Wasting My Young Years

In an interview with glamour magazine Hannah said "That was a big ex-boyfriend one. That's probably the most ex-boyfriend one, maybe. But it is about how youth as well, how that plays a part in the human psychology and relationships… How it makes you feel, especially when you've been with that person for a really long time. I think really at the time as well, we were going through a really transitional time of life. All of our friends were kind of moving on to bigger things and working elsewhere in the city, and we were huddled away in our studio…"

http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/celebrity/entertainment/monitor/2013/06/london-grammar-interview-debut-album-details-music

When I first heard this song I thought it was about the urgency and doubts of youth. I feel the song is talking about that time in youth when you feel like you don't really know where you are going but you moving through the motions, outdated as they are.

"I'm wasting my young years It doesn't matter I'm chasing old ideas It doesn't matter"

This part of the song makes me think of the camaraderie of being young. We are all in the same boat, going thorough the same emotions. We may be feeling all of these doubts but we are going to feel it together, with the people we find special in our lives.

"Maybe… We are We are Maybe I'm wasting my young years"

But its also telling us to keep going. To be patient and live without fear, love without fear.

"Don't you know that it's only fear And I wouldn't worry, you have all your life I've heard it takes some time to get it right"

The last part of the song almost seems like she's looking at a reflection of herself. She doesn't know who she is but she doesn't want to give up on herself or the hope that she will make it through the struggles she's having right now. Also that she's depending on someone/something from her youth and she doesn't want that person/thing to have a hold on her emotions anymore.

"I don't know what you are Don't leave me hanging on"

I also read an interview where the band talked about some of the songs from the album and the idea behind "Wasting My Young Years":

Hannah: "...when you are young, you go in and out of feeling like that, you know? Especially, I think, our generation. People coming out of university, trying to find jobs… We really have a fear about direction and where they're going and whether they're going to have a career and where they are going to live. I think that's definitely a part of it."

(Interview: http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/celebrity/entertainment/monitor/2013/06/london-grammar-interview-debut-album-details-music)

The singer believes that in "chasing old ideas" - fairytales if you will - of love, romance, "normal" dreams of youth, she is wasting the time when she is young. The time when she is strongest, smartest, and most able to change her life and live it to the fullest is being wasted in "old" pursuits that may well be in vain.

I always thought it was maybe I'm wasting my young years.. rather than baby. Anyway, the song seems to be about spending a significant proportion of your youth in a relationship that's either failed or is failing, and the accompanying feeling of having wasted time and the confusion of thinking you weren't good enough - 'I don't know what you want'.

The song is about someone who has just come out of a long relationship where both people fell in love at a young age and have grown up alongside one another, but now they have broken up, they are still holding on to what they had instead of acccepting it for what it has now turned into. "i've walked these miles, but walked in a straight line" indicates that the relationship ended because the other person wasnt true in the relationship, which is why it's ended. The person singing this song feels let down and betrayed, but also taken for a fool "you'll never know what was there to be fine" This song is about them both trying to make it work, but it just won't because of what has happened between them, they are both hoping it will turn into what it used to be before it wall went wrong, but they are in fact just living in the past. This song is about the realisation that the singer is actually living in the past, holding onto something that once was, but is no longer. She is confused and angry because for her the love never changed, and now she doesn't know how to stop loving the other, or move on, because she thought her younger years and older years were just going to be about them both.

Those lyrics are wrong :(

For example, it's "Maybe" not "Baby" (it's not a love song)!

"It doesn’t matter here" - No.... "It doesn’t matter 'IF"

come on... :(

Arghhh these lyrics are completely wrong!

Correction:

You crossed this line Do you find it hard to sit with me tonight? I've walked these miles but I've walked 'em straight lined You'll never know what was like to be fine

I'm wasting my young years It doesn't matter I'm chasing old ideas It doesn't matter

Maybe… We are We are Maybe I'm wasting my young years Maybe… We are We are Maybe I'm wasting my young years

Don't you know that it's only fear And I wouldn't worry, you have all your life I've heard it takes some time to get it right

I'm wasting my young years It doesn't matter I'm chasing old ideas It doesn't matter

Maybe… We are We are Maybe I'm wasting my young years Maybe… We are We are Maybe I'm wasting my young years

I don't know what you are Don't leave me hanging on Don't know what you are Don't leave me hanging on

Look- These lyrical meanings can have one significance to the singer/band and another meaning to the audience: that's how songs work. My meaning is interpreted is based on a previous, physically abusive relationship with a former male partner. Particularly because I was physically abused while he was abusing a drug. So while I "walked a straight line" so to speak, he was using. "You'll never know what was there to be"- he never did get sober. Despite my better reasoning, I tried to reconcile after the abuse. He could never quite adjust to not using drugs despite having a successful business. "I'm chasing more ideas"- I spent a year of the 3 years of that relationship pretending if he just got clean we could somehow fix things. I forgot about own flaws and the fact I didn't trust him or even feel safe with him. I do feel like I wasted years with him, but the experience I received from this tainted dynamic built me to who I am today and as much more confident human who chose a career helping others and is successful, maybe it was worth losing my 'young years.' Happy interpretations fellow people.