Whenever I Breathe Out, You Breathe In (Positive/Negative)

is the song good? Yeah, does it make you think? Yeah. Do I consider it neat? No. Haha. Neat and sad don't belong in the same sentence. This is a poor quality song on MP3 but it is fucking amazing. I think it's saying that life can desensitize people to the point of numbness and complete oblivion. The worst state isn't sorrow, it's when you realize that you've had so much pain that you can no longer feel anything at all. When you can't relate to anyone and no one pays any attention to your pleas..that's fucking tragic. It's like sleepwalking.

this song is neat. its about the point were u get that ur so depressed that u just dont care about netingh and don feel nething. its sad

well.. i feel like i should put in my two cents. Even though it doesn't matter if i'm right or wrong. BUT, This is how i take this song: First of all he is talking about himself in the song. When he talks about the "you're" he isn't talking about anyone in specific.

In the first part of the song when he says "Hey, Haven't seen you around in a while" he is talking about the "depression" he is having. I put quotations on depression because i believe depression is something different than what popular opinion believes. It's a numb, emotionless feeling. You're emotions are depressed. So when he says "I didn't feel angry or depressed" he's saying he's not here or there, he's not up or down, he stuck in a blank middle.. positive negative positive negative.

also, he could be anxious and he doesn't know why? The feeling of "I should be doing something.. but i don't know what or i'm not interested enough". He's bored and disappointed with life.

The lyrics "When you're living your life, well, that's the price you pay Whenever I breathe out, you're breathing it in Whenever I speak out, you're speaking out" I interpret that as "There's not much to this existence. I do the same shit, you do the same shit. I'm breathing it out and you're breathing it in. I'm speaking out but so are you. I'm not significant and neither are you."

whew! done. I hope someone has the patience to read this and tell me what they think.

I think the outro is a little long....

That said, I agree with iceburn 100% -- I have been in this exact same place twice..

Most people get depressed, succumb to it, revel in it...until eventually they are writing good art or living "just to piss the world off" . You get single mindedness and a "me against the world" attitude through depression that is very healthy at that time.

This isnt that kind of depression, at least not yet. This is the depression where the string goes out of your back and your knees buckle....eventually you find yourself in the same position a week later with a bad hairdo and half a beard.

You arent angry at life or the ex...you dont want to go out and scream at the world, you dont need a hug....

You just stare...and know that tomorrow is going to be just like today...

this is one of the very few songs that actually succeeds in putting some of my feelings into music. most people see things in black and white; they are either happy or unhappy (positive, negative). people like me see both sides of life and therefore find it impossible to lean one way or the other. so we're stuck not feeling anything. not quite depressed, but never satisfied either. this isn't about love or some deep connection with another person, but rather the lack of one. the lack of even wanting any kind of relationship because it just seems futile. also, most of mm's lyrics have to do with karma (whenever i breathe out, you're breathing in); the breath i'm exhaling is being used in your lungs now. either way you're getting the same thing, so it doesnt really matter how you go about doing things. this whole song seems to sum up what most of my thoughts during the day are about.

i think this song perfectly describes that feeling you get when you know you shouldn't even be upset but you can't force yourself to be happy. it's not depression because nothing has really upset you except yourself being negative.

it's that feeling you get when you're just sort of disgusted with yourself. "i didn't want to go to bed and i didn't want to stay up late" - it's like that vicious cycle when you stay up all night with no purpose then you wake up in the afternoon feeling completely pointless. i don't know, i can usually relate to this song in that instance.

this song has so many different meanings for me. generally, i think it is about being depressed to the point where you're completely numb to everything around you. it might even be a step further than depression, because with depression you actually have negative feelings, wheras this song expresses feeling nothing at all:

I didn't feel angry or depressed I didn't feel anything at all I didn't want to go to bed And I didn't want to stay up late

To understand this modest mouse song, i think you actually have to have experienced those lines. Well, to FULLY understand. For the lines...

I didn't go to work for a month I didn't leave my bed for eight days straight I haven't hung out with anyone Because if I did, I'd have nothing to say

...They relate to a friend of mine, more of an ex-lover, who layed in bed for 8 days in jail, withdrawing from heroine. The lines "whenever you breathe out, i breathe in" is the sort of relationship i share with him. like whenever he's ready to start a relationship, i'm not type of thing.

Idk, that's just the way I look at the song, but obviously it's different for everyone.

Modest Mouse is the shit! :]

sleepwalking fuckin a man well put

"I didn't go to work for a month I didn't leave my bed for eight days straight I haven't hung out with anyone 'Cause if I did, I'd have nothing to say I didn't feel angry or depressed I didn't feel anything at all"

After a certain breakup with a former lover, I remember I just handled shit bad and made myself numb to everything, just completely let go of everything that mattered. I would get to work at noon or later for months, and luckily my job let me slide for a while. I remember not caring about anything, just walking around in a total haze. This IS depression, but when it's going on you DON'T feel depressed, because you're just completely unconscious. It's weird that I've never come across another song that articulates such a simple concept. Sometimes you're depressed but you can still go through all the motions, this is beyond that.

This song basically just sums up disassociation. It's similar to depression, but you don't really have the sadness, and obviously no happiness. You just have nothing. Everything seems pointless. You feel robotic, as if your body is doing everything, and you’re just watching without much say in what you do. It's better than depression in some ways because you don’t get as sad about things, but it also makes you not care about living or anything, which can make you suicidal.