Recover

"If I recover"... from what exactly? Everyone knows the situation when he or she is in a bad shape. What he/she needs is a comfort, a ray of hope. Being a comfort is mastering the greatest task in life: loving. Love is not just an abstract word, but an ability anybody has to learn. Love is not only an object, a partner, but also "a decision we have to face". Nobody can decide for someone else: You decide all by yourself what the envelope contains.

I'm going to post my interpretation by each paragraph of the song. Remember, this is my personal interpretation, and I am not speaking on behalf of Lauren Mayberry's views or any of the group member's thought process of this song.

I have a short summary at the bottom.

"Carved earth, cold / Hiding from you in this skin / So, old / I'll come, clean Everyone-everyone knows / It's, me"

What I take from this is the person has "carved earth" their personality, beliefs, mind, who they are to protect themselves from what is hurting them; it can go to family, relationship, etc. They have molded themselves with masks & armor, & are hiding their true intentions, feelings, and who they are. S/he is growing tired (why she feels "cold") of this pseudo-self, this fake facade, and with paranoia, denial, possibly lowered self esteem from this long length of hiding, feels it's all her fault for whatever is going on in her life, whether it is her fault or not, but either way she feels like shit, or guilty for it all. She takes blame for all of this, and realizes she sees it may have been taken out innocently on people, and her feelings were misunderstood, but the damage is done, and for her, she's giving the person she's with, a chance to recognize that & make a decision themselves.

"And if I recover /Will you be my comfort / Or it can be over / Or we can just leave it here / So pick any number / Choose any color / I've got the answer / Open the envelope"

She lets the person in, to finally understand what's going on in her head, and her life, & maybe why she hasn't been herself, or how she sees the damage she has done to her relationship, and to the one she loves, but she knows she's hurting, and she can't help the pain she's in. So, she asks them if I can get best this, will you be there in the end? If you can't handle the worst of me you're seeing and what we've been going through, you can go, I won't blame you, we can just leave it here. But judging by what her partner is saying, she's letting him think of the pros and con (choose any number, pick any color) like a fortune cookie, but as the partner does this, she starts to realize they've been drifting the whole time without saying, and the last thing to lose is a title, and figures that she already knows the answer, so you might as well just say it "you're leaving." All the flaps, to her, lead to the same answer, because judging by how her partner is reacting, or has been, she has this realization, the person she is/was with, really isn't with her anymore in their entirety so all that's left is a real ending, a real goodbye.

"Blow by blow / Honest in every way I know / You appear / To face a decision I know you fear"

Each new thing she's saying to her partner, she's trying to be in her most honest form. She's so used to faking, pretending, and even telling her partner this, may be hard for them to handle. In fact, it may terrify them, but nothing scares her more than letting them know what's going on. Her partner is just listening to all this, absorbing it, but she lets him know at the end of this talk, something along the lines of, "We can either stick this out now till the end, you can love me as I am, and help me through this struggle, or if you can't, I understand, if you leave it here, and part ways forever," knowing s/he's scared. She realizes all of this is scaring him/her, and it's a lot of pressure, but the speaker knows a decision has to be made now, and so does the partner.

"I'll give you one more chance / To say we can change or part ways/ And you take what you need / And you don't need me"

She's giving him one more chance, with all this truth and honesty in mind, to make a decision (as I said above, something along the lines of "We can either stick this out now till the end, you can love me as I am, and help me through this struggle, or if you can't, I understand, if you leave it here, and part ways forever").

Now the ending doesn't denote the partner left. This is a misconception. She's saying "you can take what you need, and you know you don't need me", but that's what she personally believes due to her plummeted self esteem. Her beliefs =\= what the partner believes or does. She firmly believes after everything her partner and her have been through, s/he can be in a more stable relationship with someone whom isn't as damaged or complicated. As much as she loves her partner, she's willing to let them go so they can be happy. Because she knows that what she's going through has put a deep wound in her, which may take a long time or a whole life time to heal (and be someone s/he and herself can be proud of), and she doesn't want to be a burden on the one she loves.

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Basically the speaker is really messed up, from depression or from pretending so long, that she has finally realized, she has wrecked havoc on everything and everyone around her, even the ones she loves. Her self-esteem is plummeted, and although she loves her partner, she finally begins to open up about her "true self", thoughts, and personality, which comes to alarm her partner. She finally has this talk about where she's at and who she is (currently in life), and her partner is concerned, scared and worried from what she's saying. Deep down inside, she knows her relationship has been winding down to be broken, and sees it is at an ending point (in her mind), & she can tell by the way her partner is scared of giving her an answer when she asks them if they'll be able to stick around for her to recover, and heal from the pain she's been in, or .. if they can't they can leave and she won't have hard feelings since she knows it's her whose doing this to herself and others. She feels immensely guilty about it, and harbors no sense of belonging anymore but when it comes to her partner, her love for her partner is requited, but too painful for her and her partner. She represents his answer as a fortune, (pick a color) or numbers like numerology (astrology), but feels there's only one right answer for her partner which is them to leave, because that's honestly what she feels they deserve. She feels like a burden for them, to see her suffer like this, and have to put up with her constant sadness, personality twitches, her being broken, and they deserve to be with someone who can make them happy and who is complete. She's telling the one she loves, when I recover, I want to be the person you can be happy with and proud of, and if you can wait this out with me, please stay but if you can't be there, throughout this hard time in my life, even if it last my whole life, you can go & find someone better than me, because I know I'm the hardest person to be with.

He cheated on her. He hasn't told her yet, hasn't decided what to do. She's grappling with her own decision.

this isn't about drugs. It's about a relationship.

Blow by blow Honest in every way I know (admitting to the infidelity) You appear To face a decision I know you fear (fears her response to learning of this)

And if I recover Will you be my comfort? (do you still want me? she asks) Or it can be over (end the relationship) Or we can just leave it here

He cheated. She will recover.

i can imagine this scenario has played out many many times in many relationships-

He- " Honey she meant nothing to me. I was drunk and we had that big fight and she was there. It just happened. Please take me back. I'll never cheat again.

She- "I'll give you one more chance To say we can change or part ways (pledge your fidelity to me...say you want to save this relationship.) Or we can part ways. And you take what you need. And you don't need me"

I think the song is about two people in a relationship and they got into drugs together but one of them was able to kick the habit and come clean while the other one (the person whose perspective the song is written from) hasn't been able to kick the habit; and they both struggle. They know they're like kryptonite for each other and they shouldn't be together or the chance that one can bring the other down back into the habit but they still love each other. but they have no earthly clue what to do..

"Carved earth, cold Hiding from you in this skin So, old I'll come, clean Everywhere everyone knows Its, me"

I believe this part is saying how the other in the relationship turned cold. The singer probably knew she wanted to end the relationship, and has been hiding from them internally because the other been cold hearted so much recently. She decided to finally come out clean, and speak her mind publicly about it, possibly stop the other from wanting to end it because she still loves them, and save the relationship. And suddenly, everywhere, everyone knows about whats going on. The relationship is just turning over, going rapidly downhill in a matter of deciding moments.

he then says if she recovers from that unforgivable pain or action that the other caused, and ends up quickly forgiving, will the other who was being cold, and probably harsh, still be there still to comfort her? If not, it can be over, and they can, sadly, part ways.

"Pick any number Choose any color I've got the answer Open the envelope"

This sounds like a reference to one of those origami paper fortune tellers. Should the other stay, it will depend on their choices the outcome of the relationship, not the singers. The singer will have the answers of their outcome depending on the others choices...they may be together, but the singer will have lost trust and be the one holding onto a thin line. The envelope is simply the flap on the fortune teller that says the answers created by the singer.

"I'll give you one more chance To say we can change or part ways And you take what you need And you don't need me

I'll give you one more chance To say we can change our old ways And you take what you need And you know you don't need me"

In these deciding moments, the singer decides to give the other one more chance to decide to want to be with her, and change what they did wrong. She knows its not her own fault, but out of love she wants to try to forgive the other. Its kind of an in-denial point of view, where the relationship is in its most critical point, where she wishes they would stay together, but knows deep inside they wont for some reason. If thats true, they can part ways and the other will take what they need. When she claims the other knows they don't need her, the other probably stated that to her.

I've been through something exactly like this. And I gave them that last minute chance and choice to redeem themselves. I was hoping so much after I recovered From finding the real truth, as to why they were being so cold hearted, and claiming they didnt need me, simply to hurt me. An unforgivable truth. And it was that panicking rush, and last moments of truth during the end, that I believe this song is about. Wanting to save something that you know can't, trying to forgive.

Although the main part of the meaning is expressed well in the lyrics in my opinion this song’s meaning and literal translation is…

This girl got into some bad stuff, may it be drugs or alcohol, and her boyfriend does not accept it very well. (“Carved earth, cold Hiding from you in this skin So old”) She tries to tell him that she can come clean and people know that she can. But he doesn’t know. (“Everyone-everyone knows It’s, me”) She asks him if/when she recovers if you’ll stay with me. (“And if I recover Will you be my comfort?”) Or the alternative, they break up… You choose. (“Or it can be over Or we can just leave it here So pick any number Choose any color I've got the answer Open the envelope”) Because he loves her he decides to stay, but she knows that he feels that he doesn’t know her anymore so she asks him again (“I'll give you one more chance To say we can change or part ways you take what And you need And you don't need me”) I don’t want to know what blow by blow means…  She knows that however he appears to be that he fears an answer (“Honest in every way I know You appear To face a decision I know you fear”) And so it is basically about a girl who gets caught up ion some bad things, and it is the boy’s decision if they break up or not.

Or it can be over Or we can just leave it here So pick any number Choose any color I've got the answer Open the envelope

I'll give you one more chance To say we can change or part ways And you take what you need And you don't need me

Blow by blow Honest in every way I know You appear To face a decision I know you fear

My favorite lines. I think she's saying they can end the relationship or just leave it where it is and move on. She tells him to open the envelope to find the answer by reading her letter. Some of the lines in the letter could be she's giving him one more chance to say they can change or part ways and should they part, he can take what he needs, but he doesn't need her and she doesn't need him.

So in the end, he faces a decision he fears - to break up.

Okay so as everyone says, this is my interpretation of the song and maybe it's the wrong one but this is what I got:

"" Caught out cold, cold Hiding from you in this skin So, old I'll come, clean Everyone-everyone knows It's, me ""

I think in this one the singer has been in a bad place for a long time, hiding from the person they love and they're hoping that one day they'll be happy so everyone sees the real them.

"" And if I recover Will you be my comfort? Or it can be over Or we can just leave it here So pick any number Choose any color I've got the answer Open the envelope ""

What they're saying is "If I ever get to be in a happy place will you bare with me to stay like that? Because if not, you better leave now." And when she's saying "pick any number, color, I've got the answer" I think she's thinking "okay, I know which are the decisions you have to make in order to make me happy, so you choose (as in, what kind of life they want to live, for example) and then I'll tell you what my decisions were, to see if we match or not"

"" I'll give you one more chance To say we can change or part ways And you take what you need And you don't need me ""

Again, she's giving them a chance to choose. I think the singer believes that this person doesn't REALLY love her, that's why she's insisting.

"" Blow by blow Honest in every way I know You appear To face a decision I know you fear ""

She talks about how she's honest about everything and now her partner has to be honest and tell her if they really love them and want to stay or not.

So generally speaking, I think the song is about this girl who has been through some tough times and she really needs someone but she's afraid this person will only stay with her because they feel bad leaving her, but she's telling them it's okay, she's being herself now, trying to do the right things and being happy.