What does Breathe No More mean?

Evanescence: Breathe No More Meaning

Album cover for Breathe No More album cover

Breathe No More Lyrics

I've been looking in the mirror for so long.
That I've come to believe my soul's on the other side.
All the little pieces falling, shatter.
Shards of me,
Too sharp to put back together.
Too small to matter,
But big enough to cut me into so...

  1. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 9th 2010 !⃝

    I've been looking in the mirror for so long.
    That I've come to believe my soul's on the other side.

    (She's a woman obsessed with her appearance. Though she lives in this world, her soul is trapped in the mirror she stares into.)

    All the little pieces falling, shatter.
    Shards of me,
    Too sharp to put back together.

    (Her soul and herself has broken. She uses the glass as a metaphor for this. She tries to put herself back together, but it is a slow and painful process. The memories, which are represented by the sharp edges, are too painful to piece back together.)

    Too small to matter,
    But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces.

    (Her memories are small and meaningless in her eyes, but they are big enough to hurt her again.)

    If I try to touch her,
    And I bleed,
    I bleed,
    And I breathe,
    I breathe no more.

    (She tries to help her soul and repair herself, but all that comes from it is pain so deep it could kill her. Bleeding represents the pain and breathing represents the relief felt if the pain were to end.)

    Take a breath and I try to draw from my spirits well.
    Yet again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child.

    (She tries to pull herself together by drawing from the little strength that she has left. She could be talking about a lover or someone who passes judgment on her. Or she could be talking about her soul, which does not want to be helped or to help her fix herself. Either could work.)

    Lie to me,
    Convince me that I've been sick forever.
    And all of this,
    Will make sense when I get better.

    (Please tell me that this pain is normal. She wants the image in the mirror to show on the outside that she is normal and nothing is wrong. She also wants approval from the one she loves. She wants her love to make her forget the pain with lies.)

    But I know the difference,
    Between myself and my reflection.
    I just can't help but to wonder,
    Which of us do you love.

    (She realizes the true reality of her situation. She knows that the true question and pain cannot be hidden. She questions which image of herself, her true self or her appearance in the mirror, does he love. This is why she has been looking in the mirror and feeling broken.)

    So I bleed,
    I bleed,
    And I breathe,
    I breathe no...
    Bleed,
    I bleed,
    And I breathe,
    I breathe,
    I breathe-
    I breathe no more.

    (As a result of asking the question, she is in pain that which she can not recover from.)

    This is what I see from the song.

  2. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 10th 2009 !⃝

    I never thought this song was about her sister. but here is what I think


    I've been looking in the mirror for so long.
    That I've come to believe my souls on the other side.
    -she looks in the mirror but isn't seeing who she really is

    Oh the little pieces falling, shatter.
    Shards of me,
    To sharp to put back together.
    ----her world is falling apart

    To small to matter,
    But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces.
    --even though it seems like nothing it hurts her deeply

    If I try to touch her,
    And I bleed,
    I bleed,
    And I breathe,
    I breathe no more.
    ----she is trying to connect with the person she used to



    Take a breath and I try to draw from my spirits well.
    Yet again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child.
    -----she is stubborn to change

    Lie to me,
    Convince me that I've been sick forever.
    ---her mind playing tricks on her is making her sick inside


    And all of this,
    Will make sense when I get better.
    --when she gets better it will be okay


    I know the difference,
    Between myself and my reflection.
    --she knows who she is and who she is not

    I just can't help but to wonder,
    Which of us do you love.
    ---she cannot tell if people love her for what she sees in the mirror or for the real her

    So I bleed,
    I bleed,
    And I breathe,
    I breathe now...
    Bleed,
    I bleed,
    And I breathe,
    I breathe,
    I breathe-
    I breathe no more.
    ---it hurts her deeply and she is bleeding inside trying to sort it all out.

  3. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 10th 2009 !⃝

    Everyones saying this song is about appearance and all, and that makes sense, but...........

    I kinda thought this was about her little sister, Bonnie...? o.o

  4. CJ.Evanescence
    click a star to vote
    Jun 1st 2009 !⃝

    This is a personal song about how Amy Lee felt after the death of her little sister. It's like she no longer saw the purpose for her own exisitance after that.

    "Too small to matter
    But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces"
    (Although it happened when she was too young to understand, it was a tragedy big enough to effect her in the future)

    "If I try to touch her,
    And I bleed,
    I bleed,
    And I breathe,
    I breathe no more."
    (The only way she could be close too her(sister) is to breath no more *hint*)

    "Lie to me,
    Convince me that I've been sick forever.
    And all of this,
    Will make sense when I get better."
    (She's saying that telling her this would only hurt at a young age and that things would get better as she got older is a lie)

    And that's pretty much what I got from this song . It's soooooo sad, but I can't help but love it. It's like we can feel her pain through her voice.

  5. labeless
    click a star to vote
    May 13th 2009 !⃝

    its about having borderline personality dissorder or some sort of dissociative symptom. You can look in the mirror and the face changes and the appearence is diffrent then the one you thought you knew before. you tell yourself again and again if only i could find myself be that girl in the mirror or atleast what appears in the mirror. you feel like your always changing and trying something new whether its as small as whereing new lipstick color or as big as taking a razor to your face, at least then people would see what you really are a living breathing mask. people dont see you. they see what you want them to see. the bleeding, the burning, the crying, the anger, the impulsivity only you and the people closest know. you are extremely hard to live with and when the people you love tell you or confront you after putting up with everything you are and what you have done you find yourself looking back at the mirror taking a hour a minute a day trying and always always failing to find yourself again. the one you used to be a long long long time ago it seems.

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 1st 2009 !⃝

    This is so obvious!

    It's about looks. She looks in the mirror and sees herself.
    But from the inside she is different. When she sais 'But I know the difference, between myself and my reflection. I just can't help but to wonder. WICH OF DO YOU LOVE.' She thinks some guy maybe, only loves her for the way she looks.

    And when she sais, I Bleed..... and I breathe no more. She is saying she chooses to be what she looks like and not what she is. Because mirror reflections don't breathe nor bleed.

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 4th 2008 !⃝

    This song is about being very depressed and cutting. It can even be triggering to some cutters because it is very easy to relate to. Although it is very pretty it is very sad, and all too true for many people

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 27th 2008 !⃝

    This song is about cutting. Sharp shards? Bleeding? Hello, she's a cutter. She is very depressed and has 'lost' herself, so she cuts. Get a clue!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 16th 2008 !⃝

    Well, I believe this song would be about how, some guy she loves, has been cheating on her or something.
    Because she says "If I touch her I bleed" and "Which one of us do love"
    I don't really know if this is completely true, but it could be part of what the song means.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  10. deadcalm
    click a star to vote
    Jan 15th 2008 !⃝

    I think the song is about wishing to be different somehow and that it's hard. maybe asking god if he cares either way being here or on the other side. considering that it's like being sick when you don't like what you are and hoping to be just contented when you finally accepts it. It's painful and finally to just stop breathing, to fade, implying the title. This is my favorite evanescence song. kinda sad but very profound. melody's just great plus amy lee's haunting voice.

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 25th 2007 !⃝

    She's changed herself for someone. She has changed who she really is for some guy, and now she's upset because she's realizing that it's not who she is. She's feeling trapped because she has officially lost herself, and going back to what she truly was might cost losing him

  12. Fallenbat
    click a star to vote
    Aug 29th 2007 !⃝

    Here's what I think (lol it just came on as I started typing!!)

    She doesn't know who she is anymore. Shes changed her looks and life around, and although she feels comfortable, something's still missing, so she tries to go back to how she was. When she looks deeply at her reflection, she sees herself- but due to so many attempts to change, she can no longer go back to being that person. She feels as if she's trapped inside the mirror so she breaks it to try to free herself, but all she will do is get cut.

    'Lie to me, convince me that I've been sick forever, and all of this will make sense when I get better' could mean that she hopes its all a dream, and wishes that she could wake up and start over.

    'But I know the difference between myself and my reflection, I just can't help but to wonder, which of us do you love' - she knows that although she looks the same, she can never be the same, but nobody else seems to notice the change.

    'Taking over me' comes to mind here: "I look in the mirror and see your... Is it lies or face?... If I look deep enough, so many things inside that are just like you are taking over"

    So does 'My Immortal'- "I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone,but though you're still with me, I've been alone all along"

    So that's my (very long) opinion- sorry if I couldn't word it too well- I always have trouble with that- that's why I used the other songs to help word things
    __________________

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 25th 2007 !⃝

    She is trying so hard to be somebody to a guy that didn't like her before now that's she's changed he likes her. but she wonders is this what she really wants? will he love me for who I really am? so she wants to be her old self but it seems the more she trys the more it hurts her because her so called new 'friends' keep pushing her to what she has become.

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 23rd 2007 !⃝

    It's about her being depressed and not knowing who she really is and if she's not the person she really is around her love, and if he knows.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 5th 2007 !⃝

    Ok this song is basically about her self image (trust me I know firat and about these kinds of things)

    I've been looking in the mirror for so long.
    That I've come to believe my soul's on the other side.
    -she looks in the mirror so much that she believes that all of her being is reflected by what she sees when she looks

    All the little pieces falling, shatter.
    Shards of me,
    Too sharp to put back together.
    -all the little pieces falling are all the little imperfections she sees in the mirror

    Too small to matter,
    But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces.
    -so small that to other ppl these imperfections don't matter but big enought to matter hugely to her.

    If I try to touch her,
    And I bleed,
    I bleed,
    And I breathe,
    I breathe no more.
    -she bleeds inside cos she thinks all these imperfections are sooo terrible and huge and she goes numb inside as her self image becomes more and more warped ao its like she has stopped breathing

    Take a breath and I try to draw from my spirits well.
    Yet again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child.
    -she tries to make herself believe what everyone is telling her, that she isn't fat or ugly but deep down she can't believe it.

    Lie to me,
    Convince me that I've been sick forever.
    And all of this,
    Will make sense when I get better.
    -she wants to believe that this sickness will all come clear in her head eventually and that she will understand it oneday.

    peace out...




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