The Moment I Said It

I wanted to post to put the lyrics right at last....for some reason no one wanted to go to the effort to put them down correctly (after one good correction from the original post that contained a great many errors, there were still a few things that were incorrect and the last little part of the song was ignored where she is singing "bye bye bye bye...." over and over...anyway, these are the correct lyrics - see the first verse for "Lead in your eyelids" and the part where she starts to sing "Smash"):

"The Moment I Said It"

The moment I said it the moment I opened my mouth lead in your eyelids Bulldozed the life out of me I know what you're thinking But darling you're not thinking straight Sadly things just happen.... we can't...... explain

It's not even light out, But you've somewhere to be - no hesitation No I've never seen you like this And I dont like it, I dont like it, I dont like it at all

Just put back the car keys or somebody's going to get hurt who are you calling at this hour sit down, come round , I need you now we'll work it all out together we're getting no where tonight now sleep, I promise, it'll all seem better somehow in time

It's not even light out Suddenly, you've somewhere to be No hesitation mmm...I've never seen you like this Your scaring me, Youre scaring me, Your scaring me to death

Don't..oh, smash....please Don't...oh.....and another one Don't...oh.....and another one

I'm losing you.......I'm losing you

Trust me on this one I've got a bad feeling Trust me on this one You're going to throw it all away With no hesitation

Bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye

Originally when I heard this song I simply thought it was about the author having said something that hurt the man who seemed to be intoxicated or somehow unable to process the problem in his current state. Today, while listening to the song for about the 50th time, I wondered if maybe the "smash" part was him hitting her. There is no real indication of violence there, but it just seemd to fit to me. "Smash, don't , not, please, another one." reminded me very much of that kind of pleading (as in, please don't smash me in the face again) but that is just an idea.

It is really one powerful song.

I think that Tally is pretty close in her interpretiation, but I'll add this:

True, Imogen said something to him that set him off. However, it doesn't matter so much what it was, and moreover, anything too specific would lose its mass appeal to myriad listeners. What is clear is that he's making more of it than she had intended... (although in a manner of speaking she's disrespecting him... since as is true with all communication there is the message as it was intended, the message as it is interpreted and the message as it is objectively. Yet who are we to say that any one viewpoint is any less significant than the other). At any rate, she's telling him that he's misinterpreted her meaning when she says you're not thinking straight - this explanation adequately refutes any idea that he's drunk, or in a drugged state, etc., (he could be, but it's not at the crux of the issue, and it's not essential to the theme of acting irrationally). Not thinking straight is a state of mind one would expect in someone who is acting emotionally, rather than logically, especially in state of anger.

The idea that she was unfaithful to him, or broke up with him, etc., are interesting speculations of what she said, but it's not relevant to the theme of the song, and again would only serve to narrow the breadth of the song and limit the impact of the song on myriad of listeners' points of view, who by their nature bring their own set of issues, emotional baggage, life experience to bear on their understanding of the lyrics. At issue is his ostensible over reaction. There is little reason to believe that her concerns over him hurting someone in the car is meant to be taken literally. This is not a song about the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs anger, etc. What she is saying by somebody's going to get hurt is that if he goes beyond what is reasonable in his reaction to what she said, i.e., over reacts... someone's going to get hurt in a pscyhologic/spiritual sense; songs of this nature are often meant to infer emotional injury, or rather in this case the hurt or injury that is potentially being done to the relationship.

Also refuting the previous claims that she's ending the relationship is when she says we'll work it out TOGETHER. Generally, people that are breaking up have failed to work it out together... they may resolve their difference independently and move on but they don't work things out together... Also, she in both words and tone are worried that's she's losing him. One does not worry about losing someone they've broken up with. NO, she is not breaking up with him. She is compelling him not leave to sit with her and reasonably address the problems in their relationship.

She may be insecure, and may have acted jealously, but this is speculation on my part. I offer this speculation based upon the her question and statement, which inspires one to consider jealously as the theme of what she said that set him off, since she asks AND state two things which are not consistent with other parts of the song, such that without fully exploring their meaning these components are oddly out of place in the song. This are:

1. "It's not even light out, but you've somewhere to be.

2. "Who are you calling at this hour?"

Perhaps she's being jealous and controlling or maybe her fears are not without reason. Eitherway, it seems to be a tone she's set in motions and possible the issue that is related to his hasty departure.

I will say that JORDANCEE has a valid point about her breaking up with him, because in the spoken word the male says "I'll be fine", which one often say, when they are on the heels of just being rejected, however there is not enough supporting evidence in the rest of the song to make this idea take flight.

Why is it that we allow relationships to end over mere misunderstandings, I seems that love should be made of sterner stuff than that.

Does anyone else hear a man yelling behind the music... it's at about 3 minutes and 17 seconds into the song. It's as though you can hear the argument in the background of the song.

It can't quite pinpoint who is at fault in the lyrics. The speaker seems to sound a little guilty:

"Suddenly things just happened, we can’t explain…"

Like they cheated or something...

"Just put back the car keys…or somebody’s gonna get hurt."

Let's say the speaker is a woman and this woman cheated. The quote above makes it seem like the boyfriend/husband/spouse(insert title here) is going to try to hunt down whoever she cheated with.

I don't know, that's my take on this...

Also,I think the lyrics are: "No I've never seen you like this" & not "no one ever sees you like this."

"Does anyone else hear a man yelling behind the music... it's at about 3 minutes and 17 seconds into the song. It's as though you can hear the argument in the background of the song."

Yeah, I just listened to it at that spot and I hear it. Around 3:22 it sounds like he says "I'll be fine" and then 3:26 or 3:27 or so he yells it. That's what it sounds like to me, at least.

Beautiful song. She paints the scene incredibly.

The arguments you hear in the backround are Imogen and her boyfriend recorded for the album. It's just about a relationship that is slowly falling apart at the seams as it comes to a head. Sounds like she suspects that from his distance that he is playing the field and when confronted with that it becomes a big issue about trust and things of that sort. He thinks she's freaking out for no reason but she loves him too much to let him go that easy. During the argument he becomes someone she's never seen before and it's slowly killing her inside. She wants him to be rational and he just wants her to stop being so needy but the whole reason for her codependence is she can feel him distancing himself from her little by little. It's the point in the argument when you know you've said too much but you just try to ge a reaction then it escalates from there into a shouting match before somone gives in and leaves. And the end of a relationship those are the fights that make you hate each other and leads to the break the lease move to opposite sides of the city then run into each other uncomfortably and wonder why you left each other in the first place.

good analysis pearljam but I would add that the speaker seems to be the one who set it all off. The moment she says "it" things start to happen.

"Suddenly things just happened, we can’t explain…"

This sounds like a fight and the other party is mad and going to walk out but the speaker is trying to get them to stay, to cool down and they will forget about being angry but that doesn't address the underlying problems.

"Now sleep, I promise it‘ll all seem better…somehow…in time."

I really had an epiphany with this one. I think that Imogen (or whoever) has just told her boyfriend that her feelings aren't the same anymore and her boyfriend is having a bad reacting, is possibly drunk. "Just put back the car keys, or somebodys gonna get hurt" "Youre scaring me" Its possible he's getting ready to drive off or do something irrational and the "smash" is the smashing of a car accident...

This song seems that it can be interpreted in many ways. But I'd like to state my opinion of it from a personal experience.
A couple nights ago I had a friend call me because he was on the brink of committing suicide. This song always reminds me of that night.

(1st verse) Just like in the song, he wasn't thinking straight and dragging the life out of me as we talked and he explained his reasons. It just broke my heart.

(2nd verse) We started talking at two a.m. in the morning and I didn't hang up until six a.m. the same morning. He kept saying how he was at another of our friends houses (where everyone was asleep) and he needed to be at his to go through with it.

(3rd verse) This whole time I was quite tired and I wasn't used to staying up so late as he always did. I couldn't tell him I was tired and instead tried to tell him to go to sleep as well. It didn't work that well and I ended up falling asleep and hanging up the phone first. But before I did all we did was discuss the pros and cons, our past depressions, and what we truly missed.

(4th verse) The whole time we were talking he hit some bumps in the road. He's always had some anger issues and this night he got really upset. I remember hearing him walking back and forth and smashing his hands against walls and the sorts. Of course it scared me because I had never seen him this truly angry. This whole time making fustrated crys and breathing heavy because of all the pressure I was putting against him to change his mind.

(5th verse) Eventually he moved to the kitchen and you could hear things dropping from the counter. Later he told me he was looking for knives. The noise was similar to the crashes in the song. I was rambling the whole time he was smashing.

(6th verse) He wanted so bad to just throw it all away. I was begging and pleading. Somewhere along the way I started crying.

Eventually I had convinced him to stick it out just a few more days. I'm still hoping that he finds something that will truly make him happy. But the last verse is what reminds me of the last half hour of the conversaton. I repeated asked him if he would wait just to reassure myself and we repeated our goodbyes and goodnights over and over.

He hung up and I whispered be safe.

instead of: It’s not even like that…but you’ve somewhere to be. & It's not even like that.

it's actually: It's not even light out but you've somewhere to be. & It's not even light out.

anyways: really awesome song to end the album with. one of my favorites from it.

song is about something being wrong between two people and in their relationship. one is walking out with the car keys to leave(somewhat abrutly, i gather) and the other is asking them to stop and just talk to them. the one leaving is ready to throw it all away, while the other is scared and willing to work everything out. they convinced things will seem better if they just sleep or talk about it in the morning after sleep.

I dont know if any of you have seen her perform this live, but the audience was silence and attentive when she sang this. I agree with all of you. This obviously about a relationship giong bad. Its quite dramatic huh? The high point of the song for me is "Trust me on this one. I’ve got it bad for you. Trust me on this one You’re gonna throw it all away…"