Running Start

Song Meaning

The narrator confronts someone who misunderstands the situation, insisting their current predicament wasn't a deliberate choice. There's a stark contrast between their own despair, "head against the wall," and the other person's willful ignorance, "Yours buried in the sand." This immediately sets a tone of frustration and disconnect, suggesting a relationship or interaction where one party feels acutely aware of a painful reality the other refuses to acknowledge. The central tension lies in the narrator's attempt to manage the other person's perception while grappling with their own bleak outlook. The repeated reassurances, "don't you worry about it / I'm sure it only gets better," are immediately undercut by the possibility of deception, "Or maybe I'm lying." This creates a push-and-pull between offering comfort and admitting a potentially grim truth, particularly concerning a third person, "her," who clearly looms large. The phrase "running start" is a key piece of craft, acknowledging a perceived advantage or head start but immediately qualifying it. The narrator admits, "Yeah you're right about that," but pivots to the necessity of finding their own stability: "you'd better find your mark / And I better find somewhere soft to land." This highlights that any initial advantage is irrelevant if the landing is rough, emphasizing the precariousness of their current state. Ultimately, the lyrics resonate because they capture the exhausting effort of navigating a difficult situation while trying to shield someone else, or perhaps oneself, from the full weight of it. The repeated insistence that the other person "don't know anything at all" underscores the narrator's isolation in their awareness, making the repeated, haunting refrain about never forgetting "her" feel like a shared, inescapable burden.