Darling don't you understand
I feel so ill at ease
The room is full of silence and it's getting hard to breathe
Take this guilted cage of pain and set me free
Take this overcoat of shame
It never did belong to me
It never did belong to me

I need to go outside
I need to leave the smoke
'Cause I can't go on living in this same sick joke
It seems our lives have taken on a different kind of twist
Now that you have given me the perfect gift
You have given me the gift

For we have fallen from our shelves
To face the truth about ourselves
And we have tumbled from our trees
Tumbled from our trees

And I can almost
I can almost hear the rain falling
Don't you know it feels so good
So let's go out into the rain again
Just like we said we always would


Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery

The Gift Lyrics as written by Robert Bell Paul Gerard Buchanan

Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Gift song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

6 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +2
    General Comment

    I have looked around the net and I am not completely satisfied with the answers. Some say that this song has to do with Annie's involvement with Dave Stewart from the band Eurythmics. But I don't think this is the case. As I recall they were on good terms when she went her solo. The verse that makes me doubt the song's possible relation to her connect with David is "Take this guilted cage of pain, and set me free. Take this overcoat of shame, it never did belong to me" has no relation to her connection with Dave Stewart. I don't see any shame or guilt between the two of them.

    I'm going to guess that this song is about being in an relationship that was basically like living a lie and was perpetuated up until a point. Annie sings, "we have tumbled from our shelves, to face the truth about ourselves" which,in my opinion, means through the process of no longer living in a lie, turmoil ensues along with resistance until she finally lets all of that go to be able to accept the truth about herself. Possibly she now realizes that what worked for her in the past can no longer allow her to function. She's tired of "living in this same sick joke", now she is letting that facade go and faces/accepts her truth.

    I personally think "the gift" was the process of being forced into recognizing the lies that some of us indulge in and that steer us away from our truth/true identity. But through the turmoil and devastation of "tumbling from our trees" and "falling from our shelves" (basically being forced out of our comfort zone) we now have faced the truth about ourselves and who we really are.

    And when you let go of the lies that cloud your judgment you gain a sense of crystal clarity that you never knew could possibly exist. Because if you did then you'd never choose to live in a lie in the first place. Hence, "I can almost hear the rain falling" which metaphorically serves as a purging or a cleansing to wash away what she once deluded herself with and "it feels so good."

    So for me The Gift is reaching a profound level of inner personal growth that relationships can provide for us. Even if they end on bad terms (e.g. "take this overcoat of shame, it never did belong to me") we learn so much about ourselves through the process.

    I have been a fan of Annie since the early 1980's. Her lyrics are sheer poetry. She's amazing!

    AdrienDeLaChicagoon June 27, 2012   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Fortnight
Taylor Swift
The song "Fortnight" by Taylor Swift and Post Malone tells a story about strong feelings, complicated relationships, and secret wishes. It talks about love, betrayal, and wanting someone who doesn't feel the same. The word "fortnight" shows short-lived happiness and guilty pleasures, leading to sadness. It shows how messy relationships can be and the results of hiding emotions. “I was supposed to be sent away / But they forgot to come and get me,” she kickstarts the song in the first verse with lines suggesting an admission to a hospital for people with mental illnesses. She goes in the verse admitting her lover is the reason why she is like this. In the chorus, she sings about their time in love and reflects on how he has now settled with someone else. “I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary / And I love you, it’s ruining my life,” on the second verse she details her struggles to forget about him and the negative effects of her failure. “Thought of callin’ ya, but you won’t pick up / ‘Nother fortnight lost in America,” Post Malone sings in the outro.
Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Album art
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.