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The piano is not firewood yet
They try to remember but still they forget
That the heart beats in threes
Just like a waltz
And nothing can stop you from dancing
Rise from your cold hospital bed
I'll tell you, you're not dying
Everyone knows you're going to live
So you might as well start trying
The piano is not firewood yet
But the cold does get cold
So it soon might be that
I'll take it apart, call up my friends
And we'll warm up our hands by the fire
Don't look so shocked
Don't judge so harsh
You don't know
You are only spying
Everyone knows it's going to hurt
But at least we'll get hurt trying
The piano is not firewood yet
But a heart can't be helped
And it gathers regret
Someday you'll wake up and feel a great pain
And you'll miss every toy you ever owned
You'll want to go back
You'll wish you were small
Nothing can solve your crying
You'll take the clock off of your wall
And you'll wish that it was lying
Love what you have and you'll have more love
You're not dying
Everyone knows you're going to love
Though there's still no cure for crying
They try to remember but still they forget
That the heart beats in threes
Just like a waltz
And nothing can stop you from dancing
Rise from your cold hospital bed
I'll tell you, you're not dying
Everyone knows you're going to live
So you might as well start trying
The piano is not firewood yet
But the cold does get cold
So it soon might be that
I'll take it apart, call up my friends
And we'll warm up our hands by the fire
Don't look so shocked
Don't judge so harsh
You don't know
You are only spying
Everyone knows it's going to hurt
But at least we'll get hurt trying
The piano is not firewood yet
But a heart can't be helped
And it gathers regret
Someday you'll wake up and feel a great pain
And you'll miss every toy you ever owned
You'll want to go back
You'll wish you were small
Nothing can solve your crying
You'll take the clock off of your wall
And you'll wish that it was lying
Love what you have and you'll have more love
You're not dying
Everyone knows you're going to love
Though there's still no cure for crying
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It reminds me of watching someone you love slowly die. Everyone knows it's going to hurt, but you try so desperately to make the best of the last months you have together. Regrets crowd your mind, and the clock becomes an enemy, since the doctor's told you that there's only 6 months left in the best circumstances. Eventually they will be gone, and you'll call friends to warm you as you look at what remains of the person you used to love.
"Love what you have and you'll have more love
You're not dying
Everyone knows you're going to love
Though there's still no cure for crying"
I do not believe that it is about suicide - it seems more to me a slow and anticipated death, such as cancer.
"The Piano is not firewood yet"
as in the music and beauty of life is not all lost.
And because the heart beats in threes like a waltz, you must keep dancing and loving life no matter the pain.
"Everyone knows you're going to live" is simply saying that everyone has been through tough times and they know that you'll come through okay.
In the third stanza it tells how when the piano does become firewood (the beauty and hope in life is gone) she's going to take it apart herself, and call friends over to warm their hands. She says this because even in the death of happiness and beauty, one should still find a way to have positivity and have friends there to help you.
"don't look so shocked
Don't judge so harsh
you don't know
you are only spying" is saying that people who are under the pain and feel as though the happiness in there lives are gone away are so shocked that one can sit there with their friends and "warm their hands" on their own burning pianos, but they're too ignorant to try because they are simply watching.
"at least we'll get hurt trying" is saying that it is going to hurt no matter what, but they would rather it hurt while trying to make the best out of it.
She then talks about how a heart cannot be helped and you'll wake up one day and miss all of your toys, because things were simpler and there were fewer worries of the piano becoming firewood. And the same thing with the next stanza
The last stanza is simply saying that if you love everything you have rather than hate all that has been done to you, you'll live happier...... but there are still going to be times when you simply cry.....
It starts by talking about good times and remembering those (waltzing and dancing). It moves to talking about when things go wrong, and how you have to find the will within yourself to try and live.
Next, it talks about things becoming bad and having to use the piano as firewood. The piano is a beautiful metaphor for the author's desperation. For me (and I imagine like many musicians, Regina included), the act of breaking apart a piano and burning it is horrific. I think she's trying to say that things in life have not gotten bad enough that you have to cut your losses and part with the things you love (or you doesn't have to use the piano as firewood), but soon it might come to that. And if it does, you will have your friends alongside you.
She continues, by telling people to stop judging, because they don't fully understand what someone is going through. Then she explains that in life we get hurt and upset, but it's better to get hurt in any situation because you are trying to do good (for yourself or others, such as in love), rather than not trying or being apathetic.
She continues to warn us that if we hold on to our past mistakes and regrets that life will pass us by. We won't realize it until it's too late, and by that point there's nothing to do but cry.
The last verse I feel is the most powerful. She's saying that if we take the time to appreciate what we have and to love, we will live a more fulfilling life. She concludes with the notion that we put ourselves through the pain of relationships and love, because it's better to have experienced it than not. We do it even though we know it can hurt and we will cry, but that is true living: having passion and love, rather than being apathetic to life and wasting away (dying).
I also read that last verse as if my Mom was reassuring me after a bad break-up, "You may feel terrible now, but this terrible feeling will go away. You're going to find someone you truly love, and you'll put yourself out there again, even though it may be painful, because it's worth it."
From this viewpoint, I think it's clear that Regina is definitely taking a more optimistic looks on life rather than gloomy ones, but that's just my opinion.
You're not dying
Everyone knows you're going to love
Though there's still no cure for crying"
To me, this song is definitely about depression, like rhosymedre said. I also think that the depression could stem from a relationship ending and believing that you'll never feel that way again. "Everyone knows you're going to love," like there will probably be someone new someday. And "Though there's still no cure for crying," could mean that there's a good chance you'll be hurt again.
I think the end of the song is the saddest, because to me it means that, even if you do eventually move past the depression, you can never truly escape it.
It's such a heartbreaking song, I cry every single time I hear it.