Maroon 5: Payphone Meaning

Song Released: 2012

Payphone Lyrics

Play "Payphone"
on Amazon Music

I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change i've spent on you
Where Have the times gone baby
It's all wrong, where are the plans we made for two

Yeah, I, I know it's hard to remember
The people we used to be
It's even harder to...

1. 1TOP RATED

   anonymous

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   May 24th, 2013 5:14pm report

   
   

   The Payphone is a metaphor.
   In the first chorus, it is saying that he is calling home all the change he spent on that girl- the change is his time, and he has spent and valued all of his time with her,but now those times were gone, and he wants them back home, with him. He misses their valued time together and wants to bring it back. Hes asking the rhetorical question, "where are those times and plans that they made?".
   
   "
   Yeah, I, I know it’s hard to remember
   The people we used to be...
   It’s even harder to picture
   That you’re not here next to me"
   
   This stanza is basically explaining the fact that they are not together or with each other anymore, and it feels like now that everything is different it's almost impossible to go back.
   
   "You say it’s too late to make it
   But is it too late to try?
   And in our time that you wasted
   All of our bridges burned down"
   
   They keep pushing off their time, and while that was happening, they were drifting apart and the bridges burnt down, and they fell away.
   
   "I’ve wasted my nights
   You turned out the lights
   Now I’m paralyzed
   Still stuck in that time when we called it love
   But even the sun sets in paradise..."
   
   All good things come to an end, and the sun is setting in their own paradise, meaning there is going to be a new daylight, a new times, (just likek the song daylight), and they feel like the time has been wasted.

   
   
   
   

2. 2TOP RATED

   anonymous

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   May 21st, 2012 5:15am report

   
   

   This song is trying to convey the message that no matter how hard he tried to make this relationship work, it failed because his girl didn't care about him. He's at a payphone trying to remember the good times he had in the relationship but as it has gotten worse and worse he gets increasingly frustrated. He can never reach her on the payphone because he can't remember the good times, only the bad.
   
   Despite being miserable, he can't seem to end the relationship because he still loves her in little ways and he's afraid of being alone.
   He wishes to be back in the past when the relationship was good and he was happy, but he knows this will never happen.

   
   
   
   

3.  

   anonymous

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   Mar 21st, 2018 3:47pm report

   
   

   He did what it takes to make this relationship work but it was only a sound gong... lol

   
   
   
   

4.  

   anonymous

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   Sep 27th, 2017 9:29am report

   
   

   He loved her. And she loved him. But it was wrong the whole time.

   
   
   
   

5.  

   Inna Fan

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   Jan 14th, 2017 1:10pm report

   
   

   "I’ve wasted my nights
   You turned out the lights
   Now I’m paralyzed
   Still stuck in that time when we called it love
   But even the sun sets in paradise..."
   Basically, he wasted his time sleeping with her, and having a relationship or whatever it was. He's sort of shocked; paralyzed. He can't get over what they had.

   
   
   
   

6.  

   anonymous

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   Sep 18th, 2014 9:43pm report

   
   

   I think he's using the payphone because he's calling from jail. They got in a major fight and he finds himself in jail over it.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
   
   
   
   

7.  

   anonymous

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   Apr 24th, 2014 4:36pm report

   
   

   This song is about a man who fell for a Borderline Personality Disordered female. It is pretty straight forward.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
   
   
   
   

8.  

   anonymous

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   Apr 22nd, 2014 4:10pm report

   
   

   He's trying to call his baby to make sure she's okay. Now he's lost and about leave his girlfriend/wife with the plan.

   
   
   
   

9.  

   anonymous

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   Mar 31st, 2014 3:22pm report

   
   

   You're a freakin multi-millionaire and you're using a pay phone? Can you even find a pay phone any more?
   
   You haven't paid attention to the relationship like you should have, and now you've taken to whinging about "Happy ever after" and have discovered... (news flash) "Fairy Tales are full of it".
   
   Give us all a break, and pay someone who can write lyrics that aren't utter non-sensical rubbish to go with your catchy tunes for a change.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
   
   
   
   

10.  

    anonymous

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    Jan 22nd, 2013 1:29pm report

    
    

    he was with this girl he loved and everything was going well. She then decided to cheat on him unleashing unbelievable carnage in both their lives and none of it made any sense. The metaphor is the ridiculous developments caused by her self indulgent thoughtless actions. He steals a gun from hard core criminals to try to escape from the horror and loneliness he is experiencing and then the cops are after him. everything is out of control all caused by the person whom he gave his heart and soul to selling out for some sex.

    
    
    
    

11.  

    anonymous

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    Jun 29th, 2012 6:56pm report

    
    

    I still Don't Understand Because people have been saying that he is trying to call her and she isnt picking up but she did thats how the song started and why is he blaming her because she didnt do anything he told her to stay back