What does Breathe (2 AM) mean?

Anna Nalick: Breathe (2 AM) Meaning

Album cover for Breathe (2 AM) album cover

Breathe (2 AM) Lyrics

2 AM and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake,
"Can you help me unravel my latest mistake?,
I don't love him. Winter just wasn't my season"
Yeah we walk through the doors, so accusing their eyes
Like they have any right at all to...

  1. ClandestineTigersEye
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    Feb 11th 2007 !⃝

    I can see how someone could get all of these interpretations. I really like the one about seasonal Affective disorder. With the whole "Winter just wasn't my season." People with this disorder suffer from severe depression during the winter, and that could make you do lots of stupid things, including sleeping with someone your regret.
    I can also see the abortion aspect and definetly the alcholoism to.

  2. anonymous
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    Jan 14th 2007 !⃝

    An argument for the first part of the song being about a friend of hers getting an abortion:

    "Can you help me unravel my latest mistake?"

    ***If you're squeamish about abortions, skip this***

    In the days before abortion clinics were legal, women would use various household objects to perform the abortion themselves. There's the well known coat hanger, but also knitting needles were frequently used.

    As you know knitting needles can knit, but also "unravel" any knitting you have already done.

  3. anonymous
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    Aug 11th 2006 !⃝

    First of all, I think that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and most of them were pretty good. Personally, I think that at the beginning of the song, she was walking into a pscyciatric ward and she was saying about "...Accusing their eyes like they have any right at all to criticize, hypocrites your all here for the very same reason." after that she says cause, meaning they are al there for the very same reason, and it's cause they can't jump the tracks they're like cars on a cable. I think that that means that they can't try to kill themselves and end their lives too soon because they are on a track, and time is up when it's up. You can't restart it, or make it go any faster, which has to do with the whole hourglass thing. To me, this makes the most sense. Rate me thought to let me know if you think I'm right.

  4. jgti2005
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    Aug 4th 2006 !⃝

    I definitely think that this song has to do with alcolism. The first one could be a female friend of the narrator that made a huge nistake by sleeping with someone because she was so drunk and that night she realized she couldn't live like that anymore and asks her friend for help. The other part " walking in the room....Blah...You're all here for the very same reason.." could be her walking into the rooms of rehab or aa which people do tend to look down on you sometimes and everyone is there for the very same reason... The second part about the guy who turn 21 on the army base ( the life of many soldiers) and hasn't been sober for a long time is also about alcohol. The chorus" you can't jump the track...." well like everyone else is saying...You can't turn back and change what you did... " this song is awesome even if I didn't get the interpretation right...I think it can apply to anyone going through some rough times no matter what it is...:)

  5. anonymous
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    Jul 18th 2006 !⃝

    Personally, I think that this song is about how anna is giving advice to this friend, who is married to a man, but cheated on him, and she didn't love the man that she cheated on him with, and got pregnant by him.

    The husband has his own problems, (drinking, hence the verse: in may he turn 21 on the base at fort bliss
    "just a day", he sat down to the flask in his fist,
    "ain't been sober, since maybe october of last year."
    here in town you can tell he's been down for a while,
    but, my god, it's so beautiful when the boy smiles,
    wanna hold him. Maybe I'll just sing about it. )

    but in all this advice she's giving, ahe gets caught up in her own problems...

    And just decides that you can't turn back time, she's just gotta move past it.

  6. anonymous
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    Jun 8th 2006 !⃝

    I wonder if her refference to "winter" is in any way related to seasonal depressive disorder (depression very common in the dark days of winter)? Also, tying the issues of alcohol and abortion together, maybe she had an abortion because the father of the would-be-baby was the alcoholic in the song. I don't know, its just something that crossed my mind.

  7. anonymous
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    May 27th 2006 !⃝

    The song is about abortion and I think anyone who gets a different meaning from the song should listen to it again.

    To me people might think its a work of art but she is trying to justify her abortion through the song and it makes me sick!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  8. anonymous
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    May 18th 2006 !⃝

    As someone who has had an abortion, I feel that the song is about that. It did help to make me feel better about the situation. But its saying that no matter what you can't go back, which is true, and that you will never fully get over it which is also true.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  9. yummie_bears
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    Apr 4th 2006 !⃝

    I believe that this song is combining many of life's common tradgedies and putting them all into words and adding an appropriate tune. First I will take the chorus and break it down and then I will take apart the song line by line and interpret a meaning for each line
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    2 AM and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake
    *obvious a friend calls at 2 am because she know that the person who she is calling will be awake

    "Can you help me unravel my latest mistake?,
    *harder than hte first one, as it is difficult to pinpoint what the mistake was, but this friend made a mistake and wants the person who is the narrator to help them work it out.

    'Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
    *as soon as your headed on the road of doing something you are gone, its not gonna change. Also it may have to do with reputation, as soon as you put out who you are people are always going to think of you like that

    And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
    *easy- you can't turn back time and it is going to run out

    No one can find the rewind button, girl.
    * No one is able to rewind there life and redo there mistakes

    So cradle your head in your hands
    And breathe... just breathe,
    *Nothing is going to change so the only thing to do is relax and accept everything
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    I don't love him. Winter just wasn't my season"
    *she perhaps had sex or cheated on him, maybe he cheated on her. Obviously this girl didn't have a very good winter full of downs and is going through a hard time in her life

    Yeah we walk through the doors, so accusing their eyes
    *i have always thought of this as a rehab, but now I think of it more as a abortion place. Clearly other people have done the same things and yet the still judge this person poorly

    Like they have any right at all to criticize,
    Hypocrites. You're all here for the very same reason
    *this line is self-explainitory, all the other people in that room have done the same thing that the narrator/the narrators friend did and they think of the person as a "horrible person"
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    In May he turn 21 on the base at Fort Bliss
    *In may its his birthday and he turns 21 in some location

    "Just a day", he sat down to the flask in his fist,
    *he is drinking because his problems are out of control, and no one has helped him...no one even knows its like his birthday

    "Ain't been sober, since maybe October of last year."
    He's had these problems for a looooonnng time and he has been drinking to solve them

    Here in town you can tell he's been down for a while,
    *once again he has had these problems for a long time

    But, my God, it's so beautiful when the boy smiles,
    * the narrator perhaps is in love with this boy or just thinks that his smile is amazing

    Wanna hold him. Maybe I'll just sing about it.
    * Clearly she is in love with this boy and there is nothing she can do
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    There's a light at each end of this tunnel,
    * Lights at the end of a tunnel refer to hope at the end of a dark passage way, but she is saying that it was light before you entered the problem and there is light afterwords

    You shout 'cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out
    * This problem isn't going away and you are stuck in this "tunnel" forever and its gonna be hard to change

    And these mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again,
    If you only try turning around.
    * You will keep on judging people if you go back to the place you were before if you just back out of the problem
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
    * she's awake getting her feelings out, it is at 2 am because these problems have made her unable to sleep

    If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me,
    Threatening the life it belongs to
    * It has been bugging her, perhaps to the point of suicide, as soon as she is able to sort them out and put them in another place beside her head then they won't be able to bug her as much.

    And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
    * she is emabarassed abptu something or her feelings are so tied up that she is in a rough spot (im going with the second one)

    Cause these words are my diary, screaming out loud
    * probably these words in her diary are just reminding her and making her feel worse (thats what happens to me)

    And I know that you'll use them, however you want to
    *She doesn't want to tell anyone because they will get throwm around like common gossip and used against her

    wow... overall that song is long and she has a lot of problems :)

  10. anonymous
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    Jan 22nd 2006 !⃝

    Well,

    A friend sent this song to me and I was enthralled by it. And the accent was hard to get around... but I was committed to understanding the song.

    The first part, to me, if definitely about abortion. And I think it was more than a one night stand, and it states that "I don't love him, winter just wasn't my season." This says to me that winter, which is a whole season, was filled with an illusion of love. Perhaps the women did not realize what the father of the would be child was about.

    However, this middle of the song has two lines in it:
    "But my God it's so beautiful when the boy smiles,
    Wanna hold him, maybe I'll just sing about it."

    This makes me think that she did not go through with the abortion, and she has gone through he life as the single mother. Her child who has not known a father has turned to alcohol... but he is so worth all the time and hardships when he smiles.

    Truly this song is about toughing it out, and letting what will happen happen.

  11. anonymous
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    Nov 15th 2005 !⃝

    The first verse is regarding a "Winter/Spring" relationship. The woman found herself attracted to an older man and finds the scrutiny of others too dificult to deal with and only now finds that she has made a mistake and her attraction was just that, an attraction and nothing deeper.

    As stated by someone else, the rest of the song is just life situations that cannot be undone. You cannot "jump the tracks" of life or tur the hour glass over and return to an earlier point to redo things.

    Live life and "Breath"

  12. anonymous
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    Nov 3rd 2005 !⃝

    It's just a nice song open to all interpetations.
    Leave Shakespeare in the ground please, He never was any good accept drinking and mumbling nonsense.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  13. anonymous
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    Oct 5th 2005 !⃝

    I think the song is about drinking. It's about what drinking can do you to, and the problems associated with it. First of the song title, bars close at 2. The first part I believe is about a one night stand.

    Then this is obviously about an alcoholic.

  14. freeform
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    Sep 9th 2005 !⃝

    I read something, I think it was an interview, but she said that it incorporates 3 things that were happening at a point in her life, but ultimately it is about not being able to change things that have happened, good or bad. You just have accept it and let it run its coarse. (ie. cars on a cable, hour glass glued to the cable)

  15. anonymous
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    Aug 14th 2005 !⃝

    I don't think this woman in the beginning is getting married or anything like what the other people are saying. I think that this woman got pregnant and then realized that she wasn't in love with the man who got her pregnant which is why the eyes are accusing even though they're all there for the very same reason.




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