Breathe

Taylor said this song was actually about a friend, not a guy.

I think it's about her former fiddle player and friend Emily, who left the band last year.

i personally expected this song to have a lot more from colbie but i think colbies voice works better as the harmony it blends so nicely :)

my favourite line has to be 'every little bump in the road i tried to swerve'

The best thing about Taylor's songs are the astonishing number of people who can relate to them. I've never had a boyfriend, or anything close for that matter, but I can correlate with all of the songs of her's that I have heard so far.

This song relates to me in two ways. The first is something that everyone's been through-- a "break up" with a best friend. I could see it ending, but I kept clinging to the thin wires of our relationship. And when it did end, it felt unreal. And depression runs in my family, so it was inevitable that this would push me over the edge. But I'm in recovery now.

And right after that all of my grandparents died. Every single one. 25 days apart. I'm only thirteen and the only generation that I have left alive in my family tree is my parents. I also suffer from sleep deprivation, so the whole 2 am. thing is accurate, as well.

Peace, love, and music, Annabelle Marie

This song makes me cry.. I think it can be interpreted so so many ways, she could be singing about a boyfriend, best friend or even a family member.. For me it relates to both - my boyfriend who is also my bestfriend in the entire world. We've known eachother since we were little, became best friends throughout highschool and have been going out for a year now. I know that some of the lyrics aren't really consistent, but I don't really care. Basically, he might be going overseas again to do some missionary work with his family in Bulgaria. Probably for at least a year, maybe two. This part of the chorus just explains exactly how I'm feeling:

"No one here to save me You're the only thing I know Like the back of my hand And I can't breathe without you But I have to breathe without you But I have to"

...If he leaves, there's going to be no one who i know so closely as I know him, there's going to be no one to 'save me' when I need saving..

This song has a lot of meaning for me. It reminds me of my first real relationship that ended in the worst way and resulted in the worst heartbreak of my life. I feel like every single lyric in this song describes my relationship perfectly.

To me, this is what I think the song is about:

“I see your face in my mind as I drive away; 'Cause none of us thought it was gonna end that way. People are people, and sometimes we change our minds. But it's killing me to see you go after all this time”

It’s about breaking up with someone you love on bad terms when you weren’t ready and didn’t want for it to end, at least not the way that it did. So you go for a drive to clear your head and to think about everything that went wrong. You think to yourself and realize that you really didn’t think you would actually ever break up and neither did anyone else around you. You had a lot of ups and downs, but you still always managed to get back together. Also, you were in a relationship with this person for a very long time so you honestly thought you would always be with that person, forever. But you realize that as time changes, so do people and their feelings. Sometimes it’s possible to fall out of love with someone, especially if that person has done a lot of things throughout the course of your relationship to hurt you or to make you not trust them. So you decide that maybe it’s best to leave that person, no matter how much it kills you to see them go.

“Music starts playin' like the end of a sad movie, it’s the kinda ending you don't really wanna see. ‘Cause its tragedy and it'll only bring you down, now I don't know what to be without you around.”

As you continue to drive, a sad song comes on the radio that relates a lot to your situation and makes you feel like you’re watching a sad movie that end tragically. So you turn off the music and continue thinking about everything. That’s when you realize that you have no idea what to do with yourself because the person you love isn’t there anymore and you feel like a part of you is missing. You feel like you don’t even know who you are anymore without them. That’s when you start to think about how different your life is going to be because someone who was such an important part of your life is gone now and you’re not sure how to handle it.

“And we know it's never simple, never easy. Never a clean break, no one here to save me. You're the only thing I know like the back of my hand.”

You come to the realization that no matter how things ended between the two of you, things weren’t going to be simple or easy. Heartbreaks are never simple or easy for anyone to go through. When your heart breaks, it shatters into a million little pieces. You feel so lost and confused about everything in your life. You feel so helpless and the only person who can make you feel better is the one who hurt you. You feel like when they walked away, they took a part of you with them. You’re not a whole person without them. You feel so betrayed because you thought you knew this person better than anyone or anything in the whole world. You start to feel like maybe you didn’t know this person at all and maybe everything you had with them was a lie.

“And I can't, breathe, without you, but I have to, breathe, without you, but I have to.”

You honestly feel like you’re physically dying without this person. It literally makes you lose your breath and you have to force yourself to calm down and just breathe. You feel like loving this person is like breathing air, you can’t live without it. You start breaking down and feel like your literally going to die without this person.

“Never wanted this, never wanna see you hurt. Every little bump in the road I tried to swerve. People are people, and sometimes it doesn't work out. Nothing we say is gonna save us from the fallout”

You think about all the things that you wish you could say or would have said to the person about everything that led up to this break up. You think about how much this break up might be hurting them and that makes you hurt for them because even though you’re broken up, you still don’t want to see them hurting. You think about how hard you tried to fix things and make things work out between you two, but it takes two people to make a relationship work. You think about what you might say to each other if you were talking to them right now. You think that you would both come to the conclusion that not every relationship works out or is meant last forever. But then you think that no matter what either of you would say, it would still hurt just as bad as it does now if not worse.

“It's two am, feelin' like I just lost a friend. Hope you know it's not easy, easy for me.”

You realize that it’s 2AM and that you’ve been alone for hours thinking about everything that’s happened. You feel so lost and alone, like you just lost your best friend. You wonder if they even care that it’s over between you two because you haven’t talked to them since the breakup. You start to think that maybe this isn’t as hard on them as it is on you. You want them to know that this isn’t easy for you at all and that it’s killing you. But you don’t try to talk to them either because you feel pathetic for being so hurt over it and they seem to be doing just fine without you.

“I can't, breathe, without you, but I have to, breathe, without you, but I have to. Sorry (oh) sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.”

You finally realize that things really are over between the two of you. Even though your heart is still broken and it still hard for you to even breathe, you realize you have to accept it and start moving on. You want them to know that this isn’t going to be easy for you at all but it’s something you have to do for yourself. You look back at everything that’s happened and feel very remorseful. You take the blame for a lot of things, even if you shouldn’t. You are sorry for the things you did wrong and that he couldn’t forgive you for them. You also are sorry that you have to let go and walk away. You wish you could tell them how sorry you are but you don’t because you feel like it’s pointless, so you just keep it to yourself. But you’re also saying sorry to yourself. You’re sorry that you allowed yourself to let someone hurt you like this and wish you would have walked away a long time ago.

Hope that helps!

This song reminds me very much of Missy Higgins "Where I Stood." Being the one to end it, but still being devastated by it, and the learning process that comes with becoming your own self again after being a "we" for so long. Look what happens if you mix the two choruses together...

And I can't breathe without you But I have to breathe without you But I have to

Cuz I don't know, who I am, who I am without you All I know is that I should And I don't know if I could stand, another hand upon you, All I know is that I should

Man, this song is so good, but it's so sad... Even though I know it wasn't meant to be a breakup song, this still reminds me of when I broke up with my boyfriend. I didn't want to, because I knew how much it would hurt him, but I knew that I had to because I couldn't stay with him if I didn't like him that way anymore.

Never wanted this Never wanna see you hurt Every little bump in the road I tried to swerve But people are people And sometimes it doesn't work out Nothing we say Is gonna save us from the fallout

To me, the chorus is how hard it was for me afterwards. I confided in him, told him everything. If I was upset or sad or whatever, he was the one I would talk to. Then, suddenly, that was gone, and I was left feeling all alone, cuz my friends at the time weren't very supportive of me (they didn't like that I'd been going out with someone).

And we know it's never simple Never easy Never a clean break No one here to save me You're the only thing I know Like the back of my hand And I can't breathe without you But I have to breathe without you But I have to

Then, the next bit is sort of the same feeling. Afterwards, I had no one, and even though he was my boyfriend, he was my best friend too.

And we know it's never simple Never easy Never a clean break No one here to save me, oh I can't breathe without you But I have to breathe without you But I have to Breathe without you But I have to

Then, finally, is what I said to him, but it still didn't make everything right.

Sorry, sorry Sorry, sorry Sorry, sorry Sorry This song is perfect when you don't want to listen to something happy and upbeat. It makes things a bit more bearable for me.

This song can be about either losing a friend or a partner; its about losing someone who you loved and meant a lot to you. Feeling like it's hard to live without that person, but you know you have to learn how to do so. You didn't think this was going to happen, not like this, not now. But people can change their minds, and feelings change or fade. It's a really sad song. You really loved someone... but it's all over now. It IS the "kinda ending you don't really wanna see". You really don't know what to do without them... other than just breathe. And you don't know how to live without this person, but you know you have to.

This song is absolutely perfect in every way possible. Let me just start off by saying that. Last year, there was the guy that I liked a LOT and he seemed interested. We never officially dated, but we were almost there. Then he started to date another girl who was one of my somewhat distant friends. I was so hurt it was crazy.

"people are people and sometimes we change our minds"

A few weeks later, I asked him if he had ever liked me. I wanted to know if he had just led me on or if he was a genuine person. He told me that he did like me, but he didn't know if I liked him back. I told him thanks but ended the conversation there. It hurt too much for me to handle.

Now for a new part of the story. This boy had been dating my friend for about a month when he announced that he would be moving. Not out of town, not out of state, but out of country. He moved to Brazil. He told us (our orchestra class) that he'd be back by the beginning of next year. He hasn't been back.

"none of us thought it was gonna end that way"

I miss him so much and after he left, I was a wreck. I cried, I didn't know what to do or who to talk to. Then one day I stumbled across this song. I had always like it, but now that I had reasons to fit in (fully or somewhat) the lyrics, it was so much more meaningful. When he left, I couldn't do anything I wanted. I couldn't have fun, I couldn't sing, I couldn't write. I could barely even breathe without him there.

"I can't breathe without you but I have to"

I miss him so much. I have no idea when he'll be back.

This song is about a friendship ending, even though they fought to keep it alive, and needing to move on.

"I see your face in my mind as I drive away, 'Cause none of us thought it was gonna end that way People are people, And sometimes we change our minds But it's killing me to see you go after all this time"

It's tearing you apart to have to end things. You had never thought it would come to this, but 'people are people' and things happen.

"Music starts playin' like the end of a sad movie, It's the kinda ending you don't really wanna see 'Cause it's tragedy and it'll only bring you down, Now I don't know what to be without you around"

It's very painful and emotional- breaking off a friendship is the kind of situation you never want to happen in life as it seems to only bring hurt. Without this friend in your life you don't know what to do, you're feeling like you lost a piece of yourself

"And we know it's never simple, Never easy Never a clean break, no one here to save me You're the only thing I know like the back of my hand"

You know life is never simple, friendships never easy. Things never end tidily. The line 'no one here to save me' really hits home for me. When you're going through a breakdown of a friendship it can feel like there is no one there for you anymore, no one to get you out of this mess or to support you through it because no one cares or understands. "You're the only thing I know like the back of my hand" once again rings true to that feeling of being lost- you don't know what to do because you've depended on this person for so long and now you feel like you're being left to fend for yourself.

"And I can't, Breathe, Without you, But I have to, Breathe, Without you, But I have to"

Losing this person is so so so painful. But you know you need to move on from this, even though it's killing you.

"Never wanted this, never wanna see you hurt Every little bump in the road I tried to swerve People are people, And sometimes it doesn't work out, Nothing we say is gonna save us from the fall out"

You cared about this person, you never wanted things to end. You tried so hard to dodge every little bit of conflict or problem. But 'people are people and sometimes it doesn't work out.' It was inevitable, there was nothing you could do to stop it from ending this way.

"And we know it's never simple, Never easy Never a clean break, no one here to save me You're the only thing I know like the back of my hand"

"And I can't, Breathe, Without you, But I have to, Breathe, Without you, But I have to"

"It's two am Feelin' like I just lost a friend Hope you know it's not easy, Easy for me"

You're unable to sleep, this is really hard for you and you wish they could know that.

"It's two am Feelin' like I just lost a friend Hope you know this ain't easy, Easy for me"

"And we know it's never simple, Never easy Never a clean break, no one here to save me"

"I can't, Breathe, Without you, But I have to, Breathe, Without you, But I have to"

"Breathe, Without you, But I have to"

"Sorry (oh) sorry Sorry sorry Sorry sorry"

You don't want to move on, but you have to, you're sorry to this friend for everything that's happened, that it is over and that your moving on... But there's nothing else you can do.

To all those people who are going through things like this- I'm so sorry. I know it hurts, but sometimes we need to move on to let things get better so we can finally breathe again. You are worth it. <3