Full Of Grace

I really hate that everyone associates it with a certain TV show, but I guess however you hear Sarah's music, at least you're hearing it. I'm just sure that when Sarah wrote it she wasn't thinking it'd be a symbol for vampire love in the future.

I first heard it when I bought her Surfacing album in 1997. Still one of my favorite albums to listen to when I'm down.

This song to me, is pretty obvious. Anyone who had suffered from depression knows that winter months are the hardest. I think being depressed on your own is tough, but it's even tougher when you're in a relationship with someone and you feel like they deserve much better when you're at rock bottom. To me, this is a cry for help. It's a song to listen to when you're in your last throes of desperation and are begging for something to save you--"if all of the strength and all of the courage come and life me from this place". You drive away the one you love because you "know you can love you much better than this" I think the lines:

"it's better this way, I said, having seen this place before, where everything we say and do hurts us all the more it's just that we stay too long in the same old sickly skin"

are the most meaningful to me. You know if you could just shed that sickly skin and see the sun again, that you could make it, but you don't know how. You want to love them full of grace, and proudly, not hiding in the weak and ashamed condition that depression leaves you in. The final line where she repeats "It's better this way", in a determined way, is the saddest of all. Because you feel like there might be some hope in the last chorus begging for strength and courage to life you up, but in the end you decide it's better this way.

God, I've cried so many tears to this song over the years.

As someone whos been severely depressed for the last year, the first verse evokes depression as well as any song i've heard. The last line, 'Its better this way', could very much be about suicide but its certainly about leaving. The way she sung that last line, in such an understated resigned way, suggests suicide to me. From my time on message boards about depression and suicide, many people do seem to have the feeling that they are lifting a burden off their loved ones by suicide, and that it can be an act of love. The song evokes that very well.

I believe these lyrics are about somebody facing depression, "... haven't seen the sun for weeks....feel just like I'm sinking and claw for solid ground, pulled down by the undertow, never thought I could feel so low, etc.", if you've ever experienced true depression, those words will you hit you deeply!! This same person is in a loving relationship but since he/she is feeling so poorly about themselves, "feel like letting go" they believe they aren't able to love their partner to the extent they'd like. They implore their partner to help them pull out of this horrible dark place, " all of the strength and all of the courage come and lift me from this place," with the asstance of their partner they know that if the cycle can be broken, that person will be loving once again! When you are depressed, you feel as though all hope is lost, but my husband "pulls me out of" or stands by me until I no longer feel hopeless & lost and I know I can love him better!!!

This song brings to mind what it's like for lovers in a rut. The words speak volumes about how hard it is when 2 people drift apart because their love is being stifled, finally ending in separation.

I love this song. it's amazing.

such a beautiful, depressing song..

I remember when they played this song at the end of Buffy The Vampire Slayer's second season finale. I was already in tears from the death of "Angel" but when they played this song I just started bawling. Like misundazt00d said, it's such a beautiful but depressing song. Sarah has such raw talent, and her voice just carries emotion so well...Kudos to Sarah and kudos too Joss Whedon for picking a great song for the ending of BTVS's second season.

I haven't known an artist that has such an amazing voice as Sarah has, she really is just amazing...

Shoot me in the head with a revolver, what a song!

I first heard this song on the second season finale, Becoming Part 2, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And it was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. To me, this song is about someone living in pain and sorrow and feeling like they can't love someone because they are in such a dark place. It is so beautifully depressing. It's my absolute favorite Sarah Mclachlan song. I cry every single time I listen to it. I can totally relate to the lyrics. When she sings, "It's just that we stayed too long in the same old sickly skin" it takes my breath away. Just the way she sings that is amazing. The way she sings the entire song is amazing. She is an incredible singer with a wonderful voice and her music is magnificant.