Keane: Bend and Break Meaning
Bend and Break Lyrics
when old faces all look the same
meet me in the morning when you wake up
meet me in the morning then you'll wake up
if only I don't bend and break
I'll meet you on the other side
I'll meet you in the...
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I think that this song is about a person struggling to the point of having suicidal thoughts. They are in so much pain and agony psychologically and/or physically, that they feel like they are losing themselves, and the direction that their life is taking. (when you forget your name, old faces look the same, waiting for life to start, hardened heart). At this point, the pain is so intense that they are unsure about whether they can make it all the way to the next morning. "Meet me in the morning when you wake up/ then you wake up" could be metaphorical about a person close to them realising in just what kind of a state they are in, what they have been going through. They'll make it to the morning "if only" (meaning that deep inside the want to) they don't bend and break and suffocate because of this enormous feeling of pain. "If only" they don't have to end it.
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This is about dementia, if you forget who you are, if you don't recognize your loved ones. One day, at the end of the road, we all meet again on the other side, in the light. Then all struggles of life are gone...
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"When you... when you forget your name."
When you are so caught up in your current repetitive struggles that you forget who you once were and hoped to be.
"When old faces all look the same."
This is the line with which I have the most trouble. Is he talking about literal old people or people who have been in his own life awhile? Probably the latter. Is he saying they're the same as each other to his eyes or the same as his own face (knowing others are caught up in their reptitive struggles too)? I'm not sure.
"Meet me in the morning when you wake up."
When you can get past your struggles come find me and we can move on to a new life.
"Meet me in the morning then you'll wake up."
An interesting twist on the timing from the previous line. In one case the subject is supposed to wake up and then meet the singer while in the other case the subject is to meet the singer and then wake up. Perhaps what he's trying to say is that if either of them can escape their struggles then they should come help the other one too.
"If only I don't bend and break
I'll meet you on the other side.
I'll meet you in the light."
The struggle of daily life is a darkness that the singer hopes will pass just as the night eventually turns into day.
"If only I don't suffocate
I'll meet you in the morning when you wake."
The struggles piling up feels like suffocation. Or like he's being buried alive. But if he gets through it tonight then he can be there for you tomorrow.
"Bitter and hardened heart."
His life has made him very bitter and this inhibits his ability to love the world around him.
Tom Chaplin is the singer of Keane, and after the band broke up he wrote his own album called "The Wave". The most significant song to him personally on that album (to the best of my knowlege) is "Hardened Heart", describing how the world is beautiful but he's been trapped along a road of sadness and hopes to change his ways and enjoy the world and those around him. Go check it out if you haven't yet.
"Aching... waitng for life to start."
He still has plans to enjoy a lot of things in life but he's still waiting on those plans to come to fruition, and it pains him that it hasn't happened yet.
And I think that's it for new lyrics in this song. The rest are repeats of what I've judged already.
I do want to add though that there are references to this song (or at least the ideas within it) in future Keane and Tom Chaplin songs as well. The biggest one that comes to mind is "Spiralling" from Keane's 3rd main album "Perfect Symmetry". The end of the bridge of that song is an impassioned "I never saw the light. I never saw the light. I waited up all night, but I never saw the light.", implying that this morning he was hoping to find in this song never came. Spiralling is probably the most bitter of all Keane songs, and I love it. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This song was about someone he knew with dimentia.
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when you when you forget your name
when old faces all look the same
these lines refer to those moments in life when we feel tired with ourselves and with the others, when we are so overwhelmed with the banality of life that we forget our names and that familiar faces start to look the same (which means monotony, which leads to loss of identity and alienation)
meet me in the morning when you wake up
meet me in the morning then you'll wake up
the morning is the symbol of a fresh start, this is about waking up from monotony, love usually wakes one up from the monotony and triviality of life
if only I don't bend and break
I believe this may refer to compromise
I'll meet you on the other side
the other side can signify another world which, unlike the ordinary world in which old faces all look the same, is luminous, full of light, love usually brings about light
I'll meet you in the light
If only I don't suffocate
suffocation may come up as a result of living the same way every day, seeing the same old face which come to look the same
I'll meet you in the morning when you wake
lovesick bitter and hardened heart
the heart that longs and searches for love is bitter of waiting and hardened by the many hardship which are even more difficult when you have to face them alone, all by yourself
aching waiting for night waiting for life to start
waiting for love is painful and it is only when you have found love that you feel you begin to actually live your life
meet me in the morning when you wake up
meet me in the morning then you'll wake up
if only I don't bend and break
I'll meet you on the other side
I'll meet you in the light
If only I don't suffocate
I'll meet you in the morning when you wak -
I think the meaning of this song is a love song for a couple who have been together a long time - I'm imagining a couple who have been married 50 years.....
"when you when you forget your name
when old faces all look the same".....
this is referring to getting older, perhaps losing your memory a bit...
"if only I don't bend and break
I'll meet you on the other side
I'll meet you in the light
If only I don't suffocate
I'll meet you in the morning when you wake"
meaning if a couple are still alive in the morning, they will be together !
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