How can I convince you it's me I don't like
When I've always been distant
And I've always told lies for love

I'm bound by these choices so hard to make
I'm bound by the feeling so easy to fake
None of this is real enough to take me from you

Oh, I've got reservations
About so many things
But not about you

I know this isn't what you were wanting me to say
How can I get closer and be further away
From the truth that proves it's beautiful to lie

I've got reservations
About so many things
But not about you
I've reservations
About so many things
But not about you
Not about you
Not about you
Not about you
It's not about you


Lyrics submitted by followmearound, edited by NathanWestwood

Reservations Lyrics as written by Jay Bennett Jeff Tweedy

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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Reservations song meanings
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    i agree with you for the most part. i really like your interpretation though cuz it makes a lot of sense. when he says "How can I convince you its me I don't like", i think he's implying that she really is noticing now that he almost purposely treats her like he doesnt care. He just doesnt care and she notices. Consequently, she think that he doesnt like her anymore. The character then thinks to himself "How could i tell you that i act this way because i have no other choice. I'm too scrared to leave so i have to stay here with you but i just dont love you. Stop making me love you." And for that entire reason, he dislikes himself. He is playing an unavoidable sick cruel joke, on everyone, including himself.

    "Not be so indifferent to the look in your eyes" again, he doesnt care and he knows that he,(almost unwillingly) acts in a horrible, sad way towards her simply because he's tired of being in a relationship that, at that point in time, is just not for him. When she looks at him lovingly with nothing but pure, unadulterated love, he sees it, but feels extremely sad that he cannot give her the same.

    "When I've always been distant And I've always told lies for love" lies for love. he lies that he loves her. He can’t convince her that he just doesn’t love her, perhaps just because he has realized that his lies have grown so far, that it is almost umhuman to tell all and leave all thought, unsaid. She loves the narrator so much, with every bit of her soul.

    "I'm bound by these choices so hard to make I'm bound by the feeling so easy to fake None of this is real enough to take me from you" He’s bound. He’s tied up. He can’t go anywhere and he feels helpless almost. But the thing is, she or he, is sadly his support system, closest friend. He cannot leave. She cannot leave. I’t would ruin his life and hers, though it is surely bound to happen, at one point or another, and he knows this. Because of his fear of losing his support system, he believes its easier to fake love, because, ultimately, that act prevents extreme hardship on both of their lives that could last a looong time, and affect them both as people, because of the utmost uniqueness of this case. It wasn’t just a story about heartbreak. It’s a story of an intelligent, creative man who simply chose to not follow his heart during the beginning of his relation ship with the person whom he sings about in this song.

    “None of this is real enough to take me from you” Like I said earlier, none of the discomfort/bore/ dis interest that he currently experiences is worth the suffering that he is trying to impede, though perhaps he knows he needs such suffering.

    readyourmindon June 15, 2011   Link

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