
You turned out the lights
Now I'm paralyzed,
Still stuck in that time,
When we called it love,
But even the sun sets in paradise
I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?
If "Happy Ever Afters" did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of shit
One more fucking love song, I'll be sick
Now I'm at a payphone
Man, fuck that shit
I'll be out spending all this money
While you're sitting round wondering
Why it wasn't you who came up from nothing,
Made it from the bottom
Now when you see me I'm stunting,
And all of my cars start with a push of a button
Telling me the chances I blew up
Or whatever you call it,
Switch the number to my phone
So you never could call it,
Don't need my name on my show,
You can tell it I'm ballin'
Swish, what a shame could have got picked
Had a really good game but you missed your last shot
So you talk about who you see at the top
Or what you could have saw but sad to say it's over for
Phantom pulled up valet open doors
Wiz like go away, got what you was looking for
Now it's me who they want, so you can go and take
that little piece of shit with you
I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?
If "Happy Ever Afters" did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of shit
One more fucking love song, I'll be sick
Now I'm at a payphone
Lyrics submitted by thrwmyhrtawy.
Track duration: 03:51
"Payphone" as written by Ammar Malik, Johan Karl Schuster, Benjamin Levin, Adam Noah Levine, Cameron Jibril Thomaz, Daniel Omelio
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Okay so you know like the story of superman or fairytales or spiderman? well its supposed to be like that. parts of different moveis for ephisizing on "farytale" its not real what hes trying to say. it was fake love. "I'm at a payphone trying to call home" refers to trying to rediscover himself. if you notice no one usues payphones anymore they use cell phones but in this instant he uses a payphone because hes "starting all over" "trying to call home" Woudln't he just call her? hes speaking to an operater. the operater is gonna direct his call. he is trying to call home. "all of my change I spent on you" implies that he was so focused on her, and not his own self, that he doesn't know how to be himself anymore without his ex by his side. hence why hes at payphone and hes in teh middle of nowhere. hes lost at the end on a payphone. now if you notice he ( during 2:28) runs off with a car he stole with her. Why would he run off with out her? as he does that hes singing
"I've wasted my nights,
You turned out the lights
Now I'm paralyzed,
Still stuck in that time,
When we called it love,
But even the sun sets in paradise"
now what is he saying? hes saying it was all a waste im leaving but "even the sund sets in paradise" that means theres and end to everything- esp this relationship.
Then it proceedss to be a police chase. Meaning (idk how to say it better but ) shes saying "OH HELL NO GET YO ASS BACK HERE WERE STILL IN A RELATIONSHIP" and he clearly doesnt want to be in it.
Then its wiz's part
Wiz is there not only because he has his part but to point out to "her" that Im doing 100 times better with out you. and repeats it a couple of times then says how i bet she wishs to be with him so on. and hes there just cos.
then Adam swerves so that both poilce cars crash meaning he got out of the relationship. as he drives away the "if happy ever after still exist" starts playing as an indication this "farytale is over bitch"
and then Adam looks sexy as FUCK and ends the video
The song features rapper Wiz Khalifa, whose verse is more direct than Levine's despondent lyrics. "Had a really good game but you missed your last shot," he raps. "So you talk about who you see at the top, or what you could've saw. But sad to say it's over for it, phantom roll out valet open doors." "On our last record, we had a feature with Lady Antebellum, and on this one we did one with Wiz," said Levine to Rolling Stone. "There aren't many bands that can do that!"
The song's title comes from Levine's line at the start of the song, which also serves as the hook: "I'm at a payphone trying to call home all of my change I spent on you." We're not sure where he found a payphone and why he didn't call on his cell.
The 493,000 units logged by this song in its debut week broke the record for most digital download sales by a group over a 7 day period. The total was almost 30,000 more than the Black Eyed Peas, who set the previous best in 2009 with "Boom Boom Pow." Flo Rida holds the ultimate record with "Right Round's" 636,000 in February 2009.
Maroon 5 had intended to pursue a "no guests" policy for Overexposed but the opportunity to involve Khalifa was too good to pass up. Levine told MTV News he was glad the band bent the rules to get the Pittsburgh rapper. "He's already so huge, but he hasn't really done many big pop records, actually, so just the idea that he'd be interested in doing it was enough to get him involved. It was too good to pass up," he said. "He's a wonderful guy, he's so creative and so quick... watching him in the studio, he was just so in it, within 30 minutes he had this incredible verse and he'd already knocked it out."
The song's music promo sees Levine escape from a bank hostage scenario only to be pursued by the police across the Californian desert. "The video is this crazy thing; it's about a bank robber, it was actually an idea that I had, and Sam Bayer, who's a brilliant director is doing it," the singer told MTV News. "I work at a bank and I wear these glasses that are really a bit creepy and maybe make me look like a child molester. It's a real go-for-it, swing-for-the-fences video, I get brave and I steal a gun from one of the guys and try to be a bad-ass, which is weird, because I'm not a badass."
Levine did most of the stunts in the video himself and he told E! Online all the clothes worn were from Men's Warehouse. "I didn't want any of it to seem stylized," he said. "I wanted it to feel as much like it was really happening as possible."
In the United Kingdom, a sound-a-like cover by a collective named Precision Tunes debuted at #9 on the Singles Chart, a week before Maroon 5's version was released.
Maroon 5 gained their first UK chart-topper with this song, having had a couple of near-misses. The group spent two weeks at the #2 spot with 2007's "Makes Me Wonder" and four years they were stuck in the runner-up spot for seven weeks without ever reaching #1 with "Moves Like Jagger."
Asked by UK newspaper The Guardian why so many people relate to the song, given that they barely use payphones anymore, Levine replied: "I think in the age of the cellphone the payphone has transitioned from this thing we used to use on a very regular basis to this thing that is only associated with being used by someone under duress or in an emergency. If you're using a payphone that illustrates the point that you're struggling somehow or you've lost your cell. You're stranded. It indicates something much more than it used to mean, and that's kinda cool."
Regarding the line "Fairy Tales are full of s--t," Levine explained to The Guardian: "I'm talking about fairy tales in general. The disillusionment one experiences through being let down by love. I think a lot of people would argue that some people are lucky enough to live the fairy tale. But then there are times when they wake up and think: 'his is all crap.' That happens to me sometimes."
Benny Blanco told the story of the song to Artist Direct: "I was down in Virginia," he explained, "and two of my writers Ammar Malik and Daniel Omelio "RoboPop" were kicking it down there as well. They were working on ideas. They started this thing on an organ and sent it over to me. The first thing I heard was, 'I'm at a payphone.' I was like, 'Holy f--k, that's ridiculous. We've got to elaborate on that.' We tweaked it a little bit. I sent it to my friend Shellback. I was on a train to Boston, and he shot an idea right back. We tweaked it more. When we write songs, the lyrics will be nonsense with the melody at the beginning. We sat on it for a month or so, and it all came together."
Blanco told Artist Direct about Wiz Khalifa's contribution: "I love it when there's a weird collaboration that doesn't make sense on paper," he commented. "I said, 'Wiz you've got to jump on this track.' Five minutes before he showed up, I realized I didn't have a beat for the bridge. So I made the beat really quickly. I want to catch you off guard. When you're listening to it, you have no idea he's going to come in."
In peaking at #2 on the Hot 100, this became the highest-charting hit with the word "phone" in its title. The previous best had been Soulja Boy Tell 'Em's 2009 hit "Kiss Me Thru The Phone," and Lady Gaga's 2010 single "Telephone," which both reached #3.
The song tied the record for spending the most weeks in the top three of the Hot 100 without reaching #1. It spent 15 weeks bouncing between #2 and #3 on the chart equalling the top three runs of LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live," Shania Twain's "You're Still The One" and Timbaland's "Apologize," which all peaked at #2.
"Yeah, I, I know it's hard to remember,
The people we used to be
It's even harder to picture,
That you're not here next to me"
I feel like in the first line of the song he's trying to express the feeling of not being able to remember who he was before their relationship, and just how much you can change from the influence of one person close to you. Obviously he's still trying to adjust to being single again and the fact that he doesn't have that one person to confide in anymore.
"You say it's too late to make it,
But is it too late to try?
And in our time that you wasted
All of our bridges burned down"
He wants to try to fix the relationship but the girl obviously doesn't. I get the feeling throughout the song that the guy (maybe the girl too) had to give up a lot at one point for the relationship. An idea i could relate to and comes to mind first is that friends (especially mutual ones) could be lost due to a number of reasons. I feel like he is trying to say that you wasted in all of the time we spent building this, and you let it came crashing down and now i'm devastated and have nothing left. Maybe he even was so engrossed in this relationship that he sort of "ignored" other friends and aspects of his life.
"I've wasted my nights,
You turned out the lights
Now I'm paralyzed,
Still stuck in that time,
When we called it love,
But even the sun sets in paradise"
The first part of this section reinforces in my mind what i said above.
I think the next few lines are great. This makes me think of the fact that after a breakup, everything in life can remind you of things about the other person and you cant take your mind off them. And the next line says that nothing good can last forever or maybe even as extreme as nothing good will last very long at all.
"I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?"
Again this line, to me, reinforces what i said above. He's maybe trying to get back to how things were before the relationship, but it just doesn't seem to be working because he "spent all his change" (or "burned bridges" as he previously said) in the past.
(in other songs i've heard the reference leaving home meaning leaving behind what you have to start a relationship so that gave me this insight)
Another powerful thing after a relationship is remembering things you had done or had said you were going to do with the other person.
"If "Happy Ever Afters" did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of shit
One more fucking love song, I'll be sick"
This line is very cynical and makes me realize just how many people after time, end up not being happy with the person they loved for so long. The "fairy tales" also make me think of shows and movies which depict the perfect love story and (almost) always have a happy ending. At the beginning of a relationship most people probably believe they could obtain this but by the end they realize that it is not that easy.
"Oh, you turned your back on tomorrow
'Cause you forgot yesterday
I gave you my love to borrow,
But you just gave it away"
This line could be interpreted two ways; either as a metaphor for the past and future (this would be likely if the couple fell apart rather slowly), or literally (if the couple had a traumatic event that broke them apart). the previous line "its too late to try" leads me to believe that they both still like each other but something else (like a bad event) broke them apart. The next line "i gave you my love to borrow...away" makes me think that it happened slowly over time because she "borrowed" it and then later decided she want it (this i could relate to).
"You can't expect me to be fine,
I don't expect you to care
I know I've said it before,
But all of our bridges burned down"
When the person you care about most doesn't give a fuck how you feel, it can be extremely painful and this line captures it well.
The next lines just a recap of whats been said before.
But ill add the fact that the awkwardness after breakups can foster the feeling that the them getting back together is impossible. And by the other person who broke up being awkward and even bitter, it can seem to "burn the bridges" of any hope.
"Now baby, don't hang up
so i can tell you what you need to know.
Baby i'm begging you just please don't go
so i can tell you what you need to no-oo"
This alternate bridge just captures the disparity of wanting to tell the girl how he feels and have them actually listen. But as previously said in the song she doesn't care. I feel that it totally stays true to the perspective of the song rather than having the rap add ideas like "Screw that person, it was their loss to give that person up." Some people feel like that but i know i definitely didn't.
i know theyre getting robbed but what does it have to do with the song?
To add to their interpretations, I believe the reason Levine chose a payphone rather than a cellphone or even any kind of phone, home phone, is because he is describing how lost he is now that he is apart from his ex-girlfriend.
After their break-up, he lost all his routine familiarties, and is now stranded in a big city, or better yet, deserted. He doesn't feel he belongs anywhere else but with her, she is "home". Therefore, he uses a payphone.