Song Meaning
The lyrics paint a picture of someone grappling with self-destructive tendencies and past mistakes, yet determined to persevere. The opening lines, "Found my teeth in the backroom / Just falling out," immediately establish a sense of physical and perhaps mental decay, a feeling amplified by the admission, "Sometimes I act so fucking dumb." Despite these personal failings, the narrator acknowledges a companion or perhaps a past self who endures hardship, moving "over broken glass" with "broken legs." This sets up a core tension between internal chaos and an external, or aspirational, resilience.
There's a palpable struggle for self-acceptance and forward momentum. The narrator finds a fleeting sense of power, "so invincible," but it's tinged with the awareness of "broken eyes" and a "judgment call." The recurring imagery of a "lifeless boat" and "pictures are found lately in every hour" suggests a passive drift through life, haunted by memories or a constant re-evaluation of the past. The repeated refrain, "And I'll try, I'll try," becomes an anchor, a desperate vow against succumbing to the perceived futility.
The most striking aspect is the shift in perspective towards the end. The initial focus on personal failings gives way to a more active stance. The lines "Calling you out / Speak your mind / It's not a fall / It's the falling out" suggest a confrontation, perhaps with oneself or another, reframing setbacks not as personal failures but as necessary, albeit painful, separations. The declaration, "Tables will turn on you now / Without spinning," implies a decisive, unshakeable change, driven by a newfound internal resolve. The final assertion, "Because we fought with heart / This time," solidifies this transformation, moving from individual struggle to a shared or reclaimed sense of agency.
Ultimately, the effectiveness of these lyrics lies in their raw honesty and the hard-won optimism. The narrator doesn't shy away from the messiness of their past or the difficulty of change. The repeated "I'll try" isn't a guarantee of success, but a testament to the sheer will required to confront personal demons and the courage to attempt a "beginning" again, even if it's an "old beginning." The lyrics resonate because they capture the arduous, often unglamorous, process of picking oneself up after repeated falls.