My friend assures me "It's all or nothing"
I am not worried, I am not overly concerned
My friend implores me "For one time only, make an exception"
I am not not worried
Wrap her up in a package of lies, send her off to a coconut island
I am not worried, I am not overly concerned
With the status of my emotions "Oh" she says "You're changing"
But we're always changing
It does not bother me to say this isn't love
Because if you don't want to talk about it then it isn't love
And I guess I'm going to have to live with that
But, I'm sure there's something in a shade of grey or something in between
And I can always change my name, if that's what you mean

My friend assures me "It's all or nothing"
But I am not really worried, I am not overly concerned
You try to tell yourself the things you try tell yourself
To make yourself forget
To make yourself forget
I am not worried
"If it's love" she said
"Then we're gonna have to think about the consequences"
But she can't stop shaking, and I can't stop touching her and

This time when kindness falls like rain
It washes her away and Anna begins to change her mind
"These seconds when I'm shaking leave me shuddering for days" she says
And I'm not ready for this sort of thing

But I'm not gonna break and I'm not going to worry about it anymore
I'm not gonna bend and I'm not gonna break
I'm not gonna worry about it anymore
No, no, no, no
It seems like I should say "As long as this is love"
But it's not all that easy so maybe I should just
Snap her up in a butterfly net and just pin her down on a photograph album
I am not worried, 'cause I've done this sort of thing before
But then I start to think about the consequences
That I don't get no sleep in a quiet room and

This time when kindness falls like rain
It washes me away and Anna begins to change my mind
And every time she sneezes I believe it's love and
Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing

She's talking in her sleep (rain falls down)
It's keeping me awake and Anna begins to toss and turn (rain comes falling down)
And every word is nonsense but I understand and (rain falls down)
Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing (rain comes falling down)

Her kindness bangs a gong (rain falls down)
It's moving me along and Anna begins to fade away (rain comes falling down)
It's chasing me away (rain falls down)
She disappears and
Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing


Lyrics submitted by dank, edited by iroc-z

Anna Begins Lyrics as written by Charles Thomas Gillingham Adam Fredric Duritz

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Anna Begins song meanings
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  • +5
    General Comment

    I always thought it was about a girl he (Adam) loved, but she didn't love him back, but I found some info about it and this is what Adam Duritz has to say:

    It's about denial -- how far you'll go to deny that somethings really happening because it's too complicated, too terrifying, too difficult. It's about me and Anna: The relationship was supposed to be light -- we met on vacation -- but we got further into it and it became harder and harder. It's about all the things you go through trying to, sort of squash your feelings. to sort of shut it down, and how much you can hurt other people and yourself by doing that. The people in the song are just continuously telling themselves they don't feel what they do feel, until the end when it's too late, and then they realize what they were really, really not ready for was, you know, never being able to see each other again."

    And this is the story that inspired the song:

    "There was this period where I got really really sick of playing music and I saved up some money from landscaping and I bought a backback and some boots and me and a friend got tickets and went over to Europe. Just to backpack around Europe. It was like the summer of 1989 and I ended up on this greek Island and I met this girl named Anna and I completly fell in love with her and I think vice versa.. which was a dumb thing to do in the middle of the summer on a greek island cause the girls from Australia and your from California..and the last thing, you should have is a fling, you know that the last thing you need to do is fall in love with a girl from Australia cause you don't have years you have weeks. You know and everyone goes home, and we were kids and plane tickets were to expensive. You can't change these things you know. And it was just really difficult you know because no one really wants to cop to how important they feel about it because it's a it's a hole your gonna fall into. So the song is really about denial, the characters in the song keep saying to each other "No, you know I'm not ready for this sort of thing" 'till the very end when it's too late. When they realize they weren't ready for the loss. "... And it's a terrible thing to find out because it's too late, which is what it ended up being at that point and... it's funny she's married now and she's got a kid and she still lives in Sydney. I still talk to her every once in a while, not too much but, and whenever I talk to her she says that she still loves this song, and I do too... and this is Anna Begins..."

    jtk1993on April 19, 2010   Link

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