Walking with you through the courtyard
Where everything's marble and smooth
You said the idea of perfection
Was just fundamentally cruel
And talked about joining the circus
And trading your face for a mask

Oh, I know you want to
I just don't believe that you can

We made quite a pair in the morning
We both tend to traffic in dreams
Seeing it now from the outside
You kept all your dark ones for me
And said that you plan to go rambling
As you sat on that big windowsill

Oh, I know you want to
I just don't believe that you will

You long to go hide in the bramble
Or fall off the face of the earth
You wish you could live with the beggars
On the steps of some crumbling church
You say that you'd like to go hungry
But the truth is you just had your fill

Oh, I know you want to
I just don't believe that you will

On Sundays, you stroll through the market
And feel like you've traveled through time
Buying back all your possessions
That were stolen in some former life
Returned to me, tied in a corset
To say, "Don't you know who I am?"

Oh, I know you want to
I just don't believe that you can
Yes, I know you want to
I just don't believe that you can

Been trying to make an invention
Something the world's never seen
To sweep away all of the trouble
And leave the place shiny and clean
Patent your brave new creation
And hold it right there in your hand

Oh, I know you want to
I just don't believe that you can

I waited for you at the landing
The water was crystal and calm
All these ideas of forever
Are just fundamentally wrong
You say that your love makes you honest
Then you're caught with your hand in the till

Oh, I know you want to
I just don't believe that you will
Yes, I know you want to
I just don't believe that you will


Lyrics submitted by jaynecobb, edited by Mellow_Harsher

I Know You song meanings
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3 Comments

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  • +1
    My Interpretation

    I'm not sure if this is part 2 of the song on the same album "Happy Accident" but if so then that individual that preferred the innocence of youth and the idea that you can find "true love" can be linked to this individual's belief that someone could be perfect.

    Also, like the previous song the idea that your past is something that will haunt you throughout your life and that you need to "accept your fate" because the world is not smooth like marble. In this song perhaps Connor is suggesting that even if you have dreams of running away, becoming some fantasy character from the past, or doing something completely new that you can not sweep your past under the rug - you must confront it.

    Tri_Ton March 11, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i love love love this song. to me, it's just about a relationship with someone who wants to do all of these things when you realize that they will not ever go through with it.

    erinlovesxcon April 14, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is about someone who keeps telling the speaker (ie Conor) that they have changed or are going to change for the better. Perhaps, love has changed them, or they're just all around idealistic. The speaker is cynical, perhaps this person has failed before, or habitually lets the speaker down. The sincerity Conor speaks "I know you want to" makes me think that this song isn't intended to cut. It's just a graveled honesty.

    uglymugon December 26, 2010   Link

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