Piece of Glass

This song represents how we rely on society and on the "norm" to tell us who we should be. We try to get away from that view, but we struggle each day with trying to satisfy the "mirror".

From the Authors:

"'Piece of Glass' came out of a conversation with Danielle Young and myself about the pressures that we and our friends were feeling to measure up physically against the standards of our culture. Our battle is nothing more than our reflection in the mirror and the lies that is tells us about who were really are" - Derek Webb "(Piece of Glass) is a song we wrote when a really good friend of ours was dealing with bulimia...I had written a story about the same subject a year earlier and I found out about my friend and then we wrote this song. This disease is more common than people realize, especially among college students, who we mostly sing to and play for. We just felt the need to let the students know that they aren't alone. That there are a lot of people who deal with it. The story in the song doesn't give a 'Jesus loves you happy ending', because that's not how you feel when you are dealing with it. 'Jesus loves you' didn't cut it for my friend. She knew that, she is a christian and she is healed now, but at the end of the song it just basically says that who I see in the mirror is not really me, it's who I think I see. The disease is in the mind. People who have it can't see themselves properly. When they look into the mirror, an 90 pound girl sees 300 pounds. The end of the song it just says, 'You're just a picture of me, you've lived my life for me and I'm not going to let you do that anymore.' I have very personal feelings about that song." -Danielle Young

On writing the song: "danielle and i got to talking about how we were realizing more and more what a huge responsibility it was having a platform such as we do, and taking full advantage of it. she was talking about all of the convictions that she had, and how she so desired to be more expressive on stage about some of those things...specifically we were talking about how aware we were becoming of the horrible effects of eating disorders, especially in friends that we have, and have had. danielle was very adamant about the fact that no matter how unattractive this subject was, one couldn't afford to ignore it. it genuinely affects everyone, and is unfortunately very relevant on college campuses...i suggested that she address the subject from stage [and] she write a song. she had written some well textured poetry over the years that she had let me read, so i knew that she was definitely capable. we eventually came to the conclusion that we could try and work together on it, though she had never written an entire song, and i had always written alone...she wrote a page's worth of her basic thoughts on the matter, gave it to me, and i went into another room to think. we went back and forth revising and re-revising each others ideas for about a half hour, until we felt confident enough to actually collaborate face to face. once we really got going, we were done in about 20 minutes. the song really wrote itself." -- Excerpt from Derek’s Journals

I heard this song recently and just had to hear it again. As I listened closer I realized why I had felt so connected to it. It seemed as though the lyrics were speaking to me. The more I listened to the song, the more I realized the underlying theme. As much as I could relate it to myself, I had no idea that the meaning of the song was just that. Most songs talk about love and loss and even drugs and sex and rarely touch on the surfance of addiction. If anything maybe drugs and alcohol, but I related the song still to me. Then I came here and read that the song was actually created out of a conversation with a bulimic. I'm bulimic! I've never heard a song that was written about bulimia and up until now I thought it was the "unpopular" eating disorder. I've heard a song or two on anorexia (an eating disorder I began with, which led to my current diagnosis of bulimic) but never thought bulimia would even be recognized by the media let alone the music industry. I just want to thank you for writing a song that truly touched me. I only hope that other's suffering can find this song and know that someone understands and they're not alone in this fight.

That's weird.

When I first heard the song, the lyric "'Cause this monster is wasting me away and taking my days " was "'Cause this monster is filling me, up, filling me out".

Personally, I like the older lyric better...I can't see why it was changed.

I've never heard the "filling me up, filling me out" version--are you sure you didn't just hear it wrong?

no they didnt hear it wrong. i've been listening to this song for years I even wrote a paper about it for a class in highschool. that was in 2001. the original words were "filling me up and filling me out" it was also far more acoustic and you got a better feel of the song. i also think the last line is im not more than just a piece of.....glass. not you're. it was actually way better then what i hear now on last.fm