The Lengths

It's that last meeting after a break up. You want to embrace the person one last time, and make sure you know what is going on. But after that, it's over.

I have poured several weeks trying to learn this song on guitar, and i'm still fine-tuning every last bit of it, and i listen to it almost every day. The song speaks not only with it's lyrics, but the tone of both guitars, the beat, the drums, every last bit of it. He feels like he is dying inside, because he found a girl who meant the world to him, but she started to slowly part with him until the very moment this song is about, the discussion of the end of their relationship. he is saying he felt it coming for awhile, and wants her to be happy for the rest of her life. the part about making amends or going another way, that is his one, final plead for another chance. BUt he isn't begging for it; he's just making sure that is completely it. He is reminiscing about all the great times they had together. He is saying he would not do anything for her to not break up with him, but he would do anything for her to be as happy as she possibly can every moment of her life. The last verse is kind of strange, in the way he is talking in the third person about himself, or any man that fell in love with her, but i'm pretty sure it's him. It's simply a story about what he did when he first fell in love with her, until the last five lines. in the last five lines, he is telling her that life will be hard for awhile without him, but that she has nothing to lose by leaving him. It is truly a beautiful song, and i hope the general music-listening audience will turn away from K$sha and her bunch and towards wonderful bands like the Black Keys.

I think the first time I heard this song was a couple months back but it didn't really hit me until this weekend. Personally, the tone of this song admits there's some pain, but there's always been pain, and there always will be pain. Throw it on the pile and keep on keepin on.

gotta love connecting with a song

First Stanza - Essentially, a brief insight into the final conversation between the wronged man and the woman who must leave him for what she's done.

Second Stanza - The narrarter is speaking to the man, telling him life will go on. Though he can't depend on the woman, at least nature is reliable ("see the moonlight shining, on your window pane, see it leave you, as faithful as it came"). The narrater tells the man to either solve the problem or move; he chooses to do the latter.

Third Stanza - It is broken up into to parts. In the first section, the narrater is speaking to the woman who broke the man's heart. The narrater questions how she could be so cruel to such a loyal man.

Then in the second part of the stanza, with the line, "coals are hot to walk..." the narration shifts towards both parties in my opinion. The narrater says, "coals are hot to walk across without your shoes, but in the end know that you got nothin to lose." I believe this serves as advice to both parties that life alone may be difficult, but its really all there is left. To the woman: she has nothing to lose as clearly she did not care for the man and will not be as bothered that they parted ways. To the man: he did was necessary and disposed of the woman who was his world, he's lost it all.

Kind of a boring and systematic way at breaking down such a beautiful song, but I thought I might as well post my opinion.

The moonlight, the clockwork, the lengths: He'd follow the distance of the sun for her He's carefully trained himself so as to be faithful But in the end, what did he really lose? Did he lose her, or was she never there in the first place?

That last line of the song threw me off at first listen I think he's saying what he said when the relationship started: "you got nothing to lose", indicating he threw himself into something he wasn't sure about, so it must not have been love the whole time they were together.

"The care he took, the lengths to which he'd go" I think that means he tried to build love with her, since with love you're usually sure from the moment you meet.

But it was all in vain and very painful to realize the truth, which apparently was before she realized it: "I felt you leavin' before you'd even gone". Poor guy didn't want to be the first to break up cause he terrified of being blamed breaking up something he worked so hard for.

It is a beautiful song, the guitar sounds like heartstrings being tugged at and ripped apart in a slow, painful method. I can imagine this song playing in a movie when the person is very depressed.

This is such a beautiful song.

"no more talk can take me from this pain"

Seems like whatever she did to him was irreparable. Despite the fact that he's gone to all these lengths to be with her, he's letting her leave.

Wow

I've definitely been able to relate to this song. Unlike many other bands, every word in every line means something... You have to read it carefully and over and over again and then it starts to sink in.

I love this song, it's one of my favorites on that album -which is stellar in itself. I first had this song on my ipod but hadn't listened to it. One day in January when I was walking to school for a half-day (about a three mile walk) and I had my ipod on shuffle. This is the last song I heard, at the end of my journey as I reached the school. It really spoke to me because at the time there was a friend of mine that I really cared for and as I listened to this it became clear to me that he wasn't going to ever return those feelings, and that it had all been a waste of time. Having a bedroom window that faces the moon, I've always identified with it. So when I heard the second verse it made me think that I was that moonlight and that I needed to move on. For about a year after that day, I listened to this song every night before I fell asleep. The song doesn't say a lot, as far as number of words, but it really conveys a lot of meaning.

This is definitely a wonderful song. I love the lyrics and the music. That sound in the background is strange, but I really like it. It's kind of haunting. I wasn't sure if it was him playing distorted guitar with a slide or if it was a violin... the book for the CD says that Dan plays fiddle on the album, and at some points, that background sound does sound like a fiddle.