This Time Imperfect Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Marcyy 

Cover art for This Time Imperfect lyrics by AFI

To me this song is about the inability to express oneself. Sometimes when one feels pain internally, they struggle to convey to others and these feelings are kept within them. "Asphyxiate on words I would say " suggests the inablity to form the right words to say, as if words are choked on as he tries to say them.

If this is what the song is about, then I believe that many have had the feeling before, of having so much pain trapped within our bodies, on the verge of breaking down, and when the oppertunity is there to tell someone of the pain, we are still unable to voice it.

sometimes you're staring at the source of your pain in the face, yet you cannot get yourself to put into words the anger or pain that you want to direct at it.

i think that feeling is what this song is about.

My Interpretation

@Marcyy Exactly. To me it is about depersonalization and dehumanization due to abuse from some sort of social determinism. Like being stripped of your personality by someone that has NPD. Coming to terms with the fact that you can never fix NPD so the words that mean so much to you and are so deep you are not able to share with someone with NPD because the NPD is just going to use the words against you.