Forever

I love the irony in this song. It is a breakup song with the title "Forever", that tells you something right there. The opening lines "Hey you! Remember me? Remember love? Remember trying to stay together?" are clearly ironic (and angry). If the speaker is talking to someone who used to love her, he clearly remembers her. She is talking to her significant other, who is changing and seemingly giving up on the relationship. He is moving on ("You tried to bring yourself up without involving me"), but hasn't made it clear that it is over. After all he promised her, she can't believe he is leaving and needs a definitive answer. She knows that the way he is treating her now is not right ("It isn't fair to have your way"). But after all they have been through, she loves him too much to just give up hope ("Forever I'll try for you and I...I don't want to turn around"). He thinks he is changing, but she doesn't believe it ("Let go We're still the same"). If they could just "get back to where we started out", then the relationship can be saved. The verb tense is really interesting in the two stanzas of the chorus. It starts as past tense ("we tried...we saw") discussing negative aspects of the relationship, implying that she is over it and ready to move on. Then, she switches to present tense ("I'm tired...I see...I'll try") and looks more positively on them. Then she switches back to past tense ("No I never believed in their insight") in a positive light ("Just another good reason to get it right"). It's a really cool look inside her head as she switches viewing their current and past relationship in different ways. She is (understandably) angry and wants to give up on everything, but when she has calmed down she realizes she still wants to be with him. It sounds like he has taken some time away from the relationship, and she is left alone with her thoughts. This uncertainty is killing her ("get out of my memory...I don't have the energy"), and she wants for them both to either commit to the relationship or call it off. She still loves him and wants them to work out, so she cannot give up unless he tells her clearly that he is through ("If you say the word then I'll say goodbye"). The last bit of irony is my favorite: "I'm tired of fighting the good fight". When you tell someone to keep fighting the good fight, it is often sarcastic. Yes, it can be real encouragement but it usually means that person is the only one trying to accomplish something and no one else believes in them. That sums up exactly how she feels. Her lover, who promised her forever, has given up and she is the only one working on the relationship. The choice of words conveys not only that, but also her irony, bitterness, and anger.