What does Breath mean?

Breaking Benjamin: Breath Meaning

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Album cover for Breath album cover

Song Released: 2007


Breath Lyrics

I see nothing in your eyes, and the more I see the less I like.

Is it over yet, in my head?

I know nothing of your kind, and I won't reveal your evil mind.

Is it over yet? I can't win.

So sacrifice yourself, and let me have what's...

  1. anonymous
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    May 27th 2010 !⃝

    Right here goes nothing,

    Personally i think its about a relationship they are both sabotaging and they have both ended up hating eachother but they continue to cling on even though they both know its over.

    So sacrifice yourself, and let me have what's left.
    He wants her to give her self to him (open up) so he can take it.

    I know that I can find the fire in your eyes.
    Determined to find the love and the girl he used to know.

    I'm going all the way, get away, please.
    He wants to let her to go but cannot seem to so he tries to push her away.

    You take the breath right out of me.
    self explanitory

    You left a hole where my heart should be.
    self explanitory

    You got to fight just to make it through,
    They are fighting to make the relationship work.

    'cause I will be the death of you.
    He knows the relationship is bad for both of them and he will end up ruining her.

    This will be all over soon.
    Pour salt into the open wound.
    Adding onto the hurt they already feel.

    Is it over yet? Let me in.
    doesnt want to let go wants it to go back to the way it used to be.

    I'm waiting,I'm praying, realize, start hating.
    Hoping for the relationship to work, praying for it to work out, realizes it wont work, hates her and the fact what they have done to each other and also that the relationship has ended.

    taahdaaa thats my interpretation :D

  2. anonym
    click a star to vote
    Apr 13th 2010 !⃝

    Hmm.. The first time I'm trying to analyse a song. Read a few interpretations already and learned a little how to do this:-P

    For Ben many of their lyrics are very personal to Ben who writes all/most of them. So I tried to see the song in different ways as if he were talking to a(n) (ex)girlfriend or something, but when I had a closer look at the lyrics, I saw something else, not related to love relationships at all, but a hate relationship. I watch Supernatural so maybe that can be a reason for why my interpretation looks like this:

    "I see nothing in your eyes, and the more I see the less I like"

    "I see nothing in your eyes" as if you're looking into a mirror, a deamon possession. During a deamon possession the eyes are black and therefor you cannot see anything in the blackness of them. "and the more I see the less I like" When possessed, you are awake, but not in control of your body so the more you see of what the deamon inside of you is destroing, the less you like it.

    "Is it over yet? In my mind"

    You cannot stand what is happening to you and desperately asking how much longer you have to endure this.

    "I know nothing of your kind and I won't reveal your evil mind"

    You don't have enough knowledge to know what's going on. One thing is sure, you won't tell anyone because you can't trust anyone with you theories. maybe damage has been done and you could get cought, or you would be locked up in some nuthouse because deamons don't really excist.

    "Is it over yet? I can't win"
    You're still asking yourself how much longer. You know deep down that this is a fight you can't win.


    "so sacrifice yourself and let me have what's left
    I know that I can find the fire in your eyes. I'm going all the way. Get away, please. " - It's like "I've had enough of this and before you destroy me completely, let me have what's left of me." and you belive strongly that you can fight this "deamon". "I'm going all the way. Get away, please" is more like"I'll do anything to get rid of you".


    "You take the breath right out of me.
    You left a hole where my heart should be.
    You got to fight just to make it through,
    'cause I will be the death of you." The deamon is taking over most of your being. And you don't have a heart anymore and have grown cold you evil and most other things as well. You're telling yourself: "hang in there. It'salmost over. I will end you"

    "This will be all over soon.
    Pour salt into the open wound." You are determined to make it through. The reason I connect this with a deamon inside is because of the salt and for deamons, salt and holywater is pure. It destroys deamons. It's said that if you have an unpure soul, you will go to Hell and pure to unpure collides.

    "I'm waiting, I'm praying, realize, start hating" waiting for it to be over, praying for it to be over and that you will survive. realize what has been going on, and hating the thing that destroiyed you.

    It wasn't exactly short, but it's what I've got. Schizophrenia is also something I relate to the lyrics and the deamon mentioned, is that other personality.

  3. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 22nd 2010 !⃝

    I dont think its a song about a women at all. I think its a song mainly about depression. "You take the breath right out of me" is him talking to his evil spirit and the line "you will be the death of me". The other lines in the song are his evil spirit of depression is talking to him. Its like his "Bad Side" or his evil spirit is talking to him, trying to get him.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 6th 2010 !⃝

    It's about revenge - they loved a person who used them (The more the see I less I like/ I know nothing of your kind)and now they are swearing revenge for the pain that they caused

  5. RAY75
    click a star to vote
    Jan 5th 2010 !⃝

    The addict will claim it's about addiction; the romantic
    will claim it's about a relationship. Clearly it's about
    an addictive relationship. The question is, to what?

  6. CaptainPinky
    click a star to vote
    Dec 9th 2009 !⃝

    I also think it's about a guy who thinks himself not good for a girl, and his feelings are causing him to have inner battles. I see her as younger and more innocent than him, maybe still a virgin or something.

    I'll start at the beginning. "I see nothing in your eyes, and the more I see, the less I like." When you see people who have been through a lot, been hurt and had their heart broken, their eyes show it. Having 'nothing' in her eyes I believe means that she's still happy, and there's no underlying hurt. "The more I see, the less I like," means that, whilst he's been with her, he has started to see this. He doesn't like that and blames himself.

    "Is it over yet, in my head?" This line, I believe, refers to an inner battle he's having with himself on the issue. More on that further down. (:

    "I know nothing of your kind, and I won't reveal your evil mind." This means he knows nothing of innocence, and doesn't want to be the one to 'reveal' a bad side of her, and be a bad influence.

    He then says, "I can't win," which means, whatever he does, it will end badly. If he stays with the girl he'll be bad for her, but both him and her will be upset if it finishes. He loves her a lot, and doesn't want to hurt her, but he wants to do what's good for her.

    At this point the music speeds up, and there is a lot more screamy/angry in the tone of the singing. "Sacrifice yourself, and let me have what's left. I know that I can find the fire in your eyes. I'm going all the way, get away, please..."
    This is quite complicated to explain, but I see this as that 'inner battle' I mentioned earlier. The side of him that wants the girl badly is coming out. When he says 'sacrifice yourself', I see her as a virgin, most likely quite a few years younger than him. He's telling her to give her virginity to someone and 'let him have what's left'. He doesn't want to be the one to take her innocence. 'I know that I can find the fire in your eyes'; this one's kinda tricky. I'm not too sure, but I think that this is him saying, 'I know I can find some hate in you'. She loves him, and can't hate him, but he wants her to so badly, because that will be better for her (because he loves her). He wants her to stay away from him for her own good.

    "I'm going all the way, get away, please..." Typed this out again 'cause that paragraph is getting long. This one's quite obvious. The inner battle is dying down, and the calmer more rational side is coming out. I'm not sure what 'going all the way' means; maybe doing all he can to make her hate him; hitting her?; or maybe something sexual. But begging her to get away is more of his self-hate and love for her coming through.

    "You take the breath right out of me;" Self explanatory?
    "And left a hole where my heart should be;" Again, pretty easy. He loves her so much, it's breaking his heart to have to choose between hurting her or doing what's right.
    "You gotta fight just to make it through;" She's going to have to be strong when he ends it. In the next line, he explains why he's going to have to leave her: "I will be the death of you."

    Now, the next verse is set at a different time, after he's ended it with her because of the reasons mentioned above.

    "This will be all over soon; pour salt into the open wound." This is him telling himself that his broken heart will heal soon. Pouring salt into the wound is a metaphor of sorts. When you pour salt into a wound, it stings like hell, but it heals. What the artist is saying is to heal his broken heart, break it and re-break it, make it worse, so that he numbs to the pain and heals after their break-up. To do this he could like, go out and sleep with lots of random girls or something.

    "Is it over yet? Let me in." This has a few meanings. Is the pain over yet, and has their relationship ended yet. Have his feelings for her ended. He's also asking her, I think, which is why he says, "Let me in." I assume she's not speaking to him after the break up, or isn't being honest/not letting him in to her TRUE thoughts and feelings.

    Chorus etc is here that I've already explained.

    "Are you waiting, are you praying, realise, start hating."
    Basically him speaking to her. Is she lying in bed every night waiting and praying for him to come back to her? Most likely. He's telling to realise how bad he is, and to hate him.

    So that's my interpretation. Kinda based on my own experiences in a way, so maybe that's me picking out obscure meanings. Of course other people might interpret it in any other random way. Soyeah. Hope it made people think. :)

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 8th 2009 !⃝

    "I see nothing in your eyes, and the more I see the less I like." this means that she doesn't relize he likes him and the more he thinks about it the more he relizes that maybe this isn't the right idea.(like when you like someone and everyone teases you and your well maybe I don't like them anymore)"Is it over yet, in my head?"this means that he wants this crush to be over but it won't let go."I know nothing of your kind, and I won't reveal your evil mind." this means that he doesn't want to love her and that he won't give into her. "Is it over yet? I can't win." um this means that he still wants this love to disappear, but he'soblilously loseing that fight. "So sacrifice yourself, and let me have what's left." This means he's done he just wants her to give herself to him and the eremains he will keep."I know that I can find the fire in your eyes." so um this means that she's a devil (aka a bitch) but he doesn't care he loves her any way and he can prove to her that he understands her. "I'm going all the way, get away, please." So he's probably getting close to her a liitle too close and he doesn't want this to happen, he wants her to get away they also prob. Hooked up."You take the breath right out of me."he loves her basically."You left a hole where my heart should be." they are oblivouly broke there little friendship I lie you connection."You got to fight just to make it through" he's telling her that she's make through if she just forgets him."cause I will be the death of you." And if she doesn't forget and move on then it'll destroy her."This will be all over soon." this means that um he's telling her that it'll go away the pain if she you know forgets."Pour salt into the open wound."It's gonna hurt alot."Is it over yet? Let me in." he wants it to be over agian, but ina different way he wants the pain to be over for her, but in way he wants her to open up to him and let him back into her life, because right now he's totally shutting her out."I'm waiting, I'm praying, realize, start hating." um this means he will always be waiting because she wants nothing to do him, after all the pain and um destruction and um love that hurt and went to waste. He's gonna keep her in his thoughts and she is going to fall in love with someone else and realize that she hates herself for likeing anybody but him and she's gonna hate him and herself.So there's my um realistic a interpretation, sorry I love vamp. movies, but ben didn't right this song cause he thought he was a vampire.

  8. audreyalice
    click a star to vote
    Oct 15th 2009 !⃝

    I think it's about an addiction to someone. There is a lot of pain in the song, and someone has damaged him. He's trying to pull away but it's really really difficult.

  9. anonymous
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    Oct 13th 2009 !⃝

    I think it mean he can tell it's over but he doesn't want to admit it.

  10. anonymous
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    Jul 18th 2009 !⃝

    A lot of their songs have something to do with the spiritual realm.. look at the names of the songs.. and then on all the songs lyrics, look at an evil and good point of view in the song.. it can get pretty deep.

    look at the battle between God and the devil.. Good Angels and bad.. and the thoughts in your head-whether you should do this or that... there will always be a choice to do good or bad-- that is that constant thing in your head that will never go away until you die

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 18th 2009 !⃝

    Look at the others songs that this band sings... Spiritual realms

    "is it over yet, in my head?"
    -this is the fight in your conscience on whether to do right and wrong.. The battle is your whole life..

    i think this song is speaking from the evil side (devil)-- because it says "so sacrifice yourself, and let me have whats left" Jesus sacrificed himself and he will have followers..the devil is sayin let me have whats left..


    "I know that I can find the fire in your eyes" <- in revalations (book in the bible) it says Jesus will come back with fire in his eyes...

    "I'm waiting, I'm hating, realize, start HIDING!"
    ^ this is sayin that Jesus will come back.. He was kicked out of the presense of God, so now he hates everything about him, he realizes this.. and in the end days he will be defeated (start hiding)

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 15th 2009 !⃝

    I think it's about a drug addict looking in the mirror and knowing he's killing himself - he's his own worst enemy. He's sacrificing himself when he's using, and he's only a shell of a man - like that's all he's left with. He's had enough and he's looking for the fire in his eyes, to go all the way and get off of the drugs that are killing him.

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 26th 2009 !⃝

    I'm not sure what it means, but I know when my wife left me out of the blue this song was a theme to the whole thing. I saw her personality change and I wanted the person I loved, and the one that loved me to come back.

    I see nothing in your eyes: The way she looked at me was different.
    The more I see the less I like: The more of the new person I saw, the less I liked
    Is it over yet, in my head?: Is it REALLY over?? The thoughts won't stop in my head...constant.
    I know nothing of your kind: She'd changed so much
    I won't reveal your evil mind: I won't tell her family of her flaws, although mine were now common knowledge, I won't sink to that level.
    so sacrafice yourself: try harder to work it out, rather than gap it at the first sign of trouble.
    I know that I can find the fire in your eyes: I know we can get the fire back, we'd just taken each other for granted.

    you take the breath right out of me: like a punch to the guts, but also by being so beautiful and outwardly resembling the woman I fell in love with and married.
    you left a hole where my heart should be: My heart was hers and she took it when she left.
    You gotta fight just to make it through: I had to fight through the days, weeks, months to work through the greif

    ...pour a salt into the open wound: then she started seeing someone else, so soon after leaving. It broke my heart a second time.

    Is it over yet?

    until recently I thought it said...Im waiting, Im praying, realise, start hating, turns out it's "are you" not "Im", but I always thought it referred to waiting for her to come to her senses, then praying for her to come to her senses, then as the saying goes, love is a hairsbredth from hate, the emotions change after you realise it's actually over and so much pain has been caused by the person you trusted more than anyone in the world.

    you take the breath right out of me
    you left a hole where my heart should be
    you gotta fight just to make it through
    I will be the death of you

    somehow it's still become my all time favourite song

  14. anonymous
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    Jan 8th 2009 !⃝

    I love what everyone has taken from this song, it seems like everyone that has posted has covered all the bases. I can see Twilight vampire romance in this song, and I can see someone writing about cigarettes and their effects on relationships, too, really, its not too hard to imagine. Its just called "personification".

    Loving someone so much to realize that you may be bad for them is a very sobering thing to realize. What one does with that knowledge really says a lot about a person. Do you distance yourself from that person for their good, or do you take what you want/let them decide? Very tough, and this is captured very well in this song.

    I would like to make an offhand note about the beauty of the word that titles this song, "Breath". I have this word tattooed on the inside of my lip, and only partially because I am a huge BB fan. The word "breath" is also very deep theologically. In both Hebrew and Greek, the two languages that form the Bible, the word for breath is the exact same as the word for "wind, or spirit". Literally, the Holy Spirit can be interpreted as Holy Breath and is in some places called Breath of God. Many times throughout Scripture the Spirit of God is depicted as a gentle breeze, mighty wind, or the essence of God, like wind or breath might be understood even today. If you read this and are bored, take a few minutes out to head over to biblegateway.com and type in the word breath into the search bar, and just read through the different referrences throughout the Bible. Some of the most awesome passages that are hidden gems come up, its quite interesting.

    Hope this was worth your time. Either way, rock on.

  15. Light
    click a star to vote
    Dec 1st 2008 !⃝

    I think this man is obsessed with this woman. He is struggling with his two natures. Both are really bad. One is his evil side and the other is his good side. But because they are continually fighting his two natures it is obvious that both are evil and he needs some outside help. He is a slave to his flesh, passions and needs a new heart. His obsession with her is so powerful that he is thinking of hurting her if he can't have her. What he thinks is love is really only lust and self centered love. If he truly loved her he would give her up and walk away. Obsession is caused by selfish worship of another person. He thinks only she will make him happy. And that's really all he wants. For her to make him happy. He doesn't really care or love her. He has no understanding of right and wrong because he is controlled by his passions and doesn't have an outside source of truth. Only what he's passions tell him matters. This type of man can become very dangerous, controlling and even a stoker. Unfortunately there are many many men and women like that in the world now. And we, the human race, thinks man is good. The hardest thing for us to admit to is that we aren't. Deep down inside we are all like this man and we are all sinners. The honesty pins us to the floor and yet that's where we need to be to see that we need help. Someone to change us and make us all new. Who can do that? Who can save us from ourselves?




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