All I Know Lyrics

Lyric discussion by astephen 

Cover art for All I Know lyrics by Karnivool

I believe that good lyrics have a specific meaning for the writer but are also mysterious enough to invite each individual's personal interpretation. I think this makes good music therapeutic, as we will all use the emotional vehicle it provides to transport our thoughts to a place of necessity and perhaps healing.

I don't know what each line of this song means to the author (the singer of Karnivool, in this case), but every line screams something glaringly and painfully obvious to me.

I am currently coping with the reality of ending a relationship with the person I love. "This is my sense of reality." "The decision to not be together causes me more pain than I have ever felt, but it was made with maturity and foresight for what will be best for both of us in the end. "This is proof of my coming of age." Because of my deep love for her, I repressed many fears and doubts in order to prolong the relationship. "This is truth in captivity". I put all of my faith in our love and our future together, and, in the aftermath, I find it difficult to believe that I will ever experience something so meaningful again. "This is losing a theology."

I promised that I would never leave her, and, in doing so, I have (temporarily) crushed her spirit (and my own). "I'm a soul taker." I have never hated myself more than I do now for breaking my promise. "I'm a cruel-witted mind."

It will help me to cope with the decision if she made it clear that she also feels that not being together is truly what is best for us. Her honest answer to these questions would help. "Are you with me? Are you of like mind?"

We often spoke about the heights of love and happiness we experienced with each other, and yet other unseen forces seemed to drag our idealistic and romantic notions down to earth. "We keep falling free of gravity." In coming to realize that our relationship may have been slightly codependent, we decided that the health of the relationship would depend on re-establishing our own separate lives. "We just severed these umbilical wires". Over the course of the relationship, we became best friends and will always love each other deeply. "This is more than just affinity". We know in our heads that we should move on, but our hearts keep us hoping that this doesn't have to be the end. "We're moving further through an endless desire".

I am terrified to face the world without her by my side. "....I feel afraid now". I wish we could elevate ourselves above the fears and doubts and get back to where we were when we were blissfully happy. "Let's go higher". But the fears and the doubts are telling us something that we don't want to hear, because we don't want to let go of the dream we had of our future together. "This is the sound of your reason to wake." We often said that our love would overcome any obstacle. "Have we forgotten now?" There is now a seemingly impassible rift within the beautiful connection we have? "Can we relate?"

I know I want to marry her, so why won't the panic attacks stop. "It's backwards, it makes no sense." However, we cannot convince ourselves that my anxiety has nothing to do with my fears about being together. "[It's] So real that we can't pretend." The anxiety seems to grow in my subconscious, the more I try to deny it on a conscious level. "It's harder to just pretend."

If I can't be with her, I don't know what is worth believing. "Is this the end of all I know?"

what a great interpretation.

+1

Nice interpretation, very personal, and I guess, that's what it's supposed to be :) To me, this song has a very similar, and very personal meaning too.

After many many years of not seeing each other, and not talking about how and why things ended, I met my first big big love. The plan was to put a proper end to things, talk everything over and forget about each other for good - a very mature step we both thought - as we're both in relationships.

This is my sense of reality This is proof of my coming of age This is truth...