Lost Cause

This song is very close to my heart, because this song describes my mythological ex, that is the first girlfriend I ever had, she's one of those girls that are impossible to let go of, because you know that you're missing so much by letting go. This is my interpretation of the song, and it's probably influenced from my experience with her, so... take it with a grain of salt.

This song, to me, describes the way a suicidal, self-harming, depressed person is pushing everyone away from their lives (for whatever reason, to me it was because she found another man, and I'll explain why this reason comes into play in particular in this song,) and it is told from the perspective of the girl's boyfriend, as he is being locked out of her life.

"Your sorry eyes cut through the bone"

She is breaking up with her boyfriend, evident from the sorry eyes from the guilt of having to break his heart. He states that they cut through his bones, the strongest thing his body leans on, I think that this is partly because she is the one hurting him, and he takes it an insult that she is sad while he is the one that is supposed to be heartbroken. This is how I felt.

"They make it hard to leave you alone"

This line shows that he still loves her, and that the love is probably not reciprocated now, the sadness in her eyes makes it hard for him to leave, because he's grown attached to her and he knows that she needs help.

"Leave you here wearing your wounds"

Here we see the speaker implying that she cuts herself, and her sorry eyes of guilt and sadness make it hard for him to leave her all by herself, wearing her scars for everyone to see. He wants to help her, but he probably does this more so because he loves her. After all, we are selfish creatures, and all we do is for self-gain. I think Beck kept that in mind as he wrote this song.

"Waving your guns at somebody new"

This is the line I mentioned earlier, I think it implies that the girl left him for another man, most likely because she never loved him enough to abandon her promises for a man who she found to satisfy her desires better. I think that this line might also implicate that she has a temper, and a sense of control in a relationship, because the speaker states that if he leaves her, she will start waving her guns (which I think is an analogy to taking your anger out on someone else, on your new boyfriend,) at someone new, perhaps that is why she wanted to leave.

"Baby you're a lost cause"

A pretty simple line, yet perhaps one of the most powerful in the song. She can't be helped, she has too many problems to be helped, and he realizes this as he is starting to let go of his love for her. Sometimes, you are too deep in your love to someone, that when you suddenly break up with them, it becomes clear to you that they are much different than the person you fell in love with, or the person you were thinking to fall in love with. This is a perfect example for that.

"There's too many people you used to know They see you coming they see you go"

This line also reminds me of my ex, because after she broke up with me and went to her new boyfriend, she started losing contact with everyone else; she had lost most of her friends, even her best friend, and in the end she also lost me as a friend and a person to lean on (because her new boyfriend was incompetent, and pretty spineless. I left because it was an insult that she left me for him and had to go on with my life anyway,) all this lead her to cut and maybe worse things... I don't know. Anyway, this is what the line describes; there are too many people she used to know, but because of her problems and her mistreatment of others due to these problems, we all left her life. Although she still sees them coming and going, they are almost strangers now.

"They know your secrets and you know theirs

This line continues the previous two; they were her closest friends, they knew her secrets and they knew hers, but she distanced herself from everyone except this new person she replaced the speaker with. She found something to put her anger and problems and energy into, and now everyone else in her life fades away.

Because of this, I can sense some spite and hatred in the speaker's words, I think he hates her guts but can't bear not to love her at the same time. Once again, this is the precise feeling I felt.

I also think that this comes from the place of being afraid to be vulnerable; I think an unconscious reason that she left him was that she was scared that it was getting serious, and was afraid to lose him, I think she replaced him with someone whom she thought was a safer bet, only doing this from a selfish place to ensure her own sense of ownership and the control of her more secure relationship, and therefore not really loving him as much as she loves herself.

"This town is crazy; nobody cares"

I think this means that everyone who used to be in her life doesn't care about her as much as he does, and he calls them crazy for it. He says they don't care. That is partly true, maybe he only cares more, but the more probable reason they left is that they tried, but after trying time and time again they had figured out that she was a lost cause before him, and realized that it was futile to let her stay in their lives. This is probably the result of his denial that she is poisonous to him, wanting to get her back and being there for her for a while after she broke up with him for the slim chance that she would ditch everything to run back into his arms. As the person speaks in this song, he comes to the same conclusion; she is a lost cause.

"I'm tired of fighting Fighting for a lost cause"

He's tried of trying to get her back/trying to help her/trying to sympathize with her and love her, because she either spits in his face with her new and "improved" boyfriend, lashes out on him or simply is cold to him. All of this helps him reach the conclusion that he deserves to be happy too, and that he should finally let go. She is a lost cause, she is too deep in her own problems to be normal again, and he won't be with her anymore.

It could also mean that their relationship is a lost cause, and his efforts are just as futile as helping her is.

"There's a place where you are going You ain't never been before"

This might imply that he knows that by living like this, she will end up killing herself, because everyone who could have helped her through had left her and her new boyfriend is merely a toy she plays with, incapable of saving her. In a way, she caused this, he might be angry at her for that. She is going the unknown, whatever is after death, something she's never seen before.

It could also simply mean that she is setting herself up in a situation where she is more vulnerable to pain and suffering than she ever was.

"No one left to watch your back now No one standing at your door"

With everyone leaving her life, no one will be there to watch over her, no one will save her from suicide and cutting attempts, this emphasizes how incompetent her new boyfriend might be. It might also mean he's abusive, but this is a little bit of over-analyzation.

"That's what you thought love was for"

This is the most powerful line in the song. This is what she thought love was for; to serve her own selfish purposes and needs. She thought that her partner should serve her own purposes, therefore it was ok to replace her old one (the speaker) if she found it to make her happier, and the speaker mocks her for that, because by doing this she missed the very essence of romantic love; being vulnerable. She's shielded herself up in a secure relationship, but it is a relationship with a person who is empty of character, unable to intrigue her in his own ways, not bringing anything new into the table by means of being himself. She is only using him. He's not a partner as much as he is her tool to self-fulfillment.

The speaker finds this disgusting, and tells her that this is her twisted take on love. I think by finding this out, he decides that he doesn't love her anymore, because he doesn't want to be with a person who thinks that this is the purpose of love.

This song is so powerful to me because it sums up a year in my life which was cloudy with pain, self-hatred and, mostly, regret. I think it is a journey both Beck and I have made to discover the true nature of a person who we thought was perfect for us, but once the love faded and the heart has mended, we could finally see the person as who they truly were. But in the end, is it really their fault?

We all just want to be loved, sometimes, we make the stupidest promises and vows without knowing that the feelings will fade away a fortnight later, and so we leave someone heartbroken once we find out it wasn't the best bet to put your promises on. What we should take from this song is that love fades away, and even the best relationships can die for so many reasons. Please; don't tell someone you love them before you come to an understanding of what love is to you, because you might just be doing exactly what this song describes to someone else. Instead, live in the moment, love the present you have and don't book the future without knowing what it holds.

Thank you for reading :)