Broken

We all have loved ones that made such big impacts on our lives. But as we continue to go down the road of life, we still take a peice of every person with us, including those hard break ups and lost friendships.

To me this song is about how freeing it can be just to blow out of town or from certain situation or person when its holding you back.

Sometimes having no direction at all is having the only direction you need.

I finally understand it for myself. It's obviously up to everyone's own interpretation but I have to lean more to the side of it's getting over a past relationship and loving the one you're in.

im kind of just going verse by verse but..

You're out of your old relationship and everything is behind you now, the things that you don't need anymore. You finally realize you have nothing to go back to, so you can keep moving forward with the new one.

Then it's kind of like "before you i was broken" but even if i still am, i'd rather be broken with you than without you.

The next one is kind of like "wow, i didn't know what to expect" because you left this old relationship and you're over it and now you're with someone that.. just fits.

that last verse seems like it means finally your past has faded and you thought you were losing so much, but really you just wasted so much time when you had something better in front of you all along.

Probably the worst wording ever, but hey, it's what I think.

definitely my favourite Jack Johnson song!

For me, this is about breaking free of something, maybe work you did not like.

With everything ahead of us we left, everything behind But nothing that we needed at least Not at this time And I, feeling that I'm feeling, well Is feeling like my life was finally mine With nothing to go back to We just continue, to drive

He maybe quit a job he didn't like and has the feeling that this job demanded too much time is his life. He had the feeling that his life was not his own life but the life for the company or something.

But everything I was working for, only worth nickels and dimes But if I had had a minute for every hour that I wasted I'd be rich in time I'd be doing fine

The person did not get happy through the job and sees the time he was spending with being unhappy in his work/job as time lost. The only thing he got through his job is a little money, but he would even trade that in in order to have back his lost time..

But it of course could also be a love song :)

This song is about breaking free of something or someone, and finding something else that makes you see life in a completely different light.

Perhaps that new something is God, or a significant other? That's the beauty of Jack Johnson's songs, he leaves it open to interpretation.

I think this is about someone who was crushed by a break up or someone leaving, but are finally kind of getting over it. The person still wants them along with them, hence "But I’d rather be broke down with you by my side"... but he/she is moving on. Great stuff Jack. Please don't ever stop writing music.

ditto to that. jack johnson is an excellent writer/vocalist/performer. such a nice guy, and such a pleasant and mellow sound. i love this song on the new tv, and i agree with columbia on how his songs are open to interpretation

eletric guitar... Sounds un-Jack like its crazy. Still an awesome song.

Sounds like someone getting over a hard relationship, but yet a piece of this person still yearns for that significant other. To me it sounds like the person is moving on, but still wants that person in their life at least as friend

I don't think that this has anything to with a break-up. With the use of "we" in the song, "We just continue, to drive" I think he is recognizing that maybe relationships are hard to maintain. He says, "So without you I was broken But I’d rather be broke down with you by my side"

Doesn't mean that they broke up. With out the significant other he was completely broken. With them things don't always go completely smooth, but he'd rather have her by his side than go on without her.
There are things that he was searching for because he himself was lost in his own life and wasn't really sure what he wanted so he might have had selfish motives. But together they both worked out their demons, and things still might not be perfect, but they at least can still be together. He realizes relationships are hardwork, but he'd rather go through the work than give up.

aaand I kinda rambled..