Our Hell

The song is about not being able to admit that a relationship is dead.

In the first verse she is coming to the realization that the relationship is not what it used to be. She cannot pinpoint when it went bad. All she knows is that it isn't the same.

In the second verse she is saying that it doesn't work to try to color in the black hole between them. She's proposing that they give up ("Can we stop?"). It will hurt to finally let go ("My eyes will burn, my throat will ache") but it is even worse to pretend that everything is okay ("Punishment to stall what is done").

I'm not positive about the third verse but I believe it is talking about the pattern of relationships and how they all eventually go bad. The most telling line in the song is "Thats why I tried to save you, but it can't be done." This is about losing hope in love. She loved whoever she is talking about but even that love couldn't stop the pattern.

These lyrics are so genius.

as weird as this sounds, but the very first time i heard this song i thought of a friendship and how my friend and i had known eachother ever since the day i was born, yet the friendship alone was dying however we kept returning to it because it felt safe. so when i think of our hell, our hell is a good life i think of the fact that although we'd go for long periods of time not talking at all, we would always start talking again because we knew that somehow the dying friendship did mean a lot to us.

I think it's about relationship. That while may be bad at times, is so much better than what other people go through ("we apologize, our hell is a good life.") And I think slowly, Emily pushed this person away. First by not paying full attention to him ("My back will turn your face towards the fence.") And the relationship they once had is slowly morphing into something empty, and not meaningful. ("What I thought it was it isn't now.") But they keep trying to keep it together despite how distanced, or how non-existant said relationship is ("colouring in the black hole") And then when they stop, Emily is still wanting to colour in the black hole, still wanting to try and keep this, but the other person chooses his friends, or to end the relationship, which breaks Emily's heart. ("When we stop my hands will shake, My eyes will burn, my throat will ache, Watching you turn from me towards your friends.") And then it just seems Emily thought she was helping, trying to get him more out of life than just friends and what not, but it didn't work.

"Our hell is a good life" Such a beautiful line.

I read in an interview Emily did that the song had to do with how our problems aren't really problems. The problems of modern society are such "luxury problems," there are millions of people in this world dealing with a hell of a lot worse. So our trials and tribulations, what we think is "hell," is a very goood life compared to other things. This song really puts things in perspective.

Just my opinion, love the other interpretations on here too!

i think she might be trying to say that our lives arnt as good as we convince ourselves they are, and basically we are just disillusioned because we dress the world up and tell ourselves we have a good life, missseeing it for what it really is, our hell. If we stopped pretending the world/ourlives are good, we'd see what it really is and it would be devistating for us and emily (When we stop my hands will shake, My eyes will burn, my throat will ache) what she thought was good(the world/her life) really isnt at all. The bullet in the gun refers to our fates being sealed by death and i think she could have being trying to save mabye her father since he died recently. Basically i think shes expressing how she sees the world in her time of grieving over her father.

Looking at the comments, I think I might be wrong about this. Everyone else's is about "World problems", "Luxury problems", "Teenage innocence", Etc. Please bear with me.

I think that she means that her relationship with someone is dying, and they barely realise it.

Now, let me get this straight, a relationship doesn't necessarily mean a lover. It could be a friend, a best friend... Or, yes, a lover.

Anyways, she's saying that the relationship is dying. "Watching you turn from me towards your friends." I think that the line right there kind of proves my point. Her friend/partner is slowly migrating away from her, and getting closer to his friends.

That's my (Fairly) short interpretation of this song. Since all people interpret songs based on their knowlage, I'm basing this one off of what happened to me. Only difference is, was that I was the boy (I'm a girl), and my best friend was the girl (He's a boy... Not meaning to offend him by calling him a girl). I really messed up badly with that case, but I hope I can pull it together and fix it...

It's

First went wrong is hard to find (line 1)

Last went wrong, where's my prize under the lights (line 3)

Can we call it in? We'll be on the road(line 5)

i think she might be trying to say that our lives arnt as good as we convince ourselves they are, and basically we are just disillusioned because we dress the world up and tell ourselves we have a good life, missseeing it for what it really is, our hell. If we stopped pretending the world/ourlives are good, we'd see what it really is and it would be devistating for us and emily (When we stop my hands will shake, My eyes will burn, my throat will ache) what she thought was good(the world/her life) really isnt at all. The bullet in the gun refers to our fates being sealed by death and i think she could have being trying to save mabye her father since he died recently. Basically i think shes expressing how she sees the world in her time of grieving over her father.

first time i heard this song it reminded me of my relationship.. our hell is a good life.. wouldn't part with it, even though it isn't the best it means so much. that's just like what the song's saying. "what i thought it was it isn't now" .. used to seem like it was good, now it's just undeniably.. broken i guess. But better have hell than have nothing.

I always thought that the line "Our hell is a good life" meant that they'd been through a lot of hard times, and through terrible things, but they are happy anyway and are able to deal with it. They've gotten over the fact that their lives aren't perfect.