Red

I think this song is about a girl he is in love with but she doesn't love him because can't get over her ex. She lead him on and told him it would work but she doesn't love him. He thinks it was perfect but she's coming up with all these problems that aren't real because she's too busy comparing him to her ex.

Also the line "I can't be somebody else" is Daniel's way of saying that he can't be her ex. he is himself but that's not good enough for her. She's in denial saying that she's over her ex but he can see through her. "Behind your lies, I can see the secrets you don't show".

An excellent song, helping me through the same situation at the moment. I love how you can hear the emotion in his voice.

I think it's about a guy who knew for a while that his girlfriend was cheating, but was waiting for her to come clean..."my time on the outside is over" & "behind your lies I can see the secrets you don't show" ...I think the line "you took something perfect and painted it red" refers to her affair and how it changed everything about the relationship.

This song makes me think of what I'm going thru right now.

I have this girlfriend that I love, she is great is so many ways, while at the same time she is so not well with herself, she is never satisfied of anything for very long, she regrets every decision she makes, she is always putting everything in question, she has no patience or tolerance, especially not for me.

I think the song sums up the result.

Sometime she loves me, sometime she hates me, most of the time she is convinced that she should leave me so she could be with someone else, but she would not, she is certain she will regrets her decision. I'm stuck, I try hard to make her happy, it works most of the time, but then she will turn all the beautiful things we did together into every negative sides she can create out of them.

Still I wont leave her, life would be too boring without her.

Merriweather himself said that this song is about the blindness of war and the absence of compassion displayed by western administrations. But it's still beautiful that songs, their lyrics- such as poems- can be interpreted differently and have different importance and meanings to everyone based on their life situation.

I heard this song on the radio the other day and it reminded me how much I loved it when it first came out. In my opinion, it's not about someone who is cheating or who is still in love with an ex. It's about him being in love with someone who is emotionally unavailable, someone who never fully let him in, someone who always expected too much of him and was never content with the love he gave, they always wanted more and it has drained him of his love for her. It seems like the relationship started off as 'perfect' but has become something else and a darker side of her has emerged ('shouting out is all you know') and he can't keep fighting to make the relationship work when every time he does she finds something else to be unhappy about. A beautiful but tragic song about people that don't know when they've got a good thing going on.

This song was written by Daniel about going through a bad break up. It's beautiful, especially the accoustic Live Lounge version.

This song is amazing. For me this is about a relationship that has gone stale for one person and they are doing everything they can think of to make the break up easier by arguing and creating problems that aren't there: 'and I can't do this by myself, all of these problems they're all in your head. And I can't be somebody else, you took something perfect and painted it red.' This song is beautiful - best on the album.

What "Red" means?

I would guess "painted it red" means she ruined it. It was perfect and she caused problems and anger - the red. She fell out of love with him and created the problems to push him away. He can't do this by himself because he's the only one putting the effort into a failing relationship.

by far my favourite song of the year! he has a beautiful voice,and this is a very beautiful song