Too late- two choices to stay or to leave/
Mine was so easy to uncover/
He’d already left with the other.

Sometimes obscure lyrics can hide a beautiful story and serve a purpose. Sara Bareilles’ “Between the Lines” is a perfect example of this. This is essentially a story about a couple breaking up. But the details are what make the song interesting. It appears that the man in the story is married, as one of the only things that is keeping them truly apart is a piece of paper. Something like a marriage certificate!?

The woman is hoping he will leave his wife for her, and perhaps he has said he will in the past. In fact, she has read between the lines a thousand times that he will. Of course, he will.

But something has changed. Perhaps she grew tired. She started listening to him closer. It turns out he talks about his wife all the time—she was just willfully ignoring it. She will no longer defend his intentions after his repeated failures to “do the right thing by her” and leave his wife. Perhaps there was an ultimatum, but his answer is clear…he is staying with is wife. She’s done.

Sara’s voice is always amazing. You can hear her great range here—both in terms of her range up and down the octaves and her emotional range. It takes an emotional courage to present a story like this. (Though of course, just because she sings about it doesn’t mean it is her in the story).

But that obfuscation of the lyrics serves a purpose in a song like this. For the artist, it allows him/her to talk about emotionally charged and private material while at the same time not revealing details about themselves that might make them seem less marketable.

Between The Lines Lyrics

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 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.

Songwriters: Sara Bareilles