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Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae, edited by SonOfNC

Wasted Time song meanings
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  • +2
    General Comment

    Don't let life pass you by. Don't waste all your time doing nothing when you could be really living.

    SomeGirl_Jadziaon August 26, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    When we're in relationships that fail, and the grief of that failure is still fresh, it's easy to view the time you spent with that person as "wasted", because the relationship ended. You devoted time getting to know someone and sharing yourself with them, and it seems that it's all for naught, because that person no longer desires your company in that capacity. The girl in the song has experienced many such failures, and has become disheartened by them - she's wasted so much time on relationships that she feels weren't worth the investment since they failed her, and she's weary at the prospect of wasting any more.

    However, the point the singer is trying to express is that even though the outcome of these relationships wasn't successful, that doesn't mean the time was wasted, as hard as it may be for the girl to accept in her current emotional state. If you never experience failure, you never learn how to succeed. Although it's unfortunate, sometimes success comes at this price. As Marilyn Monroe once said, "good things fall apart so better things can come together".

    And by the line "to keep it together, we got to leave it alone", he means that we can't try too hard in our pursuits - to achieve that success we desire that always seems like it's taking too long in coming, sometimes we have to stop trying. The dichotomy of "together" and "alone" also express that the relationships, although they represented the togetherness the girl desires, weren't the right ones. In order to finally find the person she wants to be with, she must be by herself for a while longer.

    Very poignant.

    reallyloveyourpeacheson August 24, 2011   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Thinking about a love I recently let go and this song really sums up just how I feel 2 months on,my interpretation,

    the girl just can't let go of past events in her life which have let her down,she can't move on with her new man,he calls it a day,he's telling her that whilst they did not succeed it wasn't "wasted time" and he hope's one day she will accept the love that any new man in her life give's her,if she does then their relationship wasn't just a "waste of time"

    DJHon February 13, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    this song is about those little relationships that don't matter that don't have meaning although at the time you thought that it did but in the end you find out that it was just 'wasted time'. but then after its all done and broken off you think maybe it was worth it and it did mean something and it wasnt 'wasted time'

    ccass12on July 10, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Simply the greatest song about divorce/relationship loss ever written. Well, maybe next to The Heart of the Matter. But if you have been through the above and not felt many of the feelings in this song, you are not human. Perfect song.

    pomiltonon July 16, 2016   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I could have done so many things, baby If I could only stop my mind

    Story of many lives (mine included).

    JefKon February 23, 2023   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    he's talking about a girl who has had a series of broken relationships, and he's just telling her to slow down and think about what she learned from them, because she keeps repeating her own mistakes. if you learned something, ANYTHING, then it wasn't truly what she apparently referrs to as "wasted time".

    sapphireskieson August 22, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I can't wait to see them live in March. This song will be amazing.

    andrewhambletonon November 29, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Whenever you have a bad relationship and you think it was an abolsute waste of time, thats when this song comes in, it is about how previous relationships teach you for your next ones, make you better in them. So whenever you get married you don't do the same mistakes, pretty straight meaning here.

    MookieBomberon December 08, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i feel this song is about a woman who loved a man but somehow drove him away. bf after bf she tries to rekindle what she had but she just keeps driving them away. Depressed that she lost the love of her life she is claiming her love to be wasted time. but the singer is telling her someday we will find our love never was wasted time

    Magicblue22on August 22, 2006   Link

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