bobojaj June 6th, 2006 09:30PM  
I interpret this partically from how this song has played a role in my life: It feels like this song talks about how the writer is totally and entirely in a situation he isn't sure how to deal with. He doesn't want to disregard it and leave it alone, but he doesn't want to confront it head on. He and "Everyone knows I'm in over my head", and in the process he's losing the one he's fighting with himself over.

anonymous June 23rd, 2006 01:02PM  
Isaac Slade said it was about his brother - they were having a huge fight and it was either agree to disagree or never speak again...they chose the former.

anonymous July 11th, 2006 11:08PM  
I think it's about a girl. I don't think things are working out for them but he's having a hard time letting go. He wants to let go but at the same time wish he can fix everything again. So he faces apathy and just sits there doing nothing, confused. All the while, she's still on his mind. He faces a emotionless, mild battle within himself. It's painful but yet he's trying to escape. Much contradiction but very sad. He's standing in the middle of it all. The world is revolving around him as he stands there.

Disregard their relationship but he can't. She finds a new friend and forgets about him. She's gone but he's still here. He should've just let go and agreed to it. He wish he should've just left it while things were good with her. But now it's a mess and she's still on his mind. Tears won't do much now...

-sam

anonymous July 19th, 2006 04:15AM  
The song is about a guy in love who is having trouble handling the emmencity of love and the work it takes. Love is more of a challenge than he thinks he is up to and he hides behind a sense of apathy that is much easier and safer than leaving his heart open and exposed to love. Everyone around him can see that he is in love and that it has the capacity to destroy him, they are just waiting for it. He's letting her slip away and he is relieved and hurt at the same time, because without her he is safe, but he is emotionless. He can't take the way she's always on his mind, the way thoughts of her control his life. So he lets her slip away...

anonymous August 18th, 2006 12:00AM  
It's a sad love story...One in which a you should have never been involved. Your friends turned their heads never to to give advice on the situation. But in reality friends sometimes don't say anything because they know that you are not going to listen "but that is how it's gotta be". You learn a lesson and after its over you realize who is there to pick you up even though it may not be who you think it would be. You don't want to stick around to see who is there because its to painful to admit to your mistakes. Regardless your still over your head and she is still on your mind.

You want to make it painless wishing you could cut this part of your life out "disengage". Then you think, oh if only I had I was more compromising, but its irrelevant because your happiness is at stake and you can't sacrifice your happiness. Then a new friend is added to the equation and it hurts like crazy but yet you know its what has to be. So eventually you become farther apart and as time goes on it gets easier to deal with but you will always remember the pain.

anonymous January 23rd, 2007 07:34AM  
ive read on a few sites, and officially, that this song is about issac and his brother. (read above)
but to me, and this is where people might disagree, music has it's own interpretations for everyone.
to me, this song is about a guy, or a girl, who can't let go of their past relationship. They shared something really meaningful, exchanged many mutual feelings and in the end, it broke. one is left standing there, dazed out and sorrowful, while the other doesn't look back. doesn't acknowledge them anymore. She finds new people, see's new people and he's tried. He really has. but he can't let go, he can't get her out of his head.
he feels as if she is his world, and he's just another guy in the huge crowd out there. He doesn't know what to do, and is sick of the pain. The pain of being forgotton, and led astray. Then every now and again, she wants his attention. builds him up, and gives him hope. but she's just doing it for herself, and doesn't care for him.
...i love this song.

anonymous February 19th, 2007 09:44PM  
For Me it totally sounds like a fight between two people who are naturaly close to each other (Faamily) Or forced (Like A Step Brother) This is clearly demonstrated in the second verse:
Let's Rearange=Let's look at The fight differently
I wish you where a stranger I could disengage= I wish I didn't know you so I could stop having to deal with you
Just say that we agree= Just pretend to get along
And I'll never change= So I don't have to try hard
Soffen A bit until we all just get along= I'll be nicer so we can just get along
That's disregard= But that's not the way to get rid of you
You found another freind and you discard= I wish you would find someone else and leave me alone
As I lose the argument in a cable car Haning Above= I I lose a fight that was hanging around for ever
As the canyon comes between= As the anger and fightaing deepens.
But that's just me.



I

anonymous March 4th, 2007 01:47PM  
I think it's about a girl he likes but, she doesn't like him and since he knows that she does not like him he is really mad and frustrated.

anonymous June 1st, 2007 09:15AM  
You can think of a song however you want. Its up to you to decide what the meaning is. I like to think of this song as not about Isaac....but about a very beautiful girl. He is slowly gathering up confidence to ask her out. All his friends are saying he's over his head and shell never say yes. Also he is very nervous because of all the times he has had his heart broken in the past. After he gathers up the confidence he starts to have a little trouble. But he will push through. "Shes on your mind she's on your mind"
Every where he goes there she is...thats why he wishes she was a "stranger he could disengage".
It is a song saying no matter what your friends say its up to you and only you to decide who and who you don't love,like,or hate.

Just the way I look at it :D

anonymous June 18th, 2007 03:25AM  
I think that this song is very moving as the way I interpret the lyrics is based on my life, I think that it is about a love that has gone wrong and he can't accept it and he can't move on and he has the empty dull feeling you get even though you no that there is no hope of things going back to what they were previously like.

anonymous August 21st, 2007 01:50AM  
I know this isn't really what the song means, but I feel a strong feeling towards this reasoning. The singer is developing a relationship with an incredible girl, which he couldn't be happier about. However, as the relationship develops, he finds having a girl in his life is making the rest of life feel sort of out of focus and confusing. So while trying to deal with the rest of life, he's also trying to figure out how this girl fits in. He feels like he's doing to much at once and is in over his head, hence the title of the song. The line about rearranging feels like he wishes that life could be sort of flipped around so that everything fit right with the girl and the rest of life. Being a basketball player, the overtime line feels like he's rushing through the adrenaline of an intense game, but instead he's thinking about her. Like I said, this reasoning doesn't fit with all of the lyrics, but it is just what comes to my mind while listening to this awesome song.

anonymous August 21st, 2007 04:34PM  
Lets see... Well, the song starts: I
never knew
I never knew that everything was falling through
That everyone I knew was waiting on a queue
To turn and run when all I needed was the truth
But that's how it's got to be
It's coming down to nothing more than apathy
I'd rather run the other way than stay and see
The smoke and who's still standing when it clears

I think it's about pretenses. You think that something's real and then suddenly finding out that it's all a lie. And you're waiting to see who was really there, when [the smoke clears].

And then the chorus pretty much speaks for itself. She was a lie as well, and he's so confused and just can't get anything straight, and there's not much time left to figure anything out, but he still loves her.

Let's rearrange
I wish you were a stranger I could disengage
Just say that we agree and then never change
Soften a bit until we all just get along
But that's disregard
Find another friend and you discard
As you lose the argument in a cable car
Hanging above as the canyon comes between

I wish I could just leave, because wouldn't it be easier if we were strangers? He says. The next few lines (soften a bit... Till find another friend) say that said girl has found another person, and he's lost, and a canyon comes between is symbolic, I think, for him meaning that they've distanced themselves so much that it's over.

And suddenly I become a part of your past
I'm becoming the part that don't last
I'm losing you and its effortless
Without a sound we lose sight of the ground
In the throw around
Never thought that you wanted to bring it down
I won't let it go down till we torch it ourselves

This is my favorite verse. It speaks for it's self. He sees that it's over, and he can't do anything about it. Without any other discussions they lose sight of the ground that they had made. The rest speaks for itself. He never thought that her affections could be pretenses, never thought she'd do this. But he won't let it go until he finds out what truly happened.

This is what I thought of the song, but knowing Isaac, it'll be something completely different! It's an amazing song, lyrics and all. I congratulate the Fray on another amazing song, that they managed to pull off with great meaning, but making it still fun to listen to!

anonymous September 13th, 2007 06:52PM  
My interpretation is like it was a teenager in high school. At first he thinks he know whats going on, but then he find out the truth. He stars to do worse in school and finds out that his friends were mostly friends with him because of his grades. They leave because he can't help them anymore. Then he turns to think about the other important thing to him, a good friend whos a girl. Everyone knows that he has a crush on her. He likes her and thinks about her. Then he wishes he could meet new friends and sees his old friends with someone else smart. Then he finds out from the girl's friend that the girl he likes only thinks of him as a friend. Nothing seems to go right for him. He decides to give up on his old friends (torch it ourselves). in one word, he has to letitgo.

By the way, the thing with the girl; got that from a recent experience. today. me.

Kyros/Smashbro

anonymous December 7th, 2007 09:22PM  
Okay, I know for a fact this song was about Isaac and his brother getting in a fight and all, but, this is how I look at the song based on experience in life and stuff...

I think this song is about a love relationship that ended up badly, also while other minor things are going wrong in his life. First verse- He realizes everything is 'falling through' and he seeks for help from his friends/family, but no one seems to be there for him. He's apathetic because he's not getting answers or the help he wants.. and he wants to run away, rather than figure out who his real friends are and are actually there when times get rough for him. Chorus- He's in over his head about the whole situation.. doesn't know what to do and his thinking too deeply but still can't figure it out. And the girl is still on his mind, no matter how hard he tries to forget her. Second verse- He wants to straighten things out with the girl and get things back to how they were, and he's thinking it would be easier if they could be strangers and not know each other at all anymore. They find new people and try to move on with life and they grew apart from each other. ('canyon comes between') Third verse- As time goes on he's saying he's just becoming a part of her memory that she'll soon forget and she's getting further and further away from him and there's nothing he can do about it. They lose sight of the ground in which they once had together, where everything felt right. And he's saying he won't let go of it until he knows for sure what happened between them.

Kody102 December 14th, 2007 09:12PM  
My interpretation is based around how my life relates to his song. I am 14 and go to school and no one likes me. No one. I'm being literal here. So when he sings his song I think he's singing about being lonely.

Kody102 December 14th, 2007 09:14PM  
Also when he's singing over my head I think it is about his best friend and him having a fight over a girl.

anonymous January 4th, 2008 05:50PM  
This song is said by Isaac (the singer) to be about fights him and his brother Caleb had when coming back from a tour, but I think it means many different things to everyone.

anonymous December 15th, 2008 06:51PM  
It's about someone that is losing a close friend or lover.
VERSE 1-
he never realized the situation would become that bad. Its spiraling downward at neck break speed, and he's struggling to catch what happened. He has gotten to the point where he no longer cares, because everyone left him, and he's scared to even see who remains in his life.

VERSE 2-
hes talked to this person he is losing, but it got him no where. Similar to actions speak louder than words, the person has said all the right things but has done nothing to act that way. It would be so much easier to let the person go, but they contain such a deep part of him, and the bond is too strong. The other person is ready to let go because the situation is tough. They are stuck in a "cable car" that is hanging on the edge, meaning that it can only get better or worse. It can fall or can be saved.

VERSE 3-
he has lost the person faster than he could have ever imagined, and so much easier. but still he is unwilling to allow it to happen. He won't let others affect them, and if they lose each other, it will be due to themselves, not others.

CHORUS-
its apparent to everyone that he is fighting a losing battle. He only has 8 seconds left in overtime, saying that its crunch time and its almost over, he can either win or lose, but a tie is unattainable.

hope that helps :) even if it is about the singers brother, its doubtful that he wrote a song for that single purpose. Its meant to appeal to everyone, and everyone has been in this situation, such amazing lyrics and message.

anonymous February 9th, 2009 10:36AM  
I can only comment on my owe experiences, and I think that is what music comes down to, what ever the writers interpretation, every single person has a different perspective of everything around them.

anyway........ To me it's about the feeling after a break up with someone you really cared about or loved, maybe it wasnt what the singer wanted.

I never knew
I never knew that everything was falling through

i relate to this song my own way, to me that line is how the relationship came to end, just didn't see it coming.

Everyone knows I'm in
Over my head, over my head
With eight seconds left in overtime
She's on your mind, she's on your mind

thats a reference to watching a game, and for me despite the fact my team needs to score with only 8seconds left to the game, that isn't important, because all I can think about is her!

Let's rearrange
I wish you were a stranger I could disengage

as much as I don't want to let her go and want to keep her in my life, bottom line I wish she was just a stranger, so it didn't matter, because the pain is really hard to take.

(she rings me, I don't ring her, but I always answer, and it always causes more pain, and I just wish she would get over me also, so I could try to get past things)

But that's disregard
Find another friend and you discard

so to me, if she finds another boyfriend she will stop ringing me and I will be able to get past this whole thing.

then this happens:
And suddenly I become a part of your past
I'm becoming the part that don't last
I'm losing you and its effortless

she has moved on, she's got her life and her new fella, so the phone calls stop, I've done nothing different, but the connection we had, even the connection after the break up its fading.... on my part, its completely effortless.
i think the song had the same tone to my personal experience, (which is where my perspective comes from), because despite wishing she wasnt there and that she was a stranger I still miss her and am still hurting.

and finally:

Never thought that you wanted to bring it down
I won't let it go down till we torch it ourselves

never thought you wanted to bring it down, I never thought she truly wanted it to end, so I am the one struggling to get over the past.

well, maybe that was a bit personal to me, but that is my interpretation of this great song.

anonymous March 9th, 2009 02:20PM  
I like to think of it just as a fight between friends. The beginning of the song is what makes me think that, when he sings about waiting to see the smoke and who's still standing when it clears. The turbulence in their friendships, he thinks will make his friends all turn their backs on him, and he's nervous to find out who is actually true and who isn't.