The Con

i think this song is about really losing control of yourself and doing things that you aren't proud of. It sounds like she maybe cheated on her girlfriend when she was out on the road, thus 'i am guilty of this, you should know this,' and 'a millions hours left to think of you and think of that.' It suggests that she had to spend the remainder of the tour feeling guilty about it. When she says 'encircle me, i need to be taken down,' it sounds kind of like a cry for help. like she's saying 'some one come here and stop me from doing all of this crazy shit.'

This song is about how Tegan Quin fell in love with a straight girl.

' “And,” she adds, “I was trying to date this girl who wasn’t available.”

The object of Tegan’s affection wasn’t interested in dating women, but, as The Con’s scathing title track details, that didn’t deter Tegan from pursuing her anyway. As the two women formed a friendship, Tegan’s pitch became more desperate, more aggressive.

“We were talking hours and hours a day and sending hundreds and hundreds of texts and e-mails, and spending all this money on trips, and there would be times where I would pull away and just ask her, ‘Why? Why are you still calling me? Why is this still continuing?’” Tegan recalls. “I felt like I was conning her. There was some magic in me that was making this person question everything and continue this dance with me.

“During this whole ordeal I was very confident and outgoing, but in my alone time I was crying on the floor every day–and I enjoyed it,” Tegan adds. “I enjoyed every second of my misery. The deeper and the darker it went, the more pleasant it felt.”

On “The Con,” Tegan brandishes her tears as a weapon, a means to elicit guilt and, subsequently, affection from her love interest. “Nobody likes me,” she sings as if working out her next move, “maybe if I cry…”'

"the con"....as in deceving someone. in the song, there's an argument or a dispute, and the singer is thinking about how easy it would be if she just 'cried' because then people would feel bad for her. it's easy to do that. thinking about crying as means of taking the easy road, you become 'capsized staring at the edge of safe'. you get taken over by the thought of taking the easy road. because when you know you've fucked up, if you cry people will feel bad for you, even if you're not sorry. you just don't want to hear anymore shit. so you cry, hoping people are conned into believing you're sorry.

Doesn't she say "nobody blames me, maybe if I cry"? I think it makes much more sense than "nobody likes me"

It's actually "erring on the edge of safe" not "staring..." - that makes no sense! Source: Album

i know this would be an obvious meaning to the song... since i'm interpreting it literally based on the lyrics (not sure how the songwriter using the lyrics in a literal sense or as a metaphor), but...

i think she found out that her girlfriend cheated on her, and witnessed it. Then confronted the girlfriend about it, and realized that their relationship is over and the girlfriend is leaving for her new mate.

I love this song with a passion. It pretty much explains my life, haha. It's about being in love, and feeling weak about it. It's about falling apart and taping the pieces back together. It's about crying for attention. It's about feeling extremely sad. It's about feeling alone. I LOVE IT.

I think that the singer (Tegan, of course) found out her respective other (girlfriend/maybe girlfriend/ect) was cheating on her while she was off on tour. And she didn't want it to ruin their relationship because she is just so alone she needs any person who will have her.

I'm pretty sure its about a person she was almost going to date found someone else while she was gone. It's a starve for the person and attention during a time where she's been single and her sister has had a girlfriend for so long.

Beautiful, and so godamn catchy.

i think that this song is obviously about a break up. to me, they are trying to convey the feeling of what it's like to know that a breakup is going to happen, or being paranoid about it happening.

wow. What can i say about this song? I agree with jbabylove. I think it's about cheating as well. My sister recently went thru an affair. I don't know how many times I've cried while listening to this.

It sounds to me like she cheated on her girlfriend while on tour...hence the "I'm home now. I'm coming around. I'm coming around," once she's done touring.

She's obvioulsy feeling bad about it...and sorta wants to punish herself. "Pain of heart. Don't call me back." She has spent a alot of time thinking of her and thinking of "that."

Yet at the same time, she wants to take the easy way out and cry...hoping her GF will feel pity and forgive her. That is the "edge of safe" she's staring at.

"Encicle me, I need to be taken down." Just like Owls said, she has lost herself. She knows how many she has hurt. Maybe she can't stop. Somebody needs to bring her back down to earth.

Those are my interpretations anyways. Whatever it means, I can most defintely feel the anguish and pain this is supposed to convey. Gosh, songs like this remind me of how much I love tegan and sara.