You've Got Time

The short version: this song is mostly about the frustration of being stuck in one place in life, having plenty of time to ponder where you could have been going instead and watching everyone else pass you by.

Most will likely recognize this song as the them song for "Orange is the New Black", a show which has the main character serving time in prison. Naturally, the lyrics fit pretty perfectly for this kind of setting, but of course it could be thought of in more broad terms of being stuck in one place in life.

"Think of all the roads / Think of all their crossings / Taking steps is easy / Standing still is hard..." When you're stuck in life, "you've got time" to think about where you could be going in life's many paths, and how difficult it is to just be sitting still.

"And everyone is waiting, waiting on you..." I kind of think of this as tongue-in-cheek, in a way. Take the main character from the TV show, for example. She has friends and her fiancee on the outside, who are "waiting" on her, but they can't realistically just sit around waiting on her. No spoilers, but generally speaking in that kind of situation, they still have their own lives to live and things to do. In real life, when you're stuck in the same place, other people are going to move on.

"Remember all their faces / Remember all their voices / Everything is different / The second time around." People change over time. You remember people as they were, but if they're moving on without you, it's not going to be quite the same.

"The animal, the animal" the animal represents you. "Trapped trapped trapped till the cage is full" you're stuck in the same place and position. "And everyone's waiting, waiting on you" everyone is waiting to see what your next move will be. The whole bit about being alone thinking is when you're finally alone and have a moment to reflect on life, recalling all your past. "Think of all the roads, think of all their crossings" think about every path there is in life, think about how you are going to cross them. "Taking steps is easy standing still is hard" no matter how hard the challenge is or how hard it may seem, beginning is easier than standing around waiting. "You've got time" although it may seem like you are running out of time, or crossing that road feels like an eternity, time is on your side. The song has a very depressing yet powerful feel for me. When you feel like your down and out and you've done all you could, defeated and Helpless take a step back and look at your crossings you can get through this you've got time. Very uplifting

My own personal take on this song is that it could just as easily reflect the thoughts and feelings of someone with depression, feeling trapped in their day to day life. They regret what they've made of their life ("stay awake, in the dark, count mistakes") and they can't move beyond past events. They stay up all night making mental lists of their own failures and attempting to engage with their feelings of misery, "searching the ground for a bitter song", instead of going to sleep and sorting things out.

The rest of the world moves on without them, "the sun is out, the day is new, and everyone is waiting, waiting on you" and they find themselves stranded and isolated, clinging to their own regrets.

"Taking steps is easy, standing still is hard" is them looking out at others; for them it seems so easy, so why can't I get up and make things happen?

"You've got time" they mockingly tell themselves. Life is moving on and they're just stuck in their brutal routine. They don't have time.

I mainly know this song from Orange Is The New Black, and the lines "remember all their faces/remember all their voices" really stood out. Unlike other shows where everything revolves around a main character and the supporting characters are just there as sidekicks, here the supporting characters have their own stories to tell, so you care for everyone from day 1.

I believe the line is actually “searching on the ground for a bit of sun”, referring to how prisoners are kept inside the majority of the time, and only have small opportunities to catch sunlight through the barred windows.

This song is definitely about being in prison (though of course you may take from it what you will). It was written specifically to be the theme for Orange is the New Black, rather than being adapted for it.