I miss your smell and your style and your pure abiding way
Miss your approach to life and your body in my bed
Miss your take on anything and the music you would play
Miss cracking up and wrestling and our debriefs at end of day

These are things that I miss
These are not times for the weak of heart
These are the days of raw despondence
I never dreamed I would have to lay down my torch for you like this

I miss your neck and your gait and your sharing what you write
Miss you walking through the front door documentaries in your hand
Miss traveling our traveling and your fun and charming friends
Miss our Big Sur getaways
And to watch you love my dogs

These are the things that I miss
These are not times for the weak of heart
These are the days of raw despondence
I never dreamed I would have to lay down my torch for you like this

One step, one prayer, I soldier on, simulating moving on

I miss your warmth and the thought of us bringing up our kids
And the part of you that walks with your stick-tied handkerchief

These are things that I miss
These are not times for the weak of heart
These are the days of raw despondence
I never dreamed I would have to lay down my torch for you like this


Lyrics submitted by nataloa

Torch Lyrics as written by Guy Sigsworth Alanis Morissette

Lyrics © WARP MUSIC LIMITED, Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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Torch song meanings
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  • +1
    General Comment

    Human-beef: The title seems to refer back to the style of music called a "torch song" which is exactly what this is, a song of lament or strong longing for a former love. Check out the Wikipedia article which gives a very good description. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torch_song I think this song is going to be one of her more underrated songs and it is absolutely gorgeous.

    mattw783on June 07, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    To me her "Torch" is her love, feelings, all her dreams and hopes for the person she is talking about, and she never thought that she would ever have to lay down her torch for him, In essence let the flame on their relationship go out. Through the song she is remembering all of the things she loved about him that created her "torch" or the love she never thought would die... I love this song a lot, the words are amazing. She is always able to convey her feelings so well that anyone can relate to what she is saying.

    youaintright20on June 19, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I agree that the song is about missing a former love. And as HighOnSunday51 (great name and song, btw) said, it's about carrying or holding a torch for him, which means longing and loving someone who doesn't feel the same way about you. And "I never dreamed I'd lay down my torch for you like this" means that she never thought that she would stop longing for him and loving him. Like several songs on Flavors of Entanglement, this is probably about Ryan Reynolds.

    JayC614on October 30, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Wow.. beautiful :O pretty simple song about how she misses a former boyfriend I believe...

    However, what does she mean with "torch"? What does it symbolize? Is it some kind of slang that europeans wouldn't understand? x)

    Human-beefon June 06, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    has no one here heard the phrase 'holding a torch for someone'? :P

    HighOnSunday51on July 06, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i agree with 'HighOnSunday51'... When someone holds a 'torch' for someone they love them..or have a crush...x its clearly about a former boyfriend she isnt quite over and she is still holding a torch for him...x

    deedee38on January 03, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i agree with 'HighOnSunday51'... When someone holds a 'torch' for someone they love them..or have a crush...x its clearly about a former boyfriend she isnt quite over and she is still holding a torch for him...x

    deedee38on January 03, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I wonder if she wrote this song for Ryan Reynolds after their breakup in 2007. Beautiful song about a former love and how she still misses their time together. And "carrying a torch" means pining for/admiring someone from far away.

    lucimonon July 08, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Some believe her infatuation and boundary abandonment with Ryan was the expectable result of one set of wildly conflicted values she had revealed in her songs in previous albums, and that she was not "walking as she had been talking" in that relationship. I dunno.

    But it's clear from far more than the lyrics in several of the songs on "FOE" that she was pretty dis-integrated from the supposedly "emotionally bulletproof" position some have ascribed to her over the years. In fact, she may have never been so emotionally committed to someone else in her entire life.

    Here, she =trudges=. (Look =that= word up.) "These are the days of raw despondence."

    Committed processor of her experience that she has shown hereself to be since 1994, should we expect anything much =other= than songs like this and "Not as We" in the year or so after she has lost what, at the time at least, was the "love of her life?"

    naughtmoseson September 15, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I Have To Say Alanis Is An Amazing artist. I Adore How She Puts Her Whole Self Out There. Her Music Is Raw In The Most Beautiful Way. I Want To Believe That This Song Is About Ryan But For Some Reason I Cant But Hey I Could Be Wrong.

    Musicinvadesmeon January 29, 2010   Link

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