In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
I can't believe I've let you in
And now here I am telling you
That I'm suffocating in here
Just like the drugs you are keeping me
I felt shark teeth underneath my socks
Before I lost much blood
Around this world will I be enough?
From the liquor stores
To the train stop floors
Your filthy room, your drama blues
I am nothing if I'm not with you
I'm always right, always wrong
Dressing bad is like loving you
There is nothing I haven't worn
Nothing I haven't said before
Your fluid is thick against my sheets
When you look at me oh so angry
I know it's true
My strength has come from loving you
Behavior I just can't grow into
So you fake and you flaw
For your cops and your cause
It makes no difference to me
It's love that you stole, that you stole
From the liquor stores
To the train stop floors
Your filthy room your drama blues
I am nothing if I'm not with you
I'm always right always wrong
Dressing bad is like loving you
There is nothing I haven't worn
Nothing I haven't said before
So here I am around this world
Will I be enough?
This is nothing I haven't said before
You are nothing I haven't felt before
And now here I am telling you
That I'm suffocating in here
Just like the drugs you are keeping me
I felt shark teeth underneath my socks
Before I lost much blood
Around this world will I be enough?
From the liquor stores
To the train stop floors
Your filthy room, your drama blues
I am nothing if I'm not with you
I'm always right, always wrong
Dressing bad is like loving you
There is nothing I haven't worn
Nothing I haven't said before
Your fluid is thick against my sheets
When you look at me oh so angry
I know it's true
My strength has come from loving you
Behavior I just can't grow into
So you fake and you flaw
For your cops and your cause
It makes no difference to me
It's love that you stole, that you stole
From the liquor stores
To the train stop floors
Your filthy room your drama blues
I am nothing if I'm not with you
I'm always right always wrong
Dressing bad is like loving you
There is nothing I haven't worn
Nothing I haven't said before
So here I am around this world
Will I be enough?
This is nothing I haven't said before
You are nothing I haven't felt before
Lyrics submitted by LizardGirl, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Not with You Lyrics as written by Tegan Rain Quin Sara Keirsten Quin
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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"
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
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.
it's "suffocating in here" not her, lol.
I love this song to death. Especially "I felt shark teeth underneath my socks before I lost much blood" and "Your fluid is thick against my sheets"
i was just about to write that the shark teeth under socks was my favorite line too!
i was just about to write that the shark teeth under socks was my favorite line too!
i absolutely ADORE this song. it's different, but the chorus is so catchy at the same time.
i think this song means that whichever one of the twins wrote this was in love with someone, but they had so many faults they didnt 'know what to do with it. at the same time, they couldnt bear to let them go. she's nothing without her, but at the same time, she's suffocating and can't decide whether to free herself or put up with all the crap she's going through.
my friend and i just went through the EXACT same thing.
and i just recently discovered my deep seeded love for old tegan and sara stuff. it completes my collection. really does.
I think its about watching your lover be a hot mess on drugs and being out of control. Especially the line about "i'm always right, I'm always wrong" It feels like that when the person you love is always contradicting herself saying she knows she's out of control but denying it the next time you confront her about it. I'm nothing if I'm not with you sounds like it has a double meaning to it. It could be that her love is so intense that she feels like she could never be without this person but it also sounds like I mean nothing to you when I'm not there and you don't consider how your actions make me feel. Around This world will I be enough? maybe enough for you to change? It just sounds like She's falling out of love with this person.
This is sara's song. I love it live. I feel like this song is about being with someone who's troubled. But yet you can't seem to leave even though you have thought about it many times.