Don't You Want to Share the Guilt?

I think this has got to be one of her best songs, there's so much in it. In my opinion the other person in the song could potentially be anyone who she is close to (perhaps a boyfriend but not necessarily). She knows that something is wrong with this 'friend', which is why she is hesitant to go over ("I'm feeling kinda nervous"),and also that she won't be able to give them the support that they need (to the point that she feels sick "unwell" with worry) despite her having a responsibility of care ("I should go"), that comes with any close friendship.

When she gets there she sees that her friend is in a bad state: he/she doesn't care about their appearance ("wearing a towl"), has been having trouble sleeping ("eyes look dark") and is cut (self-harming). As a result, inviting her over, makes me think that the friend, acknowledging himself/herself that he/she has reached a real low, wants her (kate nash) to be different to everyone else and be the one person who can say the right thing.

But she asks him/her a question she already knows the answer to ("I say 'have you been crying?'), and confirms herself as one of those friends that (through no real fault of her own) will only be able to spout empty words. Her friend "still worries" her, but she is completely detached from him/her and the person knows this as they go through the motions of saying their "fine" and giving accounts of activities undertaken (probably lies).

The next verse 'Listen', is more complicated, but I think it's her thinking it's her pondering the questions, linked to suicidal thoughts, that the friend might be asking themself. At the end of the day she doesn't know ("I don't know").

But she can question how her friend got to this stage ("thinking is one of the most stressful things I've ever come across") and her inability to say the right thing to her friend is evidence for "not been able to articulate" whta she wants to say.

She goes on to talk about her own experiences- what helps her find peace ("I count the laps")- and the rhythm of the words is almost therapeutic. But as it gets quicker, the heavy use of "I" ("I think I should", "I'm going to", "I'd like to", '"I love", "I walked", "I'm still not sure") is noticable, and I think she demonstrates how isolated each one of us is. Cut off in our own little worlds and inherently self-absorbed... no matter how hard we try not to be. It's hard to relate to things you don't understand, if we're not the centre of our own universe then our experiences still are, and they restrict us. She's isolated in her pain too("When I'm quiet people think I'm sad"), and all those people at train stations are individuals that feel too.

This might seem a bit deep, but I think this quote by Albert Einstein is relevant: '"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us 'universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

For me, 'Don't you want to share the guilt?' is not just about the guilt of not being able to be there for a person you care about, it's about man's inability to ever truely empathise.