The Way Things Are Lyrics

Lyric discussion by untilrecently 

Cover art for The Way Things Are lyrics by Fiona Apple

i have to agree with sarabear316..

with my take, i think it's a about a girl who's had many bad experiences with men. she's become used to the pain from all those jerks that it's become normal for her. it's become the familiar. the girl is in this transitional period where she wants to not only runaway from all the bad men, but the good guys too. since being treated like crap by guys has become normalized for her, her mind, body and heart rejects a good guy who treats her well. (from the first verse)

she feels that at this stage, she needs to be alone until she kicks her bad habit (of dating toxic men), not by dating a good guy, but learning to love herself and believe that she's worthy of being loved. to her, things are better off this way. her friends and maybe past exes make fun of her and don't support this idea of hers. she reacts back by saying, you can tell me that i'm crazy for cutting myself off from love for awhile, but that's how it's going to be.