Bones

First, let me say how amazing this song is. I love the way Ben can put our minds through a trip with every line he writes.

I feel that in the first verse he's looking back on a memory, obviously about a previous crush or love. You can tell the feelings he has for this girl, especially by the last line, "I know you can never be alone, cause it's just the bones you're made of." It sounds like this girl might be insecure about herself so she's constantly in a relationship to try and make herself happy.

The chorus still follows that example; the girl is always acting like nothings wrong around him. Sounds like they might have been very close friends, always together and always spending time with one another. The line "like i'll be there to hold you always," it seems like she finds him to be a friend, and he's saying yeah, i'll be here for you but apparently as only a friend.

The middle verse is kinda self explanatory, so i'll skip to the last chorus which really hit me hard.

The girl obviously has some self esteem issues with being lonely so she's always with someone. But it seems like she's now forgotten about him completely, and he's giving up. She's "in love" with someone new and she's giving that person all of her. Such a sad song, but so good.

I think this song is about a man who is infatuated with a woman, who does not return the feelings he has for her. I can’t see this as being anything as more then infatuation, because she has never really given him anything he has perceived as ‘real’ to actually fall in love with, so it’s a fascination and the infatuation that comes with wanting to get to know someone you can never have. I think the reason she comes to him, and continues this charade is because she’s afraid in the lyrics ‘I know you can never be alone 'Cause it's just the bones you're made of’ the use of the comparison between her needs and the ‘bones’ denotes something she needs to survive, the fibre to her being and the structure to her life, though others can’t see them the validation she gains from men, is what she is made of, I think this is quite sad, and still he sees this and realises, and still he wants her. The chorus strengthens this for me ‘And you laugh like you've never been lonely... And you laugh like there's hope in the story’ she’s playing a game, pretending that there will be a future to gain that small bit of reassurance someone will be there in the end, she’s putting on a charade in order to gain affection, always guarding who she is and never letting anyone in completely, and he’s completely fine with this, because she too gives him something, I imagine her presence is enough to allow him to play the fool, I think everyone can relate to a time they knew someone wasn’t completely interested and there’s been a small falseness in the way they act and though we realize this the urge to be loved completely overrules common sense. I think the third verse is beautifully written, he’s basically calling her a coward, in realisation this is a pattern with her, although in truth he introduced her as someone, whose bones are made of this nature, and flirtatious nature, has still angered, perhaps more at him. ‘Oh go, silent as death on the first day of the snow Oh go, leave these fires burning’ This to me is him saying, yes sneak off while I fall in love, ‘silent as death’ she’s done this in such a sneaky manner, it reminds me of the time your little and you fall asleep in the cold and wake up to a ground covered in snow, you never saw it fall, it was just there so much cold and ice, this image is juxtaposed with the image of fires, symbolizing the love he has, the lust and passion she has ignited. ‘covert all those boys that search For love in your room’ Here I believe he realizes she has done this before, and again the use of the word covert, shows she was always in disguise. I also think the use of the word ‘boys’ shows that she turns these men into simple creatures, unaware and weak, with nothing but hope. He ends this verse 'Cause lust is just a child's game And you, you were always late to bloom’ My favorite lyrics in the song, this is where his anger surfaces slightly in a sort of sweet way, its him insulting her but in a kind way, like has afraid to say something to cruel incase she leaves, the fact he claims lust is a Childs game, he is calling her a child, that she doesn’t have the attributes of a woman that it takes to stand tall and be brave and allow herself to be loved, she runs before she gets too attached, like a scared child.

I think the last verse is somewhat misleading and can be interpreted in many ways, but this is mine, and a lot of people won’t agree, but I believe the person he is referring to when he says ‘you love him’ is someone she has history with that she can’t let go of, because she actually loves him, which is why she can never love anyone else, her heart is taken, but they can’t be together because the man she loves knows what kind of a person she is, I do believe this to be the case. The fact that he says ‘love like you've always been lonely’ shows with this person she can’t pretend, she can’t put on this mask, because she actually loves him, you can’t pretend when you’re in love with someone, all the composure and the elegance it just washes away and your just there, and I think maybe this is why the guy she loves cant return her love because she’s there just her and he see’s all this darkness inside of her that he can’t handle. But still Ben sings its ok, that you’re basically in love with someone else, I will take the pain away, I know your running around broken hearted, but I will render to you. I think the lyrics ‘you love him with all of your body’ are also quite sad, she loves him with everything, she may sleep with other men for validation and give them her body, but this man she’s in love with, she loves him with everything including her heart, her mind, all the real things inside of her that the singer has never experienced, still he claims its ok. Very sad: /

I was told from a source this song is wrote about his sister.

This has been my favourite song since I first heard it in 2011. My interpretation seems to be very different to everyone else who has commented.

His girlfriend is leaving for uni, and they are staying together. The first verse he talks about her leaving and tells her to 'hold her lips so tightly' because she can never be alone. He's telling her not to find someone else, because she will be on her own, and he doesn't think she can wait for them to be together again. And its 'just the bones she's made of', her personality, that draws people to her, and it won't be hard for her to find company away from him.

The chorus is her speaking back, laughing and what he's saying because she thinks it'll be easy, how hard is it for her to be alone? He thinks she's being naive by thinking he will always be there to hold her. He thinks it's inevitable that she will find someone else when they're apart.

The second verse is after she has left, and he can feel her silence. He seems cynical that she has left with the relationship very much alive 'oh go leave these fires burning'. Then he warns her about all the guys at uni that will try and sleep with her 'boys that search for love in your room' and he justifies himself by saying that 'lust is just a child's game' then calls her naive again by saying she 'were always late to bloom'.

Then the third verse, which is slightly different, she has now found a new lover, just as he worried. He reminds himself that she loves fully and without restraint, as if she is loving for the first time 'you love like you've always been lonely' and 'you love him with all of your body'. He has accepted that change, and tells her that she loves her new man the way she loved him, like it will never end, as in the previous chorus, is saying she is naive, but nonetheless, she loves like its forever.

Then the outro, he is telling her he hasn't moved since she left. He is still waiting for her in the same place 'small town bar we know', just like when she left, but she's not coming back and he is has been left behind 'out here in the cold'. It was inevitable that this was going to happen, and he knew it, but she insisted that the relationship would work and therefore kept it long-distance, which he waited for her, not knowing when she would find someone else.

I might see it this particular way because this song was released just as I was leaving for uni, and I was leaving my girlfriend behind, and we were very much in love. We stayed together long-distance, but I was much more optimistic than her, because she was in the same old familiar place, where we shared so much time, now empty without me, just waiting for me to return. It's very plausible that Ben had a girlfriend who was leaving for uni.

My friend sent me this song today and gosh, it fits so perfectly in my life it is not even funny and I have been listening to it over and over and over. I can't stop. It's too perfect. I love music.

These lyrics haven't been submitted anywhere yet so I've had to play it by ear. Feel free to suggest any corrections.

It's about his ex that used to cheat on him and took for granted that he would stay with her regardless of her actions.

The chorus is sarcastic, there's no hope in their story.

Despite his deep love for her, he asks her to leave because she can never change, it's in her bones.

Like Lespaulsmith said, this girl has issues with herself. Always feeling lonely even when she was with him, but now they're not together and she's seeing someone else. The last part of the song explains that when they were together she didn't give her all, because of how's he was then. But now she's met someone else and she's changed and she does genuinely give her all to this new person and Ben feels this pain because he wishes that she was that way when they were together. She loves this new guy as if all before him made her feel lonely, but that's alright with Ben.

I totally agree with lespaulsmith sounds about right! I would only add that it seems to me that the phrase "It's just the bones you're made of" is extremely important to the song. It is accepting the flaws of that "friend" (for a lack of a better term) and still loving that person unconditionally. "Always honey, always near" because he accepts him/her as he/she is.

I read it completely differently. I thought it's about a guy who was in a relationship with a girl, but they split, possibly because of him and the thought of him always stayed with her. She'd get into different relationships trying to find what she felt with him. What he's saying is that someday she will, someday someone will make her feel better than he did and she'll forget about the pain he caused her. He's ok with it because he knows how he effected her and he'll always feel strongly for her, eventhough he couldn't be that man for her.