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. PrimaDonna9
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    Jul 3rd 2008 !⃝

    I love this song! It's so poetic and beautiful. It contains three separate stories that pertain to hardships in life.

    In the first story, I took it to mean that the friend who called the narrator (from this point on, I will refer to her as Anna since that is the name of the singer) in the middle of the night was pregnant. Anna accompanies her friend to an abortion clinic, where they are met with people's stares. It is ironic because those who are critical of her are there "for the very same same reason."

    The chorus says that everyone must face their problems because time cannot be rewound or fast-forwarded. The only thing they can do is "breathe." Issues do not just go away; they must be confronted.

    The second story focuses on a young man from Anna's town who becomes a drunkard. Everyone around is aware of his predicament, and Anna seems to find him attractive when he is in a good mood. She says she wants "to hold him." However, he isn't to be approached because of his drunkenness. So Anna writes about him instead.

    The last story is about Anna herself. She is awake at that early hour (2 AM) "writing a song." She is pouring out her soul into what she is writing. She is almost hesitant to perform her finished work because her feelings would be out in the open, and she doesn't want them to be received negatively.

    That's my interpretation.

  2. anonymous
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    May 19th 2008 !⃝

    This song is about anna's friend calling her at 2am because she's about to have her mistake, which is a baby. She doesn't even love the guy who got her pregnant, winter just wasn't her season cause that's when it happened. When they walk in the doors of the hospital, people give her nasty looks because she is so young, when they need to stop judging cause they are there for the same reason.

    Then the chorus is stating that you can jump the tracks were like cars on a cable, meaning you got on this ride, and you have to follow the path it's on. An hour glass glued to the table means, your stuck in this position. You can't find the rewind button, so you can't go back and fix this. just breathe, meaning have the baby.

    In the second verse, it describes the baby's father. He's a soilder who seems to be a drunk all the time. Then when he visits, and is town, the friend shows the father his son who smiles, and the father doesn't want anything to do with the child.

    And in the third verse, it's saying that there no point in trying to fix this mistake, to go back in time and erase it cause you'll just do it again and won't learn from it.


    Overall, it's a great song.

  3. anonymous
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    Apr 21st 2008 !⃝

    I think this song has two different stories inside of it. The first is about her friend calling her, explaining that she had sex with a man she thought she loved but didn't, and now she needs an abortion. It says that she walks through the doors, their eyes so accusing but they are hypocrites because they are all there for the same reason and her friend should be treated to different. The chorus says that you can't go back so just do what you have to do in the present and just breathe and get through it. The next story is about a soldier, just come back from the war and he is 21 years old. She describes that feeling you get when you see someone smile, even if you don't know them, that makes you want to hold them and comfort them. When she talks about the tunnel she is talking about getting through life, that you'll never get anywhere without making mistakes. Lastly she just describes herself pulling together all the things that have happened into a song to share with the world, so everyone can get their own meaning.
    She sings that life just keeps moving on, explaing the cars on the cable and the hour glass glued to the table...but why not just turn the table over?

  4. anonymous
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    Feb 11th 2008 !⃝

    Obviously abortion.

  5. anonymous
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    Jan 25th 2008 !⃝

    When I first heard this song and realized what it was about, it floored me. When I was 17, I walked through the doors of a womens clinic with my then girlfriend to have our baby aborted. I will never forget the looks on the faces of the people in the waiting room... That's a feeling that has haunted me from that day forward, and I remember thinking to myself that the people who were making us feel that way were no better than us... we had all screwed up royally.

    After I listened to the whole song, I'm pretty confident that she is talking about a failed relationship that may have failed because of the abortion. In my case, after I took her to get the abortion, I went into a deep depression and almost drank myself to death before my 21st birthday. That could be the alcoholic reference. And my girlfriend ended up committing suicide about a year and a half later.

    All in all, if you've been through the horror of having an abortion, this song speaks to you.

  6. anonymous
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    Jan 22nd 2008 !⃝

    I agree with many of the other interpretations about not being able to turn back time and having to slowly work your own way out of your problems.
    But I think that this song reflects many peoples lives rather than just one woman.

    It looks at many peoples problems such as an abortion which is reflected in the first paragraph of the song."Can you help me unravel my latest mistake?,
    I don't love him. Winter just wasn't my season"

    It then talks about a man who does not know how to sort out the problems in his life and therefor turns to drink as it is to painful for him to come to terms with what mistakes he has made. "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."

    "There's a light at each end of this tunnel,
    You shout 'cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out
    And these mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again
    If you only try turning around."

    This sums up the whole song to me as it sends the message that throughout life everybody makes mistakes and you have to find your own way out in due time, because if you just leave the problems you will never get on with your life and will just add to the mistakes that you have already made.

  7. anonymous
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    Dec 27th 2007 !⃝

    Everything happens for a reason, we have no control. Breathe and take life as it comes. Just let things go and move on, and your life can go two way and either way it's already planned out. We have no control don't worry live life with no regrets
    everything will be ok in the end don't try to go and change.

  8. anonymous
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    Dec 4th 2007 !⃝

    I feel this song can have various meanings anyone could relate some aspect of their life to the deep meaning. In my personal life the ideal when I hurt I do not sleep. My teenage boyfriend entered the military and became a bad alcoholic. Life has brought me many challenges-as teen mother to single parent,to now being a parent of 5 children , suffering drug addiction for a long 8 months
    Rehab and losing respect and being judged by people(hypocrites) Who have their own prisons. When I hear this song It brings me peace. It reminds me to stop ,breathe and see the beautiful person I really am in a hectic world.
    And you always the choice to around to change, for the better. Its your choice

  9. Karebear
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    Nov 29th 2007 !⃝

    This song is saying how peoples lives are going to go the way they go for a reason and nobody can change that once it's been done. All they can do is make the situations that follow more alive for them. She's basically saying that nobody can judge anybody else because no matter where you are or who you are, you're always going to have a problem or something that goes wrong in your life. And the choices that are available are choices you HAVE to make no matter what. And you can't change them. You should just try to help other people achieve happiness.

  10. erinw88
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    Aug 21st 2007 !⃝

    Really, it's about abortion, I promise.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  11. anonymous
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    Aug 7th 2007 !⃝

    Come on ppl. This song really is simple.. The first line, says that a friend calls the author to console the author because, '2 AM and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake', obviously her friend knows she can't sleep so she knows she'll be awake. The author is writing about herself. Then, for the rest of the song she relates a story:

    She is not direct, but essentially says that she and her (ex)lover went to an abortion clinic, or a center to check for an STD (more likely abortion)
    "Yeah WE walk through the doors, so accusing their eyes
    Like they have any right at all to critisize,
    hypocrites, you're all here for the very same reason"
    She obviously doesn't love the guy anymore, because of the mistakes he has made (probably was fooling around with other women).
    Her ex-lover has not been taking the abortion/ breakup very well so he has been drunk since "last october" - when the whole drama happened. She still has feelings for him by the line
    "But my God it's so beautiful when the boy smiles,
    Wanna hold him, maybe I'll just sing about it"

    But she gains some satisfaction in seeing him like this
    "And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table.
    No one can find the rewind button boys,
    So cradle your head in your hands,"

    She relates that whats the sense in giving him another chance, he'll just make the same mistakes again
    "These mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again
    If you only try turning around."

    The last verse, says she is probably ashamed of what has transpired, but has to vent it, so others may understand..
    "If I get it all down on paper, its no longer
    inside of me, threatening the life it belongs to
    And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
    Cause these words are my diary, screaming out loud
    And I know that you'll use them, however you want to
    But you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable,
    And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
    No one can find the rewind button now"

    There it is.. In black and white.. no more confusion

  12. anonymous
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    May 5th 2007 !⃝

    I think it's one friend consoling another, I think the broken friend just broke up with her boyfriend ad the consoling friend is like "You can't turn back time and you can't run away from your problems"

  13. anonymous
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    Mar 29th 2007 !⃝

    When I first heard it, I thought it was about alcoholism. "Ain't been sober since maybe october of last year" showing a guy who drinks a lot. But then after thinking about it a lot, I got that she is getting an abortion because of alcoholism or something like that.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  14. anonymous
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    Mar 10th 2007 !⃝

    It means you should take things as they come, you can't reverse situations, and you can't make others' problems your own.

  15. anonymous
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    Feb 14th 2007 !⃝

    I think this song is about how everything happens for a reason and everyone makes mistakes, but as much as you want to go back and change it you can't, which is what's meant by "You can't jump the tracks we're like cars on a cable and lifes like an hourglass glued to the table", the cars on the cable bit is saying that you can only go forward and there's no going back and the hourglass glued to the table means that it will only go through once and you can't just turn it over and start again. The first two verses are about two scenarios of people who have made mistakes but can't go back. The first is a girl who's rings a friend to go with her for support to get an abortion. She says "I don't love him, winter just wasnt my season", so she doesn't love the guy who she got pregnant to and isn't prepared to raise a child with him. The second verse is about someone who has got a problem with alcohol and is obviously not happy, and it kinda suggests that he may have made a mistake or something has gone wrong at some point and he is showing regret or remorse and instead of trying to move on he is dwelling on it, but he's the only person that can make himself let go, which is meant by "Wanna hold him. Maybe I'll just sing about it." the boy is only 21 and has his whole life ahead of him and he's throwing it away for something that is in the past and out of his control... when she says "so bury your head and hands and breathe, just breathe", she is saying that you can regret your mistakes and take time to think about it and think them over, but there's nothing you can do to change it so just let go and move on. When she says "you're just as far in as you'll ever be out And these mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again, If you only try turning around" she's saying that even if you could go back and fix your mistakes you would just make them again because everything happens for a reason.




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