Browse song lyrics

The song is about songwriting. The art is personified as a woman who the persona is madly in love with. He had earlier on just finished writing a 10th album, which he says "is sounding right." Now it's onto the 11th, and it's "time to focus on the rhymes" since "we got just one short life." Because time is passing by, despite the many songs "they" have written together, they are determined to write even more, stockpiling them for the future. "The past is gone and will never be again," and "all we have is the here and now," a moment which might easily be missed if it's not seized. "There's nothing left to do," and "nothing else to do," let's us know that he has abandoned himself to his art, and finds the meaning of his existence in it. Verse 2 is a romantic description of his love for the art. He has "never seen a girl with such fire in her eyes," and she makes him lose his focus when she smiles. Songwriting has taken him to heights he never dreamt he would find, and opened up to him a whole different dimension full of nothing but pure bliss. It's a craft he finds tremendous fulfillment from; the best way he thinks he can spend his "one short life."

Steve Jobs said, "Your time is limited; don't waste it living someone else's life," and that is the heart and message of this song. We often get caught up in the motions of life and forget that our days on earth are numbered; even if one had a thousand years, they'd still come to an end. Many people tiptoe through life, hoping to make it safely to death, as one philosopher put it. We have people trapped in jobs they don't like, living lives they hate, and they feel like there is no way out of their misery; they have become so enslaved by society that they have forgotten about the dreams they once nurtured in their hearts when they had the liberty of mind to fantasize and explore the world of their imagination. The song is a reminder that each of us has a purpose to fulfill during our short stay on this side of eternity. It speaks of the fleeting nature of time, and challenges us in the Bridge to cut loose from the crowd, dare out into the unknown and chase the visions we hear calling out to us beyond.

The song is about a songwriter who faces the difficult task of reconciling the words and actions of his lover, which seem to be quite contradictory. He is gifted with the ability to write but, apparently, cannot sing too well. The girl can, but has never offered to try to sing any of his songs. She says she loves them when he sends her something he's written, but doesn't post them on her socials for others to see these works she's so proud of. She can also write quite well, but has only joined him to write one time, at his casual request. The Chorus lands the plane, describing the conflict that goes on within him, which is further expatiated in the Bridge when he says his mind is "under fire", a rather graphic picture of the fight inside. He knows she loves him, truly, but can't seem to understand why her actions tell a different story. It's a highlight of the plight some couples find themselves in, where there is a lot of love and other emotional accompaniments, but not as much support when it comes to the personal goals and struggles the individuals in the relationship are left to battle on their own.

The beauty industry is huge in today's society. Girls and women particularly are sucked deeply into it, investing in a lot of things to enhance their beauty from simple efforts like make-up to rather extreme ones like plastic surgery. But, how necessary are these things? Have we lost perspective? What really defines true beauty? The song addresses this and attempts to let those who feel uneasy about how they look know that they can be beautiful the way they are; one doesn't have to fit into the mold that society has created for them in order to find acceptance and happiness. This vice-like conformity has injured the esteems of many a victim, and keeps luring more and more of its unsuspecting customers into its trap every day, especially with the increasingly pervasive influence of media, both digital and social. There's more to beauty than the outward appearance, and we ought to focus more on that inner beauty that comes from the heart as the Bible admonishes in 1 Peter 3:3-4.

The song is about the struggles couples have in relationships with regard to the insecurities the partners grapple with about how they look. The guy acknowledges that he has certain odd peculiarities about his looks that others would easily recognize. The two of them have never had a conversation around it and, as a result, the guy is only left with speculations about what exactly goes on in the girl's mind. She has proven time and time again that she is committed to the relationship, but from the way she looks at the guy, it is evident that she notices what everyone else sees. Does she do that because it is just an obvious situation or does she secretly have concerns that she'd rather downplay or keep to herself? Some of them are highlighted in Verse 2: the concern over other people's opinions and what they will say, worries about the kids inheriting some of the limitations that he has, etc. The Bridge is the guy's stand as it were; quoting Shakespeare, he states that "things without remedy should be without regard." It's all about genetics, and he finds solace in the fact that he didn't choose the family he was born into and thus had no choice on the matter.