My Thought on the Meaning of Live to Tell

[Future Lover 1,013]

Here, I am going to break down the song and display my belief on the meaning of the song. Comment your thoughts as well!

 

 

 

I have a tale to tell. Sometimes it gets so hard to hide it well.- She has a secret that she has been keeping and is finding it increasingly more difficult to stay quiet. It is causing her to become depressed.

 

I was not ready for the fall- She was unprepared for the pain keeping the secret would cause.

 

Too blind to see the writing on the wall- She keeps the secret to protect the one she loves, but she has become blind to what he is doing is wrong. 

 

A man can tell a thousand lies. I learned my lesson well.- She knows that if she tries to say anything, he will lie to get out of it and only hurt her worse.

 

If I Live to Tell the secret I have learned. 'Till then, it will burn inside of me.- She worried that she'll die before she can tell her secret. But she knows that death is the only way the secret will be reveled.

 

I know where beauty lives. I've seen it once, I know the warm she gives.- She knows what love truly is and she knows she's had it before and she knows that it brings happiness. 

 

The light that you could never see. It shines inside, you can't take that from me.- She still feels love and forgiveness in her heart and she knows that no matter what he does, he can't take the love from her heart.

 

The truth is never far behind. You kept it hidden well.- The truth of what he is doing to her is starting to come out by itself. She knows that he has kept it hidden very well through time.

 

If I live to tell the secret I knew then, will I ever have the chance again?- She wonders that if she doesn't say anything before she dies, will she ever expose what he's done? The depression that he is causing is getting worse and her happiness is dwindling. 

 

If I ran away, I'd never have the strength, to go very far.- She is contemplating suicide, but she knows that she can never bring herself to do it, as it will mean he wins. 

 

How will they hear the beating of my heart?- If she dies, no one will ever know what he has done to her. 

 

Will it grow cold? The secret that I hide when I grow old?- She wonders if she just waits, the pain will go away with time. 

 

How will they hear? When will they learn? How will they know?- She knows that she is the only one that can save herself, so she resolves to stay alive to save herself.

 

 

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!

 

i think the song was written thinly about her relationship with Sean Penn. We know he abused her as per a police report. I think the song was her way of airing her sadness and frustration.