The Universe Expanded
Franz Ferdinand Lyrics

I'll give you each love letter back
Returning the intimate letters and messages exchanged in the past.

We'll laugh before every joke is told
Sharing inside jokes and pre-emptively finding humor in everything.

We'll pose after every photograph
Taking pictures after the moment has passed, trying to recreate and hold onto it.

Has been removed from the negative
The photo has been printed and developed; nothing can be changed now.

With every smile we lose a line
Every smile (or happy moment) takes us further away from each other and from what we used to be.

Watch the stars fall back into the sky
Reversing time and witnessing cosmic events in reverse, like undoing what has already happened.

Cork the wine
Stopping a celebration or moment of indulgence in its tracks.

Unbake a cake
Going back in time and undoing an event as though it never happened.

Take the dog back to the RSPCA
Returning the pet that symbolized the relationship and all of its burdens.

But I don't mind losing you this time
Accepting that this separation will be different from previous ones, and that it might be for the best.

I'll meet you coming backwards
Meeting again, but with reversed roles and expectations.

Yes I'll meet you coming back
Affirming the meeting, but also accepting that it will be different from before.

When the universe has expanded
Referring to an unknown or imagined future time, when everything will have changed.

Time will contract
The events that led to the separation will no longer seem significant after everything has changed.

You'll come back
The hope or expectation that the other person will return someday, but with no guarantees.

And I'll meet you coming backwards
Repeating this affirmation, as if the act of saying it will make it come true.

Next time
Looking forward to a different kind of reunion or encounter.

We make-up, start an argument
Resuming the cycle of breakup and reconciliation, knowing that it won't last.

Tears crawl back into your...
Trying to hold back emotions or feelings, but realizing they will surface eventually.

I turn from a friend
Going from a close and intimate relationship to one that is more distant or superficial.

Of your friend
Being associated with someone else more than with the person you used to love.

Unintroduced
Being strangers again, erased of everything else that connected you before.

Forget your name forevermore
The ultimate loss and disconnection, pretending the other person never existed in the first place.

But I don't mind losing you this time
Repeating this acceptance, but also acknowledging the pain and sadness that comes with it.

We'll part as happy strangers
Acknowledging the inevitable separation, but also trying to end it on a positive or bittersweet note.

From a long friendship
Remembering the good times and the meaningful moments, despite the eventual end.

That grew from such a love
Reflecting on how the friendship and the relationship were intertwined, and how they led to each other.

Such a love
Describing the kind of love that was shared before, one that was intense, passionate, and profound.

From such a
Leaving the sentence unfinished, as if the meaning or the word doesn't matter anymore, or is impossible to express.