I’ll be there as soon as I can;
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before.
The narrator of “Unintended” by Muse is not in the best headspace. He tells us he is “busy mending a broken heart” and has identified a new candidate to be something more than a rebound. This surprises him. How should one handle a situation when you are clearly in love with your ex, but you meet someone you are really into? The narrator chooses to spell out everything he is feeling and thinking. He tells the new woman what he has to offer. At least he is honest.
He doesn’t promise her summers in the Hamptons, or 2.2 kids and marriage—he “offers” her his “deepest inquisitions.” In other words, after he is done obsessing about his ex, he will turn his attention to her. He probably thinks this is a good offer and something synonymous with love.
He “knows” this woman will be better than his ex. He just feels it. I am certain we all expect our next relationship to be better than our last, but there is something about the way he expresses it that makes it all about him. And in a way it is. This is not a real person he has a relationship with. It is an ideal woman or an attractive woman he saw on the street. The feelings and desires are unintended.
The song is an amazing example of how we can sometimes lose ourselves during a breakup. The narrator does not seem to be his best self or ready to date. He is infatuated with a woman he saw and is projecting characteristics onto her that she may not have. The narrator at least has the self-awareness to realize that he might not be ready for this new woman yet, since he is still picking up the pieces of his last relationship. He probably thinks he is closer to moving on than he really is.
Is his offer to her that great? He is basically saying, “If you stick around until I get my shit together, I might then turn my attention to you. Her timeline, wants and desires are irrelevant. Hopefully he has a lot of redeeming qualities that makes him worth the trouble. It is not clear that he sees how big of an ask this truly is.
This is great writing. The songwriter writes in the first person and knows that he probably will not come off as a sympathetic character but takes the risk—and it pays off. Breakups can bring out the worst in us and lead us to say and do things we otherwise might not.
The combination of the weary sound that leads into a wailing falsetto creates the sound of an unstable mind perfectly. The sound is created by a verse that slowly mopes along with a sparsely added acoustic guitar and a synthesizer with slight reverb to add that haunted feeling. The sound coupled with the lyrics paints a picture of a man that is not in the best frame of mind, is not making the best decisions, and is not ready for a relationship. Hopefully the new woman will recognize this and run. Or wait.
Unintended Lyrics
You could be my unintended
Choice to live my life extended.
You could be the one I’ll always love.
You could be the one who listens
To my deepest inquisitions,
You could be the one I’ll always love.
I’ll be there as soon as I can;
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before.
First there was the one who challenged
All my dreams and all my balance.
She could never be as good as you.
You could be my unintended
Choice to live my life extended.
You should be the one I’ll always love.
I’ll be there as soon as I can;
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before.
I’ll be there as soon as I can;
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before.
Before you
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh
Songwriter: Matthew James Bellamy