Car is parked, bags are packed, but what kind of heart doesn't look back
At the comfortable glow from the porch, the one I will still call yours?
All those words came undone and now I'm not the only one
Facing the ghosts that decide if the fire inside still burns

All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe
Holds my love in his hands, still I'm searching for something
Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I'll breathe again
I'll breathe again

Open up next to you and my secrets become your truth
And the distance between that was sheltering me comes in full view
Hang my head, break my heart built from all I have torn apart
And my burden to bear is a love I can't carry anymore

All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe
Holds my love in his hands, still I'm searching for something
Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I'll breathe again

Oh, It hurts to be here
I only wanted love from you
Yeah, it hurts to be here
What am I gonna do?

All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe
Holds my love in his hands, still I'm searching
All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe
Holds my love in his hands, and still I'm searching for something
Out of breath, I am left hoping someday

I'll breathe again, I'll breathe again
I'll breathe again, I'll breathe again
I'll breathe again, I'll breathe again


Lyrics submitted by caseykins

Breathe Again Lyrics as written by Sara Beth Bareilles

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Breathe Again song meanings
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25 Comments

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  • +5
    General Comment
    Breathe Again is a song about a love that goes unrequited. This is a situation wherein you have strong feelings for someone but this someone doesn't return you the same emotions as you'd wished to. In the lyrics, it says "but what kinda heart doesn't look back?" There are a lot of factors that may trigger one's actions. For example, that person whom you have strong feelings for might already be in love with someone else, and maybe that is the reason why that person only shows a little amount of interest in liking you.. This is a stage wherein you start to put everything up on the line; your body, your soul, your heart.. It would even make you swallow your own pride for the sake of being noticed.. You have to understand that an unrequited love is one of the strongest form of rejection. Sara Bareilles' Breathe Again contains strong lyrics that indicates strong rejection of feelings and emotions.
    ImaginativeGirlon August 25, 2012   Link
  • +3
    General Comment
    The first few lyrics remind me of looking back at the one I loved and was leaving behind "Car is parked, bags are packed but what kind of heart doesn't look back?" to the comfortable glow of the porch the one I will still call yours" it reminds me Of no matter how much I convinced myself he wasn't meant to be a part of my life I had to look back and I thought of him as having a very soothing presence. This song to me speaks of a girl who loved a guy so much that she defined breathing as being with him. She is leaving him but not because she doesn't love him, it's because in her heart she knows he'll never truly love her back and that they aren't right for each other. It still doesn't stop her from thinking of him as the air she once peacefully breathed in. "The love he holds in his hands" is actually the love she has for him, she's given him her heart. "My burden is a love I can't carry anymore" tell us how badly she wants to hold onto that piece of him she still has, those memories but loving him is so painful, remembering him hurts so much that she must steel herself to forget. Even trying to let go of him who is so precious to her is a burden, like loving him was also a burden. As she looks back all those words she told herself to move on come undone and her resolve is weak and she questions if the fire still burns. But she knows moving on is the only right thing to do so she does. She knows and understands him so well that he is a reflection of all she is and all she had- because being with him so much has also made her who she is. And she thinks she would kill to go back tithe time when she could be with him and loved him until reality came along and made her realize her fate is to move on. She moves on with a heavy heart but always remembers and compares every joy in her life with the joy of knowing him and loving him. She tries to forget him but in the back of her head he is the truest happiness she has ever known. She prays therefor, and her prayer is a form of giving up,- that even of she can't be with him, there must be a hope of them belonging together again someday. That someday he will love her again. Someday she would be able to laugh in his company again. Someday she might find happiness again even of it means truly forgetting him. And that- that someday, she'll breathe again.
    alycaton May 01, 2011   Link
  • +2
    General Comment
    Due to my current situation, I see it as a girl being deep in love with a guy who left her and won't take her back no matter what she does. I do still see the 'moving on' aspect of the song, just coming from a slightly different angle. The relationship was good for both until the guy let it die for selfish reasons.
    WrittenSoulon January 03, 2011   Link
  • +2
    General Comment
    This should be my theme song. :) Sarah hits it on the head. "I only wanted to love you". If he is the one,then why am I still searching? Why can't I breathe? Great song.
    Thia007on November 21, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    This song is truly so beautiful. I think she wrote about a woman leaving a very heavy, difficult relationship. She knows she needs to leave but she wants to be with him so bad. The relationship was intoxicating. She's still in love with him but she has to move on because there is something better out there.
    vertiseeon September 07, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    I think it's about knowing that you have to move on. You may not want to leave this person but it will be worse if you don't. Plus, there is the hope that you will be able to 'breathe again'
    m2991on September 08, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    This is definitely my favorite song on the whole cd. I first heard this song on Vampire Diaries and it was playing during a scene with a female vampire remembering her human love. So as a result I see the song meaning a little differently, especially the chorus. The air she literally can't breathe as a vampire that he still does as a human. In the end she knows she is tearing his world apart with her secrets and what she is so she has to move on and she is left with the hope that she will be human again someday.
    blugirlami21on October 07, 2010   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation
    This song is about a woman who wants nothing more than to be in love with the man she's with, he holds her love in his hands, yet she can't love him back. She has everything she needs but still longing for that something she truly can't live without. In the second verse I think she is referring to an affair, a love she can't have but can't let go of. She's trapped, needs to move on but can't.
    TSRWon January 21, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    This song is truly amazing. I think it's about someone who loves someone so much it's suffocating her. I think she's realised that this love isn't good for her and tries to leave but he still 'holds my love in his hands'. If he wanted her back she knows she would go back with him because she loves him so much. However, she knows she shouldn't and even though it hurts like no pain she's ever experienced before, she knows that over time she will be able to breathe again. She will stop feeling suffocated and be able to leave but she has to leave for this to happen. It's almost as if the air that she is breathing is his which would mean to start with it's gonna be harder but when she learns to live wihtout him she will be able to breathe again. 'Hang my head, break my heart Built from all I have torn apart And my burden to bear Is a love I can't carry anymore' This is probably my favourite verse. She knows that she shouldn't be carrying this love any more because he broke her heart, broke everything she built and she can't bear the burden of this love. It's because of this that she knows she has to leave him and she will someday breathe again. Just my opinion. I feel I can relate to this song.
    alltimelennyon March 16, 2011   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning
    The first couple of times i listened to this song, I took it as she was trying to get over someone that she once dated. In a sense that she will one day breathe again, and move on. However i recently did a dance to this song, and the choreographer opened a whole different point of view. He took the song as her stating that you want to love someone so bad, but you just cant. "He's the air I would kill to breathe, Hold's my love in his hands, but still I'm searching for something." After he explained this, I listened to the song again and I agree. There's always that person that is right there waiting for you, and would be so perfect, but it just doesn't seem right, and you want so badly to love them, but you just can't.
    Frannimon March 24, 2011   Link

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