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Keep You Lyrics

We said, goodbye, tried a hand at magic
but we couldn't make us disappear
not a day goes by i don't wish i had you
so in a way i'm glad you're still here
it's a bittersweet victory
lovin' the ghost in front of me

now i can't laugh, can't cry
and i can't run, can't hide
what do i gotta do
what do i gotta do to keep you
what do i gotta do to keep you from doing this to me

i wrote a couple of notes one in love, one in anger
they're lying there dying in the dresser drawer
lived lounder than my voice
struggled through a stranger
he loved me til i loved you even more
it's a bittersweet victory
knowing someone else wanted me

now i can't laugh, can't cry
and i can't run, can't hide
you get used to the pain and numb to the sting til you can't feel anything.

you tried to explain, but i couldn't hear it
as if your words were my tears
flowing freely, warm and quiet
from the edges of my eyes, in my ears
then all that disappears

now i can't laugh, can't cry
and i can't run, can't hid
now i can't laugh, can't cry
and i can't run, can't hide

what do i gotta do
what do i gotta do to keep you
what do i gotta do to keep you from doing this to me
Song Info
Submitted by
xine On Jul 27, 2008
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13 Meanings

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Cover art for Keep You lyrics by Sugarland

"he loved me til i loved you even more it's a bittersweet victory knowing someone else wanted me"

I love this song and take its meaning to be something a bit different from others (from personal experience I suppose). To me it sounds as if she was falling for another man and gave that up for her steady relationship for some reason, even though secretly she wishes she could have been with the other man.

now i can't laugh, can't cry and i can't run, can't hide what do i gotta do what do i gotta do to keep you what do i gotta do to keep you from doing this to me

Now that she has reconciled her relationship she has a fear of the man in her life hurting her like she hurt him. I know it's a bit of a different interpretation from what I've seen, but to me it fits perfectly.

Cover art for Keep You lyrics by Sugarland

i LOOOOVE this song. so amazing. i definately think it has such a deep meaning and it is so beautiful.

to me the song begins with how she loves this man so much. he is her everything and cant imagine life without him there with her. however he has made her change for him or he has changed since the relationship began (hence: loving the ghost in front of me) now she feels like she cant show her real feelings for fear of disappointing him. she wonders what it will take for her to be able to be herself again and make him stop molding her. she tries to express her feelings through writing but she never showed them to him. they show her true feelings but she cant tell him the truth. another man fell in love with her which only made her love her current man more. she feels victorious that she stayed.. then her man cheated on her. he tries to explain but she begins to let her real self leak out. now she cant find the person she was and still sees the traces of the person he has created

Cover art for Keep You lyrics by Sugarland

i think this song is about a relationship where at first they loved each other SO much. and things have changed and now he isnt in love with her anymore, but she stills loves him so much. i think that shes trying to do everything to keep him... "what do i gotta do, what do i gotta to keep you, what do i gotta do to keep you from doing this to me." i think she is holding onto a love where she knows theres nothing in it anymore. she doesnt know what to do... leave him or keep holding onto to him... because either way her heart is going to hurt.

its weird... going through this right now. i love her voice. makes me cry. music video is sad too. :(

Cover art for Keep You lyrics by Sugarland

well i think this song "keep you" is about a woman who is treated like dirt by her man. She had a guy that was very interested in her and it made her feel good about herself but she was still in love with her man. She can't leave him because she loves him so much but she knows the way he treats her is killing her. I watched the video and this help with my interpretation. also some of my own history may have influenced my take on it. She wants him to disappear so she can start living again yet she can't bring herself to leave him

My Interpretation
Cover art for Keep You lyrics by Sugarland

this is one of my favorites on their new album its pretty self explanatory in my opinion and its really relatable for me and many other people too

they ended a relationship and she doesn't know what to do she's been hurt so bad shes numb to all emotion its a terrible feeling and she wants to know what she has to do to stop it from feeling this way

its actually a really sad song

Cover art for Keep You lyrics by Sugarland

this is one of my favorites on their new album its pretty self explanatory in my opinion and its really relatable for me and many other people too

they ended a relationship and she doesn't know what to do she's been hurt so bad shes numb to all emotion its a terrible feeling and she wants to know what she has to do to stop it from feeling this way

its actually a really sad song

Cover art for Keep You lyrics by Sugarland

awesome song. she has such a good voice. i saw them in concert last year, awesome. i heard this when watching the CMA's. soo glad i saw that.

Cover art for Keep You lyrics by Sugarland

At first I thought it was about a relationship where they broke up, and ended up back together. "Struggled through a stranger. He loved me til I loved you even more." After watching the video, I think she is singing to herself. I think she tried to be someone else for a man, lost herself, and is tired of pretending to be someone she's not. She slowly removes all of the things that masks who she is, like the jewelry, the makeup, fake eyelashes, and finally cuts her hair. It seems like this is a pattern of pretending to be someone she's not, "what do I have to do to keep you from doing this to me?" I can relate to this song. I used to try to make myself whoever others wanted me to be. Now I'm trying to figure out who I am.

Cover art for Keep You lyrics by Sugarland

beautiful lyrics and beautifully sung. i can easily relate to this song, i had a very serious relationship with a guy and he was getting too deep into it and i was scared that if i let all of my heart into as he did that i would eventually be left heartbroken, so i dumped him & dated another guy which goes with the lyrics "struggled through a stranger he loved me til i loved you even more it's a bittersweet victory knowing someone else wanted me"

in the end, i knew i needed the serious one and that's still what i'm going after. please pray for me.

Cover art for Keep You lyrics by Sugarland

The beginning is the “end” of the relationship. They are in that limbo of not together but not yet fully apart. Maybe she wanted to stay together. The “ghost” being that he’s still around. Then letters, the other guy, that’s the phase of trying to move on. The last part makes it obvious that he is explaining how he doesn’t want to be together and she just broken hearted. What do i gotta do to keep you from... leaving me