A Mess To Be Made

isn't it "well my life is not a bank statement"? i dunno maybe i'm just smokin. but this is a great song either way!

i think its "my heart..." but i always felt this song is about a couple who has little feudes while they are together, and need to be apart(so your leaving for months at a time, i'll help you out the door) but when they have to be apart they miss eachother very much (once your gone i just stare out the window, please wont you please come back home), and their relationship is kindof a mess, but its holding together so far. actually i guess its written from one persons point of view so maybe only one of them is doing the pining (check spelling) but either way thats what it means to me. i like the fact that its in 3/4 time too...their arent enough songs like that today...lots of 6/8 but no 3/4 really.

i think its "my heart..." but i always felt this song is about a couple who has little feudes while they are together, and need to be apart(so your leaving for months at a time, i'll help you out the door) but when they have to be apart they miss eachother very much (once your gone i just stare out the window, please wont you please come back home), and their relationship is kindof a mess, but its holding together so far. actually i guess its written from one persons point of view so maybe only one of them is doing the pining (check spelling) but either way thats what it means to me. i like the fact that its in 3/4 time too...their arent enough songs like that today...lots of 6/8 but no 3/4 really.

It's about an ex who liked the place where they were living, where you are judged by what you own & how much he hates it but whill stay there for her sake. the part about being on the phone & "go and write a song about it" was written about the phone call Nate had with her & one of her friends in the background screamed that to him.

"so you're leavin for months at a time"

i love the format. gorgeous lyrics and songs.

"you're a mess to be made"

ughh

I'm not sure if this is what is meant, but "a mess to be made" could refer to the mistakes the person has not made yet...and he obviously has made a mess of his days, and doesn't want to screw up her life like he's screwed up his. She leaves because he has trouble really connecting in the relationship when he's so afraid he'll hurt her (and thus in his dream, she's all alone with tears in her eyes), and she can't take it. So he helps her out the door, he knows he's not a good thing in her life, but when she gone he just thinks about her and wants her back. No one else really sees him as a screw-up like he sees himself, since he's doing fine financially. But he knows that his life is so much more than numbers on paper.

the part that says "Id' hate this place if it werent for the waves, if it werent for the fact that you love it. Where they measure a man on the money he spends, well my love is not a bank statement."

is about his girlfriend and california. he hates california.

more specifically, about san diego. i just moved to san diego and put this song on a mix for my boyfriend, why does the format always describe my life so perfectly? i love this song.

This is one of my favorite songs by the Format.

First of all, I always hear the start of the second verse as "So you're leaving, four months at a time," which to me means that the girl he's singing to is a student who goes away for entire semesters.

"I'll help you out the door," goes along with this because he knows she has to go, but can't let her go. "Once you're gone I'll just stare out the window, please could you please come back home?"

It reminds me a lot of my relationship. My girlfriend and I go to separate schools in different towns, and watching her leave to go back to school is one of the hardest things I'll ever have to do.

"In a dream that I can't seem to shake she is, she is standing alone," is his insecurity. He's terrified their relationship is going to end because of the distance, and all he can see is them each ending up alone.

"What a mess that I make of my days, trying to save myself, save myself. Then theres you, your a mess to be made." I see this as his admission that he's having trouble dealing with the separation. His life is crumbling because all he can think of is the pain, and he sees her as having a high chance of leaving him, or finding someone else, giving her a reason to leave him: "A mess to be made."

Anyway, this song is to me the story of my initial fears before my girlfriend and I began the 'long distance' stage of our relationship. Insecurity and unfamiliar distance are both very frightening and uncomfortable aspects to add to a relationship, no matter how much you love someone.

Hope someone got something out of this (my first) contribution to this site.

Cheers.