You're A Mirror I Cannot Avoid

Antelope? Haha, here's the real lyrics via Kevin Devine!

I caught you caterwauling, giving grief Thought you were cannonballing after me I let your actions speak for themselves And wished you well

But you're a mirror I cannot avoid Strung out and jittery and paranoid A leaky battery that can't keep charged Get in the car

And say what you mean Explain yourself to me I'll try not to judge you more than you would Let me help I promise not to tell Not like anyone's asking Or like anyone should

First time I met you I was full of fear Knew that eventually you'd disappear Just when I needed you you'd burn to smoke And off you'd go

Just come back Peel away the mask Lay here beside me And open your eyes Take it back Your dignity, your tact Turn back to the person You tried to let die

I caught you nesting with your analogue Glassy-eyed from kissing poison frogs Becoming infinite against his couch Open your mouth

And say the words You used to wish you heard Back when you focused Enough to be good And if you're gone An endless false alarm Just remember I loved you As long as I could

Quote from Kevin Devine, " This is a composite, a story about seeing the worst parts of yourself in other people, and about patience, acceptance and disappointment. It’s about people."

This song is so beautiful.

"Youre a mirror I cannot avoid"

Sometimes when you have been with someone for a long time you see yourself in that person. Maybe he still saw this person a lot, but couldn't speak to her. I agree that its about drugs, but even more than that. I think its about someone he cared for deeply that has has been stolen from him or just doesnt want to be with him for some reason. He wants to help her so much that it hurts, but she won't let him .

I'm going through something like this right now. I see my ex at my college all the time, but she doesn't want to speak to me. I see the in her a reflection of who I was when I was with her. I see the mistakes I made.

Hits home on many lines, love this song the most from the album.

Such a good song, why no comments?

I interpret this song a very personal way. I know that my interpretation is not what the song really is about, but this is what it means to me; "You're a mirror I cannot avoid strung out and jittery and paranoid a leeky battery that can't keep charged" This line of the song is my exact feelings toward trying to tell my mom I was sexually abused as a child. I try to ignore it, but it just keeps reflecting back to me like a mirror. I cannot avoid it and I am so paranoid about everything because of it. It is like the real me cannot keep her charge because this victim me is still keeping her silence. A couple of the other lines also relate to this feeling as well. Again, this is just what the lines mean to me. I know they that this isn't really what the song is about.

I thought the line was caterwauling as well, but isn't it also "thought you would cannonball in after me"?

"I caught you caterwauling (make a shrill howling or wailing noise like a cat) and giving grief Thought you were cannonballing after me I let your actions speak for themselves And wished you well"

The first line he walks in a catches someone crying loudly and very upset. The second line corresponds to the first line. He thinks he is the reason they are upset. He thought they would come after him impulsively like how you cannonball into a pool or it could be fast and explosive like a cannonball as in the ammunition for a cannon but I think the first one makes more sense.

If it is about drug use maybe the other person is him when he is on drugs. He caught himself in a tough situation and he feels his addictive personality coming after him and he is going to lose control.

Line three and four also correspond to the other two verses. If anything was said if they did come after him he dismissed anything that was said but i don't think they even came after him and he was wrong. He is letting the actions of the person just sitting there and not coming after him speak for themselves. That whatever they are upset about they don't care that he leaves and don't want to fix the situation. He wishes them well is obvious.

He lets his actions of turning to drugs for his grief speak for itself and hopes he will be okay.

"But you're a mirror I cannot avoid Strung out and jittery and paranoid A leaky battery that cant keep charged Get in the car and say what you mean Explain yourself to me and Ill try not to judge you more than you would"

"But you're a mirror I cannot avoid" refers to him not being able to get away from this person. Either physically like seeing them somewhere, mentally he can't stop thinking about them, or they are or were so close that he sees that person in himself (the mirror is a reference to them being so close to each other that he can't see himself without the other person) and the impact that person had on him has changed him forever in that now that person has permanently became a part of himself. If the other person is him then maybe he can't get away from his addiction. When he looks in the mirror he sees himself but his addiction is part of himself. Therefore he can't just avoid it.

"Strung out and jittery and paranoid" is how all of this is making him feel. He is upset too and he can't keep it together. He is jittery and paranoid because he is nervous not knowing what the outcome will be. He is haunted by the whole situation and can't get away from it. If his addiction is what he can't avoid he has been using speed or maybe another type of drug making him strung out, jittery, and paranoid.

"A leaky battery that can't keep charge" I think the battery signifies their relationship. He feels empty because the space where he had the other person can't stay without the love they shared. The whole situation is always on his mind but the person is gone.So the part of him that was filled with their love slowly leaks out leaving him empty inside.Just like the leaky battery. It could also mean that no matter how much they try to work the relationship out the other persons feelings just aren't there anymore. As if their feelings are the charge of the battery. Their feelings disappearing signifies the leaky battery. So like a bad battery it's just not going to work. It could also refer to him having to keep getting his fix. No matter how much he uses he eventually "loses charge" and has to take more drugs.

"Get in the car and say what you mean. Explain yourself to me and Ill try not to judge you more than you would" I think he is literally picking up the other person and he wants the truth. He wants an explanation for why the other person is avoiding him or why they were so upset but still didn't come after him. No matter what the reason is he is going to try his best to not judge the reason(s) they have anymore than they would judge him. Its pretty straight forward. I'm not sure if this is about drugs. Maybe he is getting in the car for a place to think or he could be going to get more.He is trying to confront himself to either come up with an explanation that he can use justify his using or is disappointed in himself and wants to figure out why he is using to cope with the grief so he can stop. He is going to try and not judge anymore than he would judge someone else.

"Let me help, I promise not to tell Like anyone's asking or anyone should."

He wants to help the other person fix the problem(s) because he wants what they had back. He isn't going to tell anyone. He is trying to show the other person they can trust him. "Like anyone's asking or anyone should." He means that it is their private business. Only they really know what is going on so nobody would be asking about it. No one else should ask because it has nothing to do with them. Mind your own business it is a private matter.

If its about addiction maybe he is trying to reason with himself to go get help and not tell anyone. He thinks he is doing a good job of hiding it so he hasn't given anyone a reason to ask.

"First time I met you I was full of fear Knew that eventually you'd disappear Just when I needed you you'd burn to smoke And off you go."

When he first met the other person he was scared because of exactly what is happening to him now. He has trust issues and was afraid he would fall in love only to end up losing this person and wind up getting hurt. "Just when I needed you you'd burn to smoke, and off you go" refers to at the point of their relationship that he realized he needed the other person they would leave him. Now he realizes he was right to be scared because he is still in love with them and needs them now more than ever but they are leaving anyway. If its interpreted as drug abuse and not love. He was scared the first time he realized he had a problem or because he knew what the consequences of addiction were."Knew that eventually you'd disappear." He thought he could easily stop and make his problem disappear. Or he kept using and knew that he would eventually run out of connections to buy the drug. Just when I needed you you'd burn to smoke And off you go." refers to him not being able to find any drugs in his time of need. Right when he was grieving he needed it to cope but he can't get anymore."And off you go" could refer to him being forced to get off of the drugs.

"Just come back and peel away the mess Lay here beside me and open your eyes Take it back your dignity your tact Turn back to the person you tried to let die."

He wants the person to come back and start fresh. "peel away the mess" refers to starting over and forgetting the mess.

"Lay here beside me and open your eyes" corresponds to the first verse and the one above where he found them very upset and a mess but now wants to start fresh. He is referring to giving the relationship another try and wants the other person to open their eyes and see everything that they have.He thinks that the person will realize its something special and that they still love him.

"Take it back your dignity your tact." he is showing them he is serious about forgetting the whole mess. He is going to forget how the person showed him no dignity or tact when that person left him. Giving them another chance if the person realized they had made a mistake.

"Turn back to the person you tried to let die." For whatever reason that caused the person to be so upset in the first verse and after they realized the mistake they made they blamed their self and tried to change completely. He is meaning he wants the person to go back to being their true self.The person that loved him. Also shows you that no matter what you are or who you are and you can't run from yourself.

"I caught you nesting with your analog Glassy eyes from kissing poison frogs Becoming infinite against his couch." I think he caught her with a new man or she let her old self die and is becoming comfortable in her new self. "I caught you nesting with your analog" Nesting in a British dictionary means to make yourself comfortable with your surroundings. Analog means a person or thing seen as comparable to one another. Therefore it would make sense that she is trying to become comfortable with the new person she decided to become. Either that or she found someone else. This theory came from me thinking this verse and the verse after the next one.

"Glassy eyes from kissing poison frogs." I think refers to the myth that if you kiss a frog it could turn into a prince. I believe she has glassy eyes because she is not actually happy. Kissing poison frogs is her trying to find someone else but the guys she kissed where no good hence "poison frogs. Definitely not princes.

"Becoming infinite against his couch." This could be a form of meditation but I really think it means she is having sex with someone else on some guys couch. I'm not sure though.

"Open your mouth and say the words You used to wish you heard Back when you focused enough to be good" He is telling her to say I love you. That used to be important to her. I think now she is caught up in whatever destroyed their relationship so it seems to me that she is being self destructive.

"And if you''re gone An endless false alarm Just remember I loved you As long as I could." The first two verses he is saying that he doesn't think she is gone forever, that is the endless false alarm. He finally is done though but he wants to let her know he tried as long as he could.

I really like this song. I relate it with a relationship that isn't going very well right now so I might have put some of my own wishes of the interpretations in it but i tried to just analyze it without doing that. I went more in depth than i initially planned but at least there is a full interpretation this song deserves it! let me know if anyone has different ideas to what anything means i'd be interested to find out.