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She Used to Be Mine Lyrics
It’s not simple to say
Most days
I don’t recognize me
With these shoes and this apron
This place and its patrons
Have taken more than I gave them
It’s not easy to know
I’m not anything
That I used to be although it’s true
I was never attention sweet center
I still remember that girl
She’s imperfect but she tries
She is good but she lies
She is hard on herself
She is broken but won’t ask for help
She is messy but she’s kind
She is lonely most of the time
She is all of this mixed up
And baked in a beautiful pie
She is gone but she used to be mine
And it’s not what I asked for
Sometimes life just slips in through a back door
Carves out a person and makes you believe it’s all true
How about you?
You’re not what I asked for
If I’m honest I know
I would give it all back for a chance to start over
Rewrite an ending or two
For the girl that I knew
Who’d be reckless just enough
Who’d get hurt
But who learns how to toughen up when she’s bruised
Who gets used by a man who can’t love
Then she’ll get stuck and be scared
of the life that’s inside her
Growing stronger each day
Until it finally reminds her
to find just a little
To bring back the fire in her eyes
That’s been gone
But it used to be mine
Used to be mine
She is messy but she’s kind
She is lonely most of the time
She is all of this
mixed up and baked in a beautiful pie
She is gone but she used to be mine
Most days
I don’t recognize me
With these shoes and this apron
This place and its patrons
Have taken more than I gave them
It’s not easy to know
I’m not anything
That I used to be although it’s true
I was never attention sweet center
I still remember that girl
She is good but she lies
She is hard on herself
She is broken but won’t ask for help
She is messy but she’s kind
She is lonely most of the time
She is all of this mixed up
And baked in a beautiful pie
She is gone but she used to be mine
Sometimes life just slips in through a back door
Carves out a person and makes you believe it’s all true
How about you?
You’re not what I asked for
If I’m honest I know
I would give it all back for a chance to start over
Rewrite an ending or two
For the girl that I knew
Who’d be reckless just enough
Who’d get hurt
But who learns how to toughen up when she’s bruised
Who gets used by a man who can’t love
Then she’ll get stuck and be scared
of the life that’s inside her
Growing stronger each day
Until it finally reminds her
to find just a little
To bring back the fire in her eyes
That’s been gone
But it used to be mine
Used to be mine
She is lonely most of the time
She is all of this
mixed up and baked in a beautiful pie
She is gone but she used to be mine
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This is about a woman who looks at herself and wonders, in a disappointed way, how she has become who she is today because she doesn't recognize the girl she used to be in herself anymore. She feels like external forces and personal choices led her to where she is, without her realizing what was happening. And now that she has awakened to her circumstances, she wishes she could tell the girl she used to be to be more aware of choices, so that her life can end up differently, while retaining some of her essential good and innocent self. Many people make this realization. But not at such a young age as Ms. Bareilles (if she wrote this).
@noah_sark Thank you for that interpretation. It all makes sense now! I thought it was a story about a lesbian couple
@noah_sark Thank you for that interpretation. It all makes sense now! I thought it was a story about a lesbian couple
@noah_sark Well said.... exactly how I feel about what the words to this song mean to me. Thank you for this, it truly resonates with my own meaning to these words!
@noah_sark Well said.... exactly how I feel about what the words to this song mean to me. Thank you for this, it truly resonates with my own meaning to these words!
@noah_sark As per the commenter previous I initially thought this was a song to another woman, but just rewatched a vid of it and thought I should check the lyrics because I caught a hint of what you have described and I now see.
@noah_sark As per the commenter previous I initially thought this was a song to another woman, but just rewatched a vid of it and thought I should check the lyrics because I caught a hint of what you have described and I now see.
BTW "external forces and personal choices" that is a lyric right there!
BTW "external forces and personal choices" that is a lyric right there!
This song is so heart breaking in its regretfulness. I can't help but shed a tear listening to it. It's actually a perfect lead in to her other masterpiece, Gravity. They are both so real and so heartbreaking
@ROsniper18 Yes and Yes! I share your use of the word "regretfulness", as well as the connection to her beautifully emotional Gravity!
@ROsniper18 Yes and Yes! I share your use of the word "regretfulness", as well as the connection to her beautifully emotional Gravity!
Love between two people should be nourishing on both sides. He might love her, in a way, but not the love she deserves to have. She lost herself, her worth but she keeps on coming back to him, loving him. And she misses her old self somehow.
@xanxhea totally agree!
@xanxhea totally agree!
This song is in Bareilles\' 2015 musical "Waitress", in which the titular character is in an abusive marriage. See Wikipedia about that.\n\nThe waitress reflects on the mistakes she\'s made and the bad situation she\'s in. She doesn\'t like the person she\'s become and wishes she could go back in time for a do-over. She realizes she hasn\'t understood what healthy love is. So it has led her into a marriage with the wrong man. Complicating matters: she\'s pregnant. Can she bring herself to leave the bad relationship? What\'s best for the future of her child?
I love how this speaks to me and echos so closely my feelings during a conflicted emotional time.