After graduating from UCLA in 2002, Bareilles performed at local bars and clubs. She issued two demos of mostly live tracks in 2003: The First One in April and The Summer Sessions in October.
In January 2004, Bareilles released her first studio album, Careful Confessions. She signed a contract with Epic Records' A&R executive Pete Giberga on April 15, 2005. The remainder of the year and early 2006 was spent writing and reworking songs for her upcoming album.
Her debut major-label album Little Voice came out on July 17, 2007.
Between the Lines
Sara Bareilles Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To burden your mouth for what you say
No pieces of paper in the way
Cause I can't continue pretending to choose
The opposite sides on which we fall
The loving you laters if at all
No right minds could wrong be this many times
I'm queen of attention to details
Defending intentions if he fails
Until now, he told me her name
It sounded familiar in a way
I could have sworn I'd heard him say it ten thousand times
If only I had been listening
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me
Always between the lines
Between the lines
I thought I thought I was ready to bleed
That we'd move from the shadows on the wall
And stand in the center of it all
Too late two choices to stay or to leave
Mine was so easy to uncover
He'd already left with the other
So I've learned to listen through silence
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me be
You and me always be
I tell myself all the words he surely meant to say
I'll talk until the conversation doesn't stay on
Wait for me I'm almost ready
When he meant let go
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me
Always be
You and me
Always between the lines
Sara Bareillesā song āBetween the Linesā is about the complexities and misunderstandings within a relationship. The song talks about the struggle to communicate honestly and directly with a partner. In the first verse, Bareilles sings about the need for someone to tell her the truth without any barriers or excuses. She talks about the frustration of pretending to choose between opposite sides when the real issue is not being able to clearly communicate. She acknowledges that there have been too many wrongs and states that āno right minds could wrong be this many times.ā
The second verse of the song is about how the singerās memory is cruel and how she is hyper-focused on details. She talks about defending her partnerās intentions when he fails, but then reveals that he had been hiding an affair from her. She realizes that she had been ignoring the signs and not really listening when he mentioned the other womanās name. She sings about wishing she had paid attention to the unspoken words and subtle hints he was giving her.
The chorus of the song, āLeave unsaid unspoken, eyes wide shut unopened, you and me always between the lines,ā reiterates the theme of the difficulty of honest communication within a relationship. The singer is finally realizing that sometimes the most important things are left unsaid.
Overall, āBetween the Linesā explores the harsh realities of communication within relationships and the consequences of not being honest with oneself and their partner.
Line by Line Meaning
Time to tell me the truth
It is time to be honest with me
To burden your mouth for what you say
Speak even if it's difficult for you
No pieces of paper in the way
No written excuses as to why you can't be honest
Cause I can't continue pretending to choose
I can't handle having to pretend to make decisions
The opposite sides on which we fall
We always disagree
The loving you laters if at all
I may never love you in the future
No right minds could wrong be this many times
We can't keep making mistakes if we are in our right minds
My memory is cruel
My memory is harsh and unforgiving
I'm queen of attention to details
I am very observant and pay attention to small things
Defending intentions if he fails
I will try to find an excuse for him if he makes a mistake
Until now, he told me her name
He just recently told me the name of the other woman
It sounded familiar in a way
The name sounded like I should have known it already
I could have sworn I'd heard him say it ten thousand times
I feel like he mentioned her name too many times for me not to know it
If only I had been listening
If I had paid more attention, I would have known this before
Leave unsaid unspoken
Don't say anything out loud
Eyes wide shut unopened
Ignoring the truth
You and me
Our relationship
Always between the lines
We never communicate clearly
I thought I thought I was ready to bleed
I thought I was prepared for the emotional pain
That we'd move from the shadows on the wall
That our relationship would come out into the open
And stand in the center of it all
And face our problems together
Too late two choices to stay or to leave
It's too late to decide, we can either stay or leave
Mine was so easy to uncover
My decision was easy to figure out
He'd already left with the other
He has already chosen the other woman
So I've learned to listen through silence
I'm learning how to read between the lines
I tell myself all the words he surely meant to say
I try to convince myself of what he would have said if he were honest
I'll talk until the conversation doesn't stay on
I'll keep talking until we stop avoiding the real issues
Wait for me I'm almost ready
Give me more time to prepare myself
When he meant let go
When he actually wants me to give up on him
You and me
Our relationship
Always be
Let's always be open and honest
You and me
Our relationship
Always between the lines
We always communicate vaguely
Lyrics Ā© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave
Written by: SARA BAREILLES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
paula bautista
Time to tell me the truth
To burden your mouth for what you say
No pieces of paper in the way
Cause I can't continue pretending to choose
The opposite sides on which we fall
The loving you laters if at all
No right minds could wrong be this many times
My memory is cruel
I'm queen of attention to details
Defending intentions if he fails
Until now, he told me her name
It sounded familiar in a way
I could have sworn I'd heard him say it ten thousand times
If only I had been listening
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me
Always between the lines
Between the lines
I thought I thought I was ready to bleed
That we'd move from the shadows on the wall
And stand in the center of it all
Too late two choices to stay or to leave
Mine was so easy to uncover
He'd already left with the other
So I've learned to listen through silence
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me be
You and me always be
I tell myself all the words he surely meant to say
I'll talk until the conversation doesn't stay on
Wait for me I'm almost ready
When he meant let go
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me
Always be
You and me
Always between the lines
Sabrina Dawn
Sara, you are such a profound writer and vocalist! Your songs have been the playlist of my adult life like no other. I can't believe this song still has the ability to bring me back to the moment (23yrs ago) when my husband left me for another woman. After 14yrs of marriage, He told me he didn't love me anymore, and said he had found his soul mate. The lyrics of this song is like a play by play of what happened to me. When you wrote these lyrics...
"My memory is cruel
I'm queen of attention to details
Defending intentions if he fails
Until now, he told me her name
It sounded familiar in a way
I could have sworn I'd heard him say it ten thousand times
Oh, If only I had been listening"
And these lyrics...
"Too late, two choices to stay or to leave
Mine was so easy to uncover
He'd already left with the other
So I've learned to listen through silence"
This is exactly what happened to me. "She" was the Loan Officer he was getting "advice" from when we were looking for a new house to buy. He would mention her name often and I was blind to it all. I have forgiven them, but the pain of it all still cuts deep. I even re-married, 9yrs later, but it didn't work out. It was my painful decision to end the marriage. We just weren't compatible. It's been 5yrs since that divorce. He re-married a year later after our divorce, which I was sincerely happy for him.
Even after recently ending a 2yr relationship, my mind still wanders back to the heartbreak of my first marriage. Listening to this song doesn't help, but in a strange way it is therapeutic. Or is it? Letting go is hard when you are reminded of how you never had the opportunity to try to make the marriage work, because someone broke into that sacred space. Ironically they are still married after 23yrs. Though I saw on public record (my cousin shared with me) that she had filed for divorce back in 2013. Apparently they worked on it.
Maybe not being able to find a true love has made it that much more difficult to not think about it from time to time. Writing about this here helps a little. Venting is somewhat therapeutic. I know I will love again and be loved in return.
Dan Zap
"Time to tell me the truth" - I'm not lying to you, but I'm not telling you everything either.
"To burden your mouth for what you say" - You mean those twisted words? This is to show you that there are often several meanings. You can choose yourself. And after all, I know how your judgments turn into prejudices. I finally experienced it.
"No pieces of paper in the way" - I kind of liked these little notes. But it showed me that we don't spend enough time together. Similar now on this way.
"'Cause I can't continue pretending to choose" - I've never stood in your way. Always accepted your decisions, also this dog-sleeping thing on the bottom. Supports you, even if I have made it to you every now and then through my way (in German the word "art" is before my way. Always this loss of meaning through different language. *grumble). I always knew you could do it. I never questioned that.
"These opposite sides on which we fall" - Why is that? I support you as far as I can. But I'm 6 feet under now. I like it. It's ok for me, can be a nice future. Most of all I want to breed butterflies.
"The loving-you-laters, if at all" - Why these doubts? Of course i love you! OK. At least the projection of a person from the past into you. Great woman!
"No right minds could wrong be" - LOL - that's right. I think that's bad at the same time. Love cannot be calculated. Not erasable for me.
"This many times" - Yes, yes. I'll put another shovel on it.
"My memory is cruel" - ItĀ“s little bit tricky.
"I'm queen of attention to details" - LOL - you give yourself titles? OK ... where is my label machine *rummaging around looking ... You know me *laugh ... ah there it is. Hmmm ... I'll leave that. You are not there, that I can stick the sticker on your forehead. The detail of that is the lettersign. Giants needs little bit bigger. And of course... me too... loving details everyday.
"Defending intentions if he fails" - ThatĀ“s simple. I never doo this.
"Until now: he told me her name" - Yapp.
"It sounded familiar in a way" - Yapp.
"And I could have sworn I'd heard him say it" - Sure. I understand this Queenstyle. Its respectful funny. Have you a protocol?
"Ten thousand times" - Hmm ... reminds me of Jeepers Creepers and the crack in the record.
"Oh, If only I had been listening" - I know. I then switch to Analyze Frequencies. See curves there.
"Leave unsaid unspoken" - *smile
"Eyes wide shut, unopened" - Yapp. I don't want to see everything.
"You and me" - Output - input - memories - feelings - output
"Always between the lines" - Bad right? I don't understand why they always quarrel so strangely.
"Between the lines" - ;o*
"I thought I, thought I was ready to bleed" - Does the chatter really never stop? I mean this fighting.
"That we'd move from the shadows on the wall" - The last time I saw you, you sat on the wall. But you had your watchdogs with you again. And you didn't say hello either.
"And stand in the center of it all" - Ehm... yapp. But its little bit bigger as you think.
"Too late, two choices: to stay or to leave" - Right.
"Mine was so easy to uncover" - Yapp. Not bad. I can understand it.
"He'd already left with the other" - Nope. Hey... you know the Phantom of the opera!
"So I've learned to listen through silence" - At the moment I hear a rustling in the silence.
"Leave unsaid unspoken" - Some of the things that have been said are inconsiderate.
"Eyes wide shut, unopened" - Hmmm ... I see you sometimes.
"You and me, always beā" - Hmmm... that hurts.
You and me, always beā - DonĀ“t know what you mean.
"I tell myself all the words he surely meant to say" - Do you have that much time? Several books would not be enough. If you just want to hear words. A book can describe stroking your face on 1000 pages and yet it will never reflect the touch.
"I'll talk until the conversation doesn't stay on" - Hmmm... Enjoying the silence together isn't wrong either.
"Wait for me, I'm almost ready" - I need you to be ready.
"When he meant, "Let go"" - You forget the Ā“s.
Leave unsaid unspoken - Yapp.
Eyes wide shut, unopened - Sad. If you look with my eyes and mind, you can see the beauty in this tragedy.
You and me, always beā - Maybe.
You and me, always between the lines - Lines?
Between the lines - How many books are exist about us?
Between the lines - Can we fix this?
CiciMags
This was the best album, every song was brilliant. š¤
Miguel Soto
Completely agreešš
Sunny
Agreed! š
Michelle Hamilton
Edged f3fv shut
Cynthia Ojiba
What's the name of the album?
Miguel Soto
@Cynthia Ojiba Little Voiceššš Enjoyšif you haven't heard it
Jim Caron
This song is a masterpiece. The sentiment, the music, Saraās performance. So much truth: How much do we NOT say... At what point does the entire relationship amount to just a lie?
Matteo Bianco
Great Song!
Abby Latham
This song is like a little piece of my soul. It sounds like a feeling I canāt explain, but have experienced so many times. What a gift
K
English isn't my first language and I don't understand the concept behind this song.
Would you tell me what's the song about?