Imagine
All those years together
As a blackbird with no song to sing
Imagine
Throwing it to the air
But it falls from broken wings

Don't leave this way, so many words unsaid
Don't lie this way, stretched straight from
Feet to head

Imagine
The sky is pouring down
On the back of all those years
Imagine
That bird helpless on the ground
Shot down by all those tears

Don't leave this way, so many words unsaid
Don't lie this way, stretched straight from
Feet to head
Don't look this way, closed eyes, unmoving lips
Don't feel this way, cold hands and fingertips


Lyrics submitted by musicandnintendo

Don't, This Way song meanings
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4 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    While I do think you can read the song as being about a break-up, the more literal interpretation of the song is about death. It's alluded to earlier in the song, but the last chorus pretty much makes it plain 'closed eyes, unmoving lips' and 'cold hands and fingertips' while being 'stretched straight from feet to head'. My wife still hates it when it comes up on my playlist (it and 'River on Fire' by Adam Again'). Mike Roe said in the liner notes that it's 'perhaps the saddest song I've ever heard'. But the song is simply beautiful and, as mentioned, sad to the core.

    Gryfaliaon February 11, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This is one of the most beautiful songs ever created, a song about a splitting up and probably of an eventual divorce. The guitar solos ache for this situation to be resolved/redeemed. I highly recommend you seek this song out and listen to it many times. I often find it in my head, and it was written over 15 (?!) years ago.

    mothruston November 20, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I'll chime in, such majestic sadness here. My interpretation is that it's about a suicide and a plea to understand after the fact. The first verse we see the protagonist personified as a black bird who won't sing. The silence of depression has sunk in, pushed and he/she still can't fly... The second verse things get worse as the world/sorrows takes their toll ("shot down by all those tears"), till the final chorus where we have the body laid before us... and the pleas of the author who already know it's to late but wishes it wasn't...

    darnflooron December 02, 2009   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    I'll chime in, such majestic sadness here. My interpretation is that it's about a suicide and a plea to understand after the fact. The first verse we see the protagonist personified as a black bird who won't sing. The silence of depression has sunk in, pushed and he/she still can't fly... The second verse things get worse as the world/sorrows takes their toll ("shot down by all those tears"), till the final chorus where we have the body laid before us... and the pleas of the author who already know it's to late but wishes it wasn't...

    darnflooron December 02, 2009   Link

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