This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Hope life's been good to you
Since you've been gone
I'm doin' fine now, I've finally moved on
It's not so bad, I'm not that sad
I'm not surprised just how well I survived
I'm over the worst, and I feel so alive
I can't complain, I'm free again
And it only hurts when I'm breathing
My heart only breaks when it's beating
My dreams only die when I'm dreaming
So, I hold my breath, to forget
Don't think I'm lyin' 'round cryin' at night
There's no need to worry, I'm really alright
I've never looked back, as a matter of fact
And it only hurts when I'm breathing
My heart only breaks when it's beating
My dreams only die when I'm dreaming
So, I hold my breath to forget
It only hurts when I breathe
Mmm, no, I've never looked back
As a matter of fact
And it only hurts when I'm breathing
My heart only breaks when it's beating
My dreams only die when I'm dreaming
So I hold my breath to forget
(It only hurts) hurts when I'm breathing
(Heart only breaks) Breaks when it's beating
(Dreams only die) Die when I'm dreaming
It only hurts when I breathe
Since you've been gone
I'm doin' fine now, I've finally moved on
It's not so bad, I'm not that sad
I'm not surprised just how well I survived
I'm over the worst, and I feel so alive
I can't complain, I'm free again
And it only hurts when I'm breathing
My heart only breaks when it's beating
My dreams only die when I'm dreaming
So, I hold my breath, to forget
Don't think I'm lyin' 'round cryin' at night
There's no need to worry, I'm really alright
I've never looked back, as a matter of fact
And it only hurts when I'm breathing
My heart only breaks when it's beating
My dreams only die when I'm dreaming
So, I hold my breath to forget
It only hurts when I breathe
Mmm, no, I've never looked back
As a matter of fact
And it only hurts when I'm breathing
My heart only breaks when it's beating
My dreams only die when I'm dreaming
So I hold my breath to forget
(It only hurts) hurts when I'm breathing
(Heart only breaks) Breaks when it's beating
(Dreams only die) Die when I'm dreaming
It only hurts when I breathe
Lyrics submitted by Prime_Knight
It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing Lyrics as written by Shania Twain Robert John Lange
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The Night We Met
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
this song its so sad! its about how shes surviving without him but barely....
This song to me explains exactly the way I feel every day and everynight. Someone very very close to me died and this is just how I feel all of the time.
And it only hurts when I'm breathing My heart only breaks when it's beating My dreams only die when I'm dreaming So, I hold my breath To forget
wow!!!
The lyrics are amazing. All the contradictions are great.
Shania is breathtaking. this is just how people feel when bad things happen. everyone does it--when you're upset you always tell everyone that you are fine--but inside you're aching and you feel terrible. I LOVE SHANIA TWAIN!!!
This song truly touches me to the point where it feels like it was written just for me. The chorus basically means that she`s in pain every second of her life that she is not with this guy . . . something I can really relate to right now, unfortunately.
this song makes me cry.
Heart-touching and full of emation - in every part of this song... the words, the way she sings it, the instrumentation... I wonder if she wrote it thinking of how she lost her parents in the car accident. This reminds me of how I can sometimes feel when I lost my father at the age of 19 to cancer. You miss someone, but have to move on, you have no choice, but that won't stop the pain.... Thank you Shania for helping express these kinds of feelings into words, song, and our hearts....
I absolutely agree with the post above me. Shania has the voice of an angel, and she knows exactly which heartstrings to pull. Love you, Shania. You are the best.