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It's a backwards attraction to your forward eyes
But you're so far-sighted that you can't place trust
In what or who you recognize
We sped the Plymouth cross the banks of the Mississippi river
Mary timony was smaller then a super ball
Chitter-chatter all these secrets started giving me the shivers
Plain and simply broken down near Olympia
I think your bruise was understanded,
Cause you can't feel this anymore
It's getting bluer and you can't keep faking
That you can't feel this anymore
But you're so far-sighted that you can't place trust
In what or who you recognize
We sped the Plymouth cross the banks of the Mississippi river
Mary timony was smaller then a super ball
Chitter-chatter all these secrets started giving me the shivers
Plain and simply broken down near Olympia
I think your bruise was understanded,
Cause you can't feel this anymore
It's getting bluer and you can't keep faking
That you can't feel this anymore
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Track duration: 04:20
"Your Bruise" as written by Christopher Walla, Benjamin Gibbard
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"It�s a backwards attraction to your forward eyes
But you�re so farsighted that you can�t place trust
In what or who you recognize"
He wants her back, but she is so concerned with the future that she is unwilling to take a risk on the past.
"We sped the Plymouth across the banks of the Mississippi River
Mary Timony was smaller than a superball
Chitter-chatter, all these secrets started giving me the shivers
Plain and simply broken down near Olympia"
They drove in a plymouth (vehicle) across the Mississippi River. This can be viewed as poetic irony considering that though they could cross a physical river, there was seemingly no way to fjord the invisible gap between them. The reference to 90's indie artist Mary Timony and her song "Superball"(though I would probably refer to her as more punk-rock), seems to be of little relevance to their situation and is likely just a way of enhancing the visual of that time period - making light of the fact that they were listening to MT's Helium album while on this road-trip. In stating that she was "smaller than a superball" ties into the chorus of Superball where she sings "I'm small like a superball..." However, though Timony is unclear about why exactly she feels small in the song, I think Death Cab's lyric is implying that the atmosphere in the car was so heavy on this guy and he was so lost in his affection for this girl that the music playing in the background was dead-noise comparably.
The secrets mentioned as "giving me the shivers" makes me think that there was other friends present on this road-trip, perhaps some of her girlfriends and that in eavesdropping on their conversations he was stricken with a cold - left-in-the-dark sort of feeling. This secret must have become most apparent in Olympia, WA - a town they would have to drive through to get back to north-western Washington where the members of death cab hail from also giving me the impression that this song is telling the story of one of their personal experiences. Whether or not this break-down also refers to an actual car problem is possible, but not important.
"I think your bruise was understated
Because you can�t feel this anymore
It�s getting bluer and you can�t keep faking
That you can�t feel this anymore" (x3)
This is probably the most revealing lyric of the song where the guy (whoever he is) suggests that the girl is unable to reciprocate his feelings for her because of a bruise deep within her that she seems to be ignoring. This bruise is "getting bluer" likely inferring that her affection for him is becoming increasingly obvious while on this road-trip - perhaps either in her bitterness towards him (sometimes girls react in an ambiguous way when a guy they care about opens a wound) or on the other hand she could actually be displaying direct affection for him through prolonged glances and or flirtatious behavior. And the more that this girl shows symptoms, though probably more masked than his, of having sharing his same emotions, the more he affiliates this with her hiding "her bruise."
Though it was probably unintentional, the themes presented in this lyric are synonymous with those of a more recent Death Cab song "I Will Possess Your Heart." Ben Gibbard himself is quoted as saying that the song is about a stalker who is in denial - believing that the woman he seeks will soon discover that she too loves him only if she would just take the time to simply realize it... "you gotta spend some time, love" "I know that you'll find love" The likeness of the two songs to eachother is especially evident when comparing lyrics like "And I long for this mirrored perspective" with "It's a backwards attraction to your forward eyes." In both instances the girl appears to be unaware of the feelings the guy attributes to her. I Will Possess Your Heart is paradoxical because it is narrated from the perspective of a stalker while the general tone of the song is critical - displaying both compassion and disgust for the feelings of this guy; disgust because this guy clearly has an unhealthy desire for this girl and lacks the restraint to control it and compassion because through older songs such as Your Bruise we get the feeling Ben, or one of the other members from Death Cab has experience in going out on a limb for someone who is unwilling to do the same, regardless of how they actually feel.
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It is not about his abuse, obviously, but the girl he is talking about. Let me explain:
"Its a backward attraction to your forward mind"
By cutting herself she is trying to move past her pain, but in reality it is setting her farther back into her pain/depression. It is a temporary relief.
"but youre so far-sighted you cant place trust in what or who you recognize"
She cannot meet somebody and trust them, even if she has trusted them previously. after whatever traumatic event she experienced, she now can only see to the future when people leave her or hurt her. Therefore, she cannot trust anyone.
The whole next verse is obviously personal/about a trip where he had spoken to this girl.
"All these secrets started giving me the shivers"
The secret about her self harm/depression/whatever caused her to start hurting herself.
"I think your bruise was understated"
This is what really made me think it was about self harm. It is the quote of all self harmers 'it's just a bruise, it's just a cut.' He is saying this is understated, and it is a way bigger problem then simply a bruise. It spreads to so much more in-depth pain.
" because you cant feel this anymore"
Many cutters use self harm to become apathetic. Their brain reacts too strongly to the adrenaline and it creates a calm, a numb, a temporary relief. Most self harmers do not actually even feel pain upon cutting/hurting themselves..only adrenaline. He is saying the bruise is understated because how numb she is becoming to the rest of the world.
"its getting bluer and you cant keep faking that you cant feel this anymore"
Again, she continues to fake happiness or at least apathy through cutting. But like any addict, you get used to the regular dosage and eventually need to hurt yourself more than you initially did. In other words, though it may have been a small bruise that created the numbness before it is now a huge, deep, dark blue that she requires to feel numb.
He's obviously on a roadtrip with a girl he thinks he knows really well. However, from all the driving he finds out her deepest darkest secrets (she was raped, she's suicidal..idk)
"All these secrets started giving me the shivers"
After learning her secret pain, he compares it to an internal bruise which she cannot hide from the world forever.
As for the first stanza, it's just about her not being able to sincerely trust anyone because of her dark secrets.
Lemme break it down a bit from my perspective.
"It�s a backwards attraction to your forward eyes
But you�re so farsighted that you can�t place trust
In what or who you recognize"
She is "in love with" a man who is abusive, (backwards attraction) she is otherwise brilliant and lovely (your forward eyes) She keeps thinking if they can work through this "problem" things will be wonderful between them (so farsighted) Most abusive men fuck with their victim's heads, so they don't feel safe talking to friends and family, or end up isolated in the house because he is so jealous. (last 2 lines)
"We sped the Plymouth across the banks of the Mississippi River
Mary Timony was smaller than a superball"
With another poster's input about her Timony's lyrics, including "Throw me at the wall" indicates more abuse.
"Chitter-chatter, all these secrets started giving me the shivers
Plain and simply broken down near Olympia"
So they are driving and talking (chitter chatter) and she opens up to him, (all these secrets) it starts out being just disturbing (giving me the shivers) and causes him pain at some point in their travels (plain and simply broken down near Olympia)
"I think your bruise was understated"
definition of understate: represent as less significant or important
He thinks her bruise is more important, then, than she seems to.
"Because you can�t feel this anymore"
She has become numb to the violence in some ways, over time that happens, as a coping mechanism.
"It�s getting bluer"
It keeps happening.
"and you can�t keep faking
That you can�t feel this anymore"
And you need to know how horrible this is and how fast and far you should run (if that is not already wht they are doing, during this travel)
So there's my take on it. The greatest thing about music, poetry, literature and all forms of art is how subjective it is, how it resonates with different people very differently. I love that, I think my favorite songs are the ones that do it the most.
she doesn't feel what she used to feel towards him. the feelings keep fading and becoming more noticeable to the point where he can tell she's faking it.
...yeah?
So the first time "this" would be refering to the love between them. "I think your bruise was understated, Because you can't feel this anymore." is say whatever she is hiding effects her enough to not feel happy, and safe in the relationship that she is in. And then the second time, "this" does mean the bruise, metaphorically or not.
The more you pretend the physical bruises are not there..the bluer the mental bruises get.