myhandfeelscreepy November 30th, 2006 12:11PM  
This guy. He has a history. Past relationships have left him jaded. There's this new girl (sorry...I'm hetero...my automatic romantic default matchup for 'guy' is 'girl') that he is involved with. They have a great time and things are getting more 'serious'. Is she the right one? How can he know? He's been wrong before. Other women he was crazy for bubble up from his memory to stand next to new girl for comparison. The hardest thing for him to do is to open up, risk being hurt again, take that leap of faith. It is also the right thing to do, because anyone can find imperfections in anyone. How much time has passed? She won't hang around forever waiting to see if he can love her. Maybe it's already too late.

cmonster April 9th, 2007 11:51AM  
It seems like he has very little experience with relationships... He's always been saving himself for the perfect girl...and normally its easy for him to write them off as "not the one" but he's starting to realize that the concept of "the one" is somewhat of a lie, and that he could be missing out on something wonderful if he writes her off. In fact, I think he's in a relationship with the girl right now, a serious one, and he's aware of her imperfections now. maybe they're having a rocky period that has got him questioning whether he should be with her.

anonymous May 6th, 2007 05:48PM  
My interpretation is this..

There is that girl, you know maybe the really good friend, but basically the one who is always there. The one who you will always have feelings for between other relationships, or maybe even during. And this song is about that girl, trying to find out who she really is.

I took the most of my thoughts on this from the first two lines...

'There are certain people you just keep coming back too, she is right infront of you.'

anonymous November 3rd, 2007 07:50PM  
I kind of think it's about a girl he's had past relationships with. He keeps coming back to her, even though he has his doubts. It's hard not to keep coming back. Maybe he believes that this relationship is going to work out somehow, but he lets her go every time. Somehow it's always going to be this girl, even though she's far from perfect.

anonymous November 12th, 2007 06:05PM  
This song is the story of my life. The way I interpret this song is that it's about a guy who is in love with a girl but just not sure that she is "the one". Maybe they met too young or the guy does not feel that he has had enough relationship experiences. They have had some rough times, in my case a long distance relationship, but she is the one that he keeps coming back to. The song indicates that this girl is almost at the point of not being able to take it anymore - she is not going to wait around for Mr. Indecisive to figure out what he wants and deep down he knows that sometimes its worth the wait.

anonymous April 10th, 2008 12:59AM  
Another interpretation is that - perhaps he's been with this girl for a while and maybe things are getting tough, like hitting a rough patch. Maybe he's wondering if he's really made the right choice in being committed to her. And I think his realization is that he truly does have the best right in front of him (which is her), maybe "the hardest thing and the right thing" is resolving to make it work, knowing it's worth it, rather than giving up, and being truly satisfied with what he has/they have.

CHINOinterpreter June 14th, 2008 02:09AM  
I am a huge fan of The Fray and would like to share my views of what the song "basically" means. I feel that All At Once basically talks about a guy who is always comparing this girl to an imaginary one that is the symbol of perfection but does not exist ("perfection will not come). I believe the part where it says "and all at once the crowd begins to sing sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same" is saying that his friends are trying to tell him that the hard thing (which is also the right thing) is to let go of that imaginary perfect girl and open your eyes to the imperfect but still beautiful girl that was always there all along. That also explains the "maybe you want her maybe you need her maybe she's all you're running from...". The part where it says "but she won't keep on waiting for you without a doubt much longer for you to sort it out" means that the beautiful girl in front of him won't wait for him to sort out his feelings about her or the imaginary perfect woman in his mind. And "sometimes we never know what's wrong without the pain" shows how she left him for another and he finally realizes that she was the one he's been looking for all along but was too late to tell her. And finally "maybe you want her maybe you need her maybe you had her maybe you lost her to another" means she could not wait any longer and left him. This is just my opinion.

anonymous January 1st, 2009 09:35PM  
Maybe there's a girl that's the writer's always taken for granted - she's there, she wants me - but she's not perfect enough, so he ignores her. But she still stays, makes him laugh when he's sad, never loses hope after all the times he's betrayed her. And then, when she gives up, he realizes that she was teh perfect girl all along.

mnm January 6th, 2009 02:47AM  
they've went out in the past a few times and he stops dating her and has a new girlfriend and dates a few other girls and realizes that maybe she was the best one he's had so far and realizes he wants her back(there are certain ppl u just keep coming back to)he keeps coming back to her and having doubts on if there is someone better when she's actually right in front of you!I think its something what the meaning is..thats the way i took it

anonymous April 26th, 2009 10:38PM  
I think that the songs about someone who he's not sure about but looking at her she's the perfect girl ... But at the time he doesn't realize it until it's too late

anonymous June 18th, 2009 02:06PM  
i think its about a guy who's in a relationship but met another girl ("...find another one...") and feels very strongly about her but doesn't quite know if it's worth it to end his relationship for her...

anonymous October 4th, 2009 05:00PM  
To me this song is about an individual who is in a relationship and second guessing if they want to be with this person or not. "and you've started to compare.." The individual has started to compare his "other" with others and debating if this is the right person or not. The song is saying be careful because this person could be the one because after all "perfection will not come", and if we let that person go someone else might never let them go.

heartbroken March 6th, 2010 11:01PM  
I think this is about a guy and a girl who have past history. That history may or may not have meant relationships, or even friendship, but there was still a history. Feelings from both ends, but feelings that may have never been spoken about. He won't admit to his feelings for this girl, because he is always searching for "the right one" and maybe he doesn't realize she's been there all along. He goes girl to girl to girl, thinking he's truly happy with these new people, when deep down, he's crazy about someone else.

anonymous March 13th, 2010 05:12AM  
personally i feel identified with this song... i think its about a guy who was in a long relationship with some girl, they breakup and he kinda starts going out with another girl but for any reason he compares her to the last girlfriend (maybe you started to compare to someone not there) and you get that annoying thought that you should end it with the new girl to try to get back with the other one (the one that isnt there anymore) thats why it says "sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same" cuz even though after ending a relationship, the hardest thing is to move on... the right thing is to actually move on. As the song says "maybe you want her, maybe you need her, maybe you started to compare to someone not there". Maybe this new girl is all you need, maybe you even care for her, and she's what you need to finally get over the last girl, but still you compare both girls as if you had both of them to you, when actually one isnt even there anymore.... at least thats what has happened to me like 4 times with the same girl