If I Were Going

Song Meaning

The narrator grapples with a difficult conversation, anticipating an argument about the past. There's a palpable sense of avoidance, a desire to sidestep discomfort, yet a recognition that ignoring the issue only makes it worse. The lyrics suggest a relationship strained by unspoken truths and lingering resentments, where even the narrator is starting to blur the lines of their own narrative. The central tension arises from a pervasive, almost sentient force that the narrator describes with chilling personification. This entity "don't bleed and it don't breathe," yet it actively "swallows" and "holds my arms down, sits upon my chest." It's a suffocating presence, relentless and invasive, described as being lodged "in our heart, it's in our heads," and crucially, "in our love, baby, it's in our bed." The most striking craft element is the transformation of an abstract problem into a physical, predatory entity. The repetition of "it don't bleed and it don't breathe, It's locked its jaws and now it's swallowing" creates a visceral sense of dread. This unnamed force, initially a source of conflict in conversation, evolves into a consuming presence that invades the most intimate spaces of the narrator's life, even their "hope." This lyrical construction effectively conveys the suffocating nature of unresolved issues. By externalizing the internal conflict into a monstrous, unyielding entity, the song amplifies the feeling of being trapped. The shift from a conversational problem to a physical burden makes the emotional weight of the situation devastatingly clear, leaving the listener with a profound sense of unease.