They pull up their chairs to the table
She stares at the food on her plate
At the toast and the butter
Her father and mother, she pushes away

And they rise in the morning
And they sleep in the dark
And even though nobody's looking
She's falling apart

She gets home from school too early
And closes the door to her room
There's nothing inside her
She's weak and she's tired of feeling like this

And they rise in the morning
And they sleep in the dark
And even though nobody's looking
She's falling apart

They call her for dinner, she makes up a reason
She looks at her arms and she rolls down her sleeves
And her mother is starting to see through her lies
And last night her father had tears in his eyes

And they rise in the morning
And they sleep in the dark
And even though nobody's looking
She's falling apart

And we rise in the morning
And we sleep in the dark
And even though nobody's looking
She's falling apart, she's falling apart



Lyrics submitted by Tandia

She's Falling Apart Lyrics as written by James Harry Lisa A. Loeb

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, REACH MUSIC PUBLISHING

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She's Falling Apart song meanings
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15 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    this song is so moving because its so real.. it tells a story you relate to, even if you've never experienced anorexia yourself

    SoICanBeMyselfon August 01, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Bitterfairy was right I found an interview that explains the entire soung.

    "SF: You mentioned in "Stay" part of the inspiration was a friend of yours. And there's a song called "She's Falling Apart."

    Lisa: Oh, yeah.

    SF: Tell me about that one.

    Lisa: That was one that I wrote in Miles Copeland's castle in France with two other writers. And the idea in that case was instigated by one of the men, who's a writer from Nashville. He had somebody in his life who had anorexia, and he wanted to write a song about that. I thought that was a great topic, food disorders and eating issues, and depressed teenagers are a near and dear topic to me. And I thought that it would be really interesting to write a song like that.

    SF: Sounds like she's even a cutter.

    Lisa: She's not, but her arms are too thin. That's anorexia.

    SF: Gotcha.

    Lisa: Yeah, people hear it and they think, Oh she must be on drugs or something. But you still get the right feeling from the song, because those are all issues that are secret and hidden and difficult for families to deal with. They don't know what to do and when to take care of them."

    the entire interview is here songfacts.com/int/2007/12/lisa-loeb.html

    clevelandsteamer87on March 30, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This is a poignant song about teenage anorexia - and just goes to show how varied Lisa is in the subjects she writes about. Although the tune has a more melancholy tone than most of her work, the refrain will still get stuck in your head and you won't be in a rush for it to leave any time soon. A summary of the lyrics: basically the song talks about a teenage girl who is secretly anorexic. The chorus "and they rise in the morning / and they sleep in the dark / and even though nobody's looking / she's falling apart" demonstrates how while we go on with our day-to-day lives someone that we know may be a victim of an eating disorder, completely behind our backs and unknown to anyone else. In the course of the song, her parents start to realize what is happening to her and are devastated by it. The song ends with a variation of the chorus that starts "and we rise in the morning...". Replacing the "they" with "we" puts us on a personal level into the song and refers more to our own lives and how the same exact thing could be happening around us.

    MissMaweeon June 12, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I love this song... I can totally relate; ana tears me apart, but at some level she's one of the only things that holds me together. It's sort of a maladaptive coping mechanism. Ana is how I deal with my problems, but she is at the root of so many of them.

    papercutdollon July 23, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    She may be anorexic, but she's also cutting herself.

    "She looks at her arms and she rolls down her sleeves "

    She's falling apart, not only because of her anorexia, which is definitely part of it, but also because she's depressed.

    lovesbitchon August 01, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I agree with bitch. . .
    i love this song though, , I can relate..

    MissKrissson September 08, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i agree with lovesbitch.

    i was diagnosed with ana 8 months ago and ive been a self injurer for over 4 years.... this song is just everything i feel and want to say. Not the biggest fan of Loeb, but of this song most definately.

    themrschasezon November 30, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Maybe anorexia is not her main problem. Maybe she is so depressed and in so much pain that she cannot eat...

    kaleidoscopeeyes8on January 29, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i went for the cutting her self angle myself but now the anorexia part adds so much

    edelweiss pirateLWon September 17, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    When I first heard it, I thought of the cutting firstly, but now the ana part does make sense too...

    Especially because she mentions food or a meal twice.

    Anyway, I love it...I think the general idea can touch those with depression, too...sometimes nobody's even looking and you're slowly unraveling.

    rhcpf12on December 17, 2005   Link

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