Album: Wreck Of The Day (2005)

Charted: 45

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• 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 criticize
  Hypocrites, you're all here for the very same reason
  
  'Cause 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, girl
  So cradle your head in your hands
  And breathe, just breathe
  Oh, breathe, just breathe
  
  May, he turn twenty-one on the base at Fort Bliss
  "Just a day," he said down to the flask in his fist
  Ain't been sober since maybe October of last year
  Here in town, you can tell he's been down for a while
  But, my God, it's so beautiful when the boy smiles
  Wanna hold him, maybe I'll just sing about it
  
  'Cause 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, boys
  So cradle your head in your hands
  And breathe, just breathe
  Oh, breathe, just breathe
  
  "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
  
  2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
  If I get it all down on paper, it's 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
  Sing it if you understand
  And breathe, just breathe
  Oh, breathe, just breathe
  
  Oh, breathe, just breathe
  Oh, breathe, just breathe
  Oh-oh, oh-oh
  Oh-oh, oh-oh
  Oh-oh, oh, oh Writer/s: Anna Nalick
  Publisher: CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 41

• Naomee Pearl from MiMusic is essential to every emotion. It is used as a therapeutic device to many. I can’t believe that I had forgotten this song for all these years. I’m 54 & this song -its lyrics describes parts of my life . Some I had just shovel in storage so I could continue with my work & children I have had 3 BAD relationships that didn’t deserve me at all. One put some type of curse on me I think . It won’t break me because I REFUSE TO. He’s right where he belongs until he’s up for parole until 2041 I think. He ‘s in the wrong segment - he’s in the one for felony sex crimes as a HABITUAL OFFENDER. I sure wish he can be put in general population because that way he gets the real sentence he deserves just vigilante style. You know I had no idea other things before he was charged and I didn’t talk to him like, why would I ?
• Rich from HereThe song is about how we are not in control of our lives. The mistakes we have made we would just make them again. We can’t jump the tracks we are carts on a cable. The only thing we can do is, just breathe. Amazing a 17 year old wrote this song imo
• Mr_dopeyi feel this song could be about abortion or even addiction. i’m struggling with addiction right now and the lyrics make sense and gives insight of someone who may be suffering. the lyrics also give insight of someone who may have gotten an abortion and is suffering from the emotional turmoil from that. that’s the good thing about music, you may interpret it as you hear it and plug it into your life as you see fit. “breathe, just breathe”
• Provost from SchoolI always thought the verses were separate and not related. The first about abortion, the second about addiction and the third the author’s experience of creating and getting it out. This song happened for me during Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath and will always be tied to that trauma - in a good way: Just Breathe.
• Curls from Onalways felt that line was about an abortion clinic
• Bertha from UsAnd here I thought this had sapphic undertones, which aren't mutually exclusive themes. It's a haunting song, and beautiful.
• Nickw from VirginiaI believe the caller is an older woman in a May/December relationship with a young military man. "Winter just wasn't my season" means that being the "December" in a May/December relationship just doesn't suit her. She doesn't love him and wants advice on how to get out. Note he turned 21 and she refers to him as a "boy". And the month of "May" is mentioned. All subtle hints, but not a far stretch IMHO. I interpret the line about accusing eyes as getting stares because of the age difference when they show up anywhere together. But I can also see it might mean she got pregnant and has walked into an abortion clinic. Perhaps the accusing eyes are because she is older and maybe looks to be a person of some means. That would make the "hypocrite" line make more sense.
• Just Someone from SomewhereShe wrote the song when she was seventeen. I’m not sure about the girl she talks about in the beginning of the song, but the man she sang about was someone she knew growing up. Spotify is great for learning certain things about artists you didn’t know. The song is definitely about understanding mistakes happen, and sometimes it’s better to just breathe.
• Robyn S from CaliforniaI believe this song is all about Aa and alcoholism. The call at 2 a.m is a sponsee calling her sponsor. The verse talking about getting the words down on paper is about journaling and the next verse talking about feeling naked in front of a crowd is about sharing in meetings. The ongoing theme is about mistakes. I read that the lrycist was in high school when she wrote this, but I still think it is about working an AA program.
• Kristine from UsaI'm wondering about a hidden meaning. In the (clean video) they mute out flax and fist.Did those 2 words mean something different?
• Zak's Mom from FloridaI know this doesn't make sense to some ,and the song starts with she.
  But,It became one of my favorite songs after I lost my 20 year old son to suicide.
  I had to remind myself to breathe.
  May he turn 21,he was an alcoholic also .
• Jennifer from PtI'm fairly sure this is about a woman whose significant other served in the military and has PTSD, or something along those lines, related to war. There isn't really any other way of interpreting "may he turn 21 on the base at fort bliss". Also, "yeah we walk through the doors/ so accusing their eyes/ like they have any right at all to criticize" could very well have to do with deserting or being discharged for reasons that can attract judgement from other people. Just saying this is how it sounds to me. Ultimately, the only person who truly knows what it means is who wrote the song.
• KatieI believe the song is about a young couple and the guy enlists because remeber this is 2005 the start of the war on terror young kid gets sent off comes back with PTSD, with that drinks to try to make it stop. “on the base at fort bliss” which is a millitary base in texas. she’s young to so she 1.) one cheats. which would make sense if he was off at war” i don’t love him, winter just wasn’t my season” she could have had became pregnant with another guys baby and got an abortion. and or they got a dovorce and when he came back he found out about all of it.. that’s my take due to the wording and timing of the songs release.
• Icevolcanoes from Pluto"Two AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
  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"
• Scott S Divincenzo from Palm Beach ShoresSongs can only really mean what the artist intended
• SebizzarHow is this NOT a 90s song? It sounds totally late 90s, not 2005.
• Flowers from South Africa I think the song is about a man she married yet never loved. She walks through the divorce room/court with people lining up for the same reason yet their eyes were full of judgment.
• Western from TexasThese comments are amazing. Women rock! Some of the most insightful and thoughtful writing I have ever seen. Thank you.
• Western from TexasI have no idea how some of you get that this song is about or mentions abortion. Colored me baffled.
  I think her friend contacts her because she's with a man she doesn't love. No clues about a pregnancy are given or implied.
  This is one of the most beautiful songs ever written and it is enjoyable reading comments. Take care, all.
• Mielle from SlcMy first impression was that this song is about addiction. That she was going with her friend to an AA meeting after a relapse and being judged by others who where there for the same reason. Later speaking of a man she loves who hasn't been sober since last October. The pain of loving someone in addiction (it's so beautiful when that boy smiles). Being able to love and see the good part of someone that is underneath the pain of his addiction. I know my interpretation is different than most; that is just what I heard.
• Kimberly from Landing, NjBreathe, it's the answer to the best challenge - life comes and goes in passages. Learn from our mistakes.
• Tayla from Pretoria, South AfricaI think it has to do with abortion, for all the reasons some of you named. "cradle your head in your hands"- one usually cradles a baby... and obviously she doesnt have a baby so she cradles her head. what a stunning song!!!!
• Camille from Toronto, OhI love the delivery of the song. The singer just sings and sings and sings the words; they don't seem to stop and she doesn't seem to take a breath. And you can almost sense that if she were speaking this emotionally to someone, they would listen to her heartache and tell her "breathe. just breath." A beautiful song.
• Mary O. from Omaha, NeI, like many of you, think the first verse is about a friend who's pregnant by a guy she hooked up with last winter but doesn't love. She and the writer go to an abortion center to "help her unravel her latest 'mistake.'" I never got much out of the second verse about the beautiful alcoholic. The final verse I can relate to because when I go through a big mess I've gotten myself into, I can't sleep and I usually end up in front of the computer typing out all of my feelings in a diary of sorts. You know how it just feels good to get things out? Even on paper, it's getting things out. When I've re-read everything I've just written, and had a good cry, I can go right back to sleep (no longer inside of me, killing me by anxiety and lack of sleep). I don't share my diary with anyone, but if I did, I would feel "naked" releasing something so personal and possibly damaging, no matter how one interprets it. Now after sharing my interpretation, I think Georgey is on to something! Great perspective... one most of us have not thought of. I can definitely see the first verse as the diary speaking about the writer. "2:00 a.m. and she (writer) calls me (the diary) 'cuz I'm still awake." So my next question is... does the diary go to the clinic with the writer? Otherwise, who is "we" walking through the doors?
• Jonathan from Oak Grove, MoAs I was listening to this song earlier, it came to me that this song takes a new dimension if you make the singer a male who is in love with the girl who's calling him at 2 am, but she doesn't know it. She knows he's awake and he's the one that she turns to when things go south with all of the men in her life. He's in love with her and she doesn't realize it. At the beginning he's helping her through her hard time and telling her to just breathe. As the song continues, she begins to realize that he loves her and she feels the same way.
  
• Terry from Grafon, WiI always thought this song had to do with someone that the singer cared about being an alcoholic and being in love with someone else who was an alcoholic and although she loves him, she can't be with them because both of them are addicts. She falls in love with a man who she doesn't love and realizes her mistakes and goes to rehab. I think it's about addiction because of this line: "Yeah we walk through the doors, so accusing their eyes like they have any right at all to criticize, hypocrites. You're all here for the very same reason" and "May he turned 21 on the base at Fort Bliss
  "Just a day" he said down to the flask in his fist, 'Ain't been sober, since maybe October of last year.' Here in town you can tell he's been down for a while, but, my God, it's so beautiful when the boy smiles, wanna hold him. Maybe I'll just sing about it.." And then she talks about a tunnel being just as far in as you'll ever get out. I really think it's about alcoholism and addictions between two people who really love each other, but can't get it to work.
• Teri from Laclede, Id
  I guess I'm seeing a different picture. Although I can see the abortion clinic comparison ...
  
  My initial thought was of a daughter phoning her mother/best freind in the middle of the night after this guy that she'd settled for for few months beat or abused her, and she'd asking for help to unravel yet another misjudgement in choice of men. The season could be any season: I think it just refers to 'a period of time'. The doors they walk through together are those of a women's shelter. They all have experience and a past they're not proud of. How could any of them feel their situation was worse or their abuser was more justified? It's none the less the same reason or situation.
  
  The 2nd verse about the young man speaks to me as a separate individual - not the child of the woman in the 1st verse as I've seen mentioned, or the lover, but someone different and very important to the writer that she's sees as being 'bruise' by life. He's a young serviceman, maybe infantry, who bears more emotional pain than he should have to, perhaps from battles he's been a part of. Turning 21 means little, as he's been drinking a while anyway (typically seen as 'rite of passage') , and his initiation to to 'adulthood' occurred long ago when he was given orders to, 'Fire!'. When he can set himself apart from this emotional stuff, there's no one more beautiful to her. The writer would love to hold him and share his pain or bear his burden, offer support, but fears the gesture may cross the boundaries of their friendship. The artist she is, she'll just sing about it instead.
  
  The 3rd verse is very honest: she's bearing her soul, her feelings, and therefore risks judgement or ridicule. Yet it's her own release: to write it out, sing it out, express it. You can judge her for her honesty , or take her words and find your own truth.
  
  The bridge tells us that, either way, forward or back, a choice needs to be made, the halfway analogy. Backward will only mean you'll make the same mistakes again if the life lesson has not been learned from the experience, and forward; perhaps there's a shot at making things, life, choices, acceptance, better.
  
  Finally, the chorus is the culmination of those thoughts. Once the sand has passed through the hourglass, you can't flip it over and do it again. The sand has passed through, the moment gone, the words said, the action done. The privacy one would expect from writing one's thoughts, as in a diary, has been exposed for all to see. Anna is a very good writer, the comparisons she makes to our inability to 'take back' the mistakes we make, the horrible things we say that we could later retret, is very insightful for such a young woman. Just breathe, relax, accept. Be.
• Susannah from Little Rock, ArMy view of the song comes from the line 'You can't jump the tracks'. If you remember, it was how the main character killed herself in the Russian classic novel Anna Karenina. It could be a modern retelling of the story set in America from a new POV. If you know the story, Anna was married and had the child of a military man and the guilt drove her insane (she debated if she loved either man). In the end both left her and she jumped the tracks.
  
  I see it as a friend telling her story and trying to get her to see that it will be alright in the end.
• Clare from Houston, TxAlthough she sings about personal experiences and struggles that apply to her own life, I also think there's an underlying message that applies to everyone's life--the fact that we can't undo our past mistakes no matter how much they harm us now. In every seperate stanza of the chorus, she says "no one can find the rewind button." The only difference is she first follows the statement with "girl," then "boy," then "now." This suggests that she's talking to anyone with a past (which would mean everyone). She gives examples of her acquaintance's (possible) first-hand experiences just to get her ultimate message across. The hour glass being "glued to the table" is a metaphor for our inability to control the past- we can't go back in time and redo our mistakes because time is continuous and unchanging. However, at one point she sings, "These mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again if you only try turning around." Although we can't directly undo our mistakes in the past, we can change the way we live now in order to break away from our past and grow. In the first stanza, she sings of a girl who regrets starting a relationship with a guy she can't fall in love with. We're "hypoctrites" to judge people for mistakes they've made, because "we're all here for the very same reason"- we have a past as well. The next story is of a guy who's struggling with his choice of becoming an alcoholic. Although his addiction is horrible, it doesn't shape him, he's still an amazing person with a beautiful smile. She uses these stories to point out the reality and importance of learning from our mistakes because we can't undo them. "We're like cars on the cable" because life is driven by an unstopable, eternal track that can't be controlled by us.
• Sarah from St Paul , MnI love love love this song. I think its about a girl who is pregnant and is writing evrything in her diary "these words are my diary screaming ou tloud" she calls evryone hypocrits because they are all staring at her for being pregnant so young. she has the baby gives him up and then wishes she wouldnt have " but my god its so beautiful when the boy smiles when i hold him."
• Jessica from Westerville, OhI think that the song is about a woman who is/was in love with an alcoholic, which is why she says, "May, he turned 21, on the base of Fort Bliss, 'Just one day' he said down to that flask in his hand, ain't been sober, since maybe October of last year." and then they have the "hypocrites, you're all here for the very same reason," which I was assuming was AA. but whateverrrr.
• Joy from Marshfield, MaHas to be about a girl dealing w/ feelings after having an abortion(in my opinion)because:"I don't love him, winter just wasn't my season"she seems to be rationalizing her decision but then goes on to say the opposite in the part that starts Just 21..my God it's so beautiful when the boy smiles,
  Wanna hold him(This whole part of the song is contradictory & @ the Same time rationalizing by mentioning he hasn't been sober& seems to be away most of the time.Why would she mention a guy if it wasn't about abortion?Emma's post re:room of people judging,I took it the same way. The chorus where it says you can't rewind=to me..had an abortion,Can't change it, & she clearly feels sad, & a lot of people instinctively take deep breaths or "Breath, just breathe" when feeling sad/guilty/regretful inside to try & feel better in the moment.
  I loved this song,the 1st time I heard it(for both the melody & Anna's Voice)!This is the 1st song I ever looked up the lyrics to; because I loved it&wasn't sure I was hearing the lyrics right.When I did Abortion was the 1st thing that came to mind for the meaning; I still love the song but when I read the words it didn't make me feel "as" peaceful as when I didn't interpret it this way:(. My H.S. aged daughter felt it meant the same w/out me telling my thoughts.She said it to a teacher @ school who thought she was crazy. I will have to show her this site. Glad we are not the only ones that interpreted it this way.RE:Addition; I can see the points made.The only thing that directs me the other way is "Why does she put the guy in the song" I can also see why you can take those parts as meaning addiction:).I love reading everyone's interpretations. This is 1 of the Many reasons music is so great...everyone can hear the same thing and interpret it in so many ways. I wish Anna herself would write the intent of her song. I am now inspired to search around to see if she did,something tells me she didn't IF she stays true to the song "people will take from this,etc..(my interpretation of that line). What a fun site!I just found it today.
• Georgey from Over The Rainbow, WaThe song is about herself writing at her dairy, by "2 am and she calls me" is her dairy speaking ( iknow, sounds dumb) and bye "she" means her, and by accusing and critize part, means that the ppl are seeing her pregnant, and yes it speaks about the drunk boyfriend father of her son, and bye "breathe just breathe" is her telling her self to just breathe and keep up.
• Sarah from La, Caa good song
• Z from Somewhere Over The Rainbow, WaI first heard this song about two years ago and I thought that it was about being famous, basically. The girl calling her friend at 2 AM just broke up with her boyfriend and she needs comfort. They go out to a bar/club, but when they get there people stare at them, when they are here for the same reason as they are. (I think when the singer says 'I don't love him' she's trying to convince herself that she never had feelings for her friends boyfriend and that she's happy to see him go) Later the boyfriend turns 21, and he's already eternally wasted by that time. She finds him and helps him. She writes a song about how she loves him and says to her friend that she knows she'll use them to prove that she likes him, but she doesn't care.
  ~~Ta~~
• Mauia88 from Orange County, CaThis song examines life's uncertainties and offers comfort as she describes three different situations that were intertwined during a particular period of time.
  First situation being of her friends pregnancy like what Emma and Shannon had stated.
  Second situation was of her boyfriend probably that hasnt been sober for months but his smile is why she wants to hold him and is why she stays with him.
  And Third situation is that the lyrics she is writing are what she feels are words similar to what would be in her diary that she is showing for the world to use however way they look at it.
• Kate from Poughkeepsie, NyThis song is also used in the television military drama JAG in the series finale "Fair Winds and Following Seas".
• Emma from Melbourne, AustraliaI agree with Linda about this song potentially being about abortion.
  The lyrics: "Can you help me unravel my latest mistake?"
  "Yeah, we walked through the doors, so accusing their eyes,like they have any right at all to criticize, Hypocrites. You're all here for the very same reason" AND
  "Threatening the life it belongs to" really do appear to have a correlation with abortion.
  
  The lyric about the others 'so accusing in their eyes' is especially very realistic. Women judge other women more than anyone else does. We cause a lot of our own problems, and it is not unheard of that other women in an abortion clinic, there for exactly the same reason, will look at other women there and judge them.
  The key, I think, is the lyric "Threatening the life it belongs to". On the surface it would appear that this lyric is simply referring to the secrets this women has kept within draining the life out of her and the need for it to escape. However, I think it could also reflect the position the woman feels she is in with carrying a baby she doesn't want. It is very possible that the woman carrying feels like it is the baby that is threatening her life- not the other way around.
  
  Anyhow, I love this song. Aside from anything else, it is easy to listen to, has good lyrics and has a very talented singer singing them.
• Karie from Jacksonville, FlThis song is about many things finding who you are braking addiction listen to the words carefully
• Linda from Ranger, GaI always thought this song was about abortion. "Unravel my latest mistake." The line "Hypocrites you're all here for the same reason" might imply that she is young, and people are staring at her for getting pregnant, but it could also be taken to mean drugs, breakup/divorce or abuse.
• Jessica from Broken Arrow, OkI think this song has to with addiction

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