Can't believe that I did it again
Wake me up from this nightmare
‘Cause this monster is filling me up, filling me out

Everyday I live a bit less; one night leads to another
Even if I went back they would'nt recognize me or criticize me

Who are you that lies when you stare in my face
Telling me that I'm just a trace of the person I once was
'Cause I just can't tell if you're telling the truth or a lie
On you I just can't rely. after all you're just a piece of glass

Still this nightmare's all mine, when I call him he answers
I can tell him when to come, when to stay
Sometimes I'm weaker than he is, is he just letting me win?
He can tell me when to come, when to stay

Who are you that lies when you stare in my face
Telling me that I'm just a trace of the person I once was
'Cause I just can't tell if you're telling the truth or a lie
On you I just can't rely. after all you're just a piece of glass

Don't talk, listen
Hold me tighter
Stay with me just for a while
Until the sun shines stay with me
Just give me one more day

Who are you that cries when you stare in my face
Telling me that I'm just a trace of the person I once was
'Cause we're not the same, you're just a picture of me
You're gone as soon as I leave; you've lived my life for me
And you're no more than a piece of glass
You're no more than just a piece of glass


Lyrics submitted by mcbecaboo

Piece of Glass Lyrics as written by Derek W. Webb Danielle Young

Lyrics © MUSIC SERVICES, INC.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Piece of Glass song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

6 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song represents how we rely on society and on the "norm" to tell us who we should be. We try to get away from that view, but we struggle each day with trying to satisfy the "mirror".

    mcbecabooon April 24, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    From the Authors:

    "'Piece of Glass' came out of a conversation with Danielle Young and myself about the pressures that we and our friends were feeling to measure up physically against the standards of our culture. Our battle is nothing more than our reflection in the mirror and the lies that is tells us about who were really are" - Derek Webb "(Piece of Glass) is a song we wrote when a really good friend of ours was dealing with bulimia...I had written a story about the same subject a year earlier and I found out about my friend and then we wrote this song. This disease is more common than people realize, especially among college students, who we mostly sing to and play for. We just felt the need to let the students know that they aren't alone. That there are a lot of people who deal with it. The story in the song doesn't give a 'Jesus loves you happy ending', because that's not how you feel when you are dealing with it. 'Jesus loves you' didn't cut it for my friend. She knew that, she is a christian and she is healed now, but at the end of the song it just basically says that who I see in the mirror is not really me, it's who I think I see. The disease is in the mind. People who have it can't see themselves properly. When they look into the mirror, an 90 pound girl sees 300 pounds. The end of the song it just says, 'You're just a picture of me, you've lived my life for me and I'm not going to let you do that anymore.' I have very personal feelings about that song." -Danielle Young

    On writing the song: "danielle and i got to talking about how we were realizing more and more what a huge responsibility it was having a platform such as we do, and taking full advantage of it. she was talking about all of the convictions that she had, and how she so desired to be more expressive on stage about some of those things...specifically we were talking about how aware we were becoming of the horrible effects of eating disorders, especially in friends that we have, and have had. danielle was very adamant about the fact that no matter how unattractive this subject was, one couldn't afford to ignore it. it genuinely affects everyone, and is unfortunately very relevant on college campuses...i suggested that she address the subject from stage [and] she write a song. she had written some well textured poetry over the years that she had let me read, so i knew that she was definitely capable. we eventually came to the conclusion that we could try and work together on it, though she had never written an entire song, and i had always written alone...she wrote a page's worth of her basic thoughts on the matter, gave it to me, and i went into another room to think. we went back and forth revising and re-revising each others ideas for about a half hour, until we felt confident enough to actually collaborate face to face. once we really got going, we were done in about 20 minutes. the song really wrote itself." -- Excerpt from Derek’s Journals

    jarsonicon May 27, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I heard this song recently and just had to hear it again. As I listened closer I realized why I had felt so connected to it. It seemed as though the lyrics were speaking to me. The more I listened to the song, the more I realized the underlying theme. As much as I could relate it to myself, I had no idea that the meaning of the song was just that. Most songs talk about love and loss and even drugs and sex and rarely touch on the surfance of addiction. If anything maybe drugs and alcohol, but I related the song still to me. Then I came here and read that the song was actually created out of a conversation with a bulimic. I'm bulimic! I've never heard a song that was written about bulimia and up until now I thought it was the "unpopular" eating disorder. I've heard a song or two on anorexia (an eating disorder I began with, which led to my current diagnosis of bulimic) but never thought bulimia would even be recognized by the media let alone the music industry. I just want to thank you for writing a song that truly touched me. I only hope that other's suffering can find this song and know that someone understands and they're not alone in this fight.

    Dancer3440on May 09, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    That's weird.

    When I first heard the song, the lyric "'Cause this monster is wasting me away and taking my days " was "'Cause this monster is filling me, up, filling me out".

    Personally, I like the older lyric better...I can't see why it was changed.

    SwingGirl Spookyon May 29, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I've never heard the "filling me up, filling me out" version--are you sure you didn't just hear it wrong?

    cattieloveson July 10, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    no they didnt hear it wrong. i've been listening to this song for years I even wrote a paper about it for a class in highschool. that was in 2001. the original words were "filling me up and filling me out" it was also far more acoustic and you got a better feel of the song. i also think the last line is im not more than just a piece of.....glass. not you're. it was actually way better then what i hear now on last.fm

    stereogirlon February 18, 2009   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve. The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future. Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere" The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Album art
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Album art
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version. Great version of a great song,
Album art
Magical
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.