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I Wish I Was Lyrics

I wish I was a flame dancing in a candle
Lighting up your living room high on the mantle
I could bring some romance without any scandal
And then when you were done you'd just put me out

I wish I was a tune you sang in your kitchen
Putting your groceries away and washing your dishes
I could roll around your tongue and ease the tension
And then when you were done you'd just quiet down

But if I get too close
Will the magic fade?
Would I turn you off or away?
If I pull you in
Now would I push you out
Of something here you care about?
Well I'm at a loss for what to do
But I'm drawn to you

I wish I was a sweater wrapped around your hips
And when it got too cold into me you'd slip
And when the sun came back you would hang me up
And I would watch you while you undress

But if I get too close
Will the magic fade?
Would I turn you off or away?
If I pull you in
Now would I push you out
Of something here you care about?
Well I'm at a loss for what to do
But I'm drawn to you

I'm not a song
I am not a sweater
I'm not a fire
I am something better
I'm a man in love writing you a letter
Will you take it
Will you keep it
Will you read it
Believe it
I love you
I'm sorry.
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4 Meanings

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I think this song is about a man who is in love with a woman who is already in a relationship. When he says "I could bring some romance without any scandal", I feel like this means she is the girlfriend of someone close to him and that being with her and/or admitting his feelings could cause a lot of trouble for them. Despite this, he still loves her and watches her from afar, wishing he could be with her in even the most mundane moments of her life (moments we tend to take for granted once we're in a long-term relationship with someone, such as watching them do the dishes and undress for bed). I think that she has some feelings for him too and that he's worried if he actually gets to be with her that the magical feelings they have for each other will fade, as it sometimes does once we're in a relationship with someone. Even though he knows he shouldn't have these feelings towards her, he feels himself being drawn to her but he feels guilty knowing he could take her away from someone she actually does care about. Whether he should be honest with her about his feelings is a constant internal debate for him for this reason. In the end, he decides to write her a letter to let her know how he feels. He ends it with "I love you, I'm sorry", because he knows now that it's officially out in the open, she'll have to choose between him and the person she's with and he feels bad for putting her in that position.

@Billy Pilgrim, unstuck in time I think everyone reads their personal experiences into music. To me, the lyrics to this song tell the story of a man who has a history of messing up his relationships and is terrified of messing up the next one. There's a sense that he wants to be exactly what the person he's in love with needs at any given time - but then wants her to be able to put him down before he can do anything to destroy their relationship. So he wants to be able to provide romance when she wants it,...

@Billy Pilgrim, unstuck in time I think everyone reads their personal experiences into music. To me, the lyrics to this song tell the story of a man who has a history of messing up his relationships and is terrified of messing up the next one. There's a sense that he wants to be exactly what the person he's in love with needs at any given time - but then wants her to be able to put him down before he can do anything to destroy their relationship. So he wants to be able to provide romance when she wants it,...

Cover art for I Wish I Was lyrics by Avett Brothers, The

I love this song BUT the grammatical error ruins it for me. I'm not even that interested in grammar, but this disregard for convention in a line that's repeated throughout the song seems gratuitous. Why couldn't they just say "I wish I were..."? It has the same number of syllables and no rhyming issues. This would be my all time favorite song but the grammar irks me. Do they know it's wrong and use "was" anyways to sound more genuine? Or is it in fact an intentional error? Do grammar conventions even matter? In the song "Fisher Road" they sing about going to university and learning bigger words to use without regard for their audience. So are they purposely ignoring grammatical conventions? I'm so curious that I can't sleep.

Cover art for I Wish I Was lyrics by Avett Brothers, The

Does anyone know to what does Fisher Road refer? Was it their home address, the address of their school, the address of their studio. It's a long road from Fisher Road to Hollywood. Thanks.

Cover art for I Wish I Was lyrics by Avett Brothers, The

To me, this song is about a man, in love with a woman who has Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). She can not abide in a relationship with someone who loves her. Love freaks her out and causes the magic to fade and she pushes away.

The overwhelming feeling that one gets when dealing with someone suffering from BPD is being at a loss for what to do. It seems that the more you try, the harder they push back.

So, this in-love man, fantasizes about being the mundane and non-triggering things in his woman's life. A candle, a tune sung in the kitchen, a sweater. So that he can be intimate with her, but not cause the big drama freak out that BPD will inevitably bring on.

In the end, he has to write her a letter, presumably from a safe distance. Confessing his fantasies and then naming them as such... "I am not a sweater."

In the end, he apologizes for loving her. He knows how hard it is for her to accept that love. She can't take it. She cant keep it. She cant believe it. And it causes her deep pain to have driven away this thing she cares so much about.