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Yet another song about two lovers separated by a wall. This song was famous in northern Europe so it will probably be a new discovery for you. There are quite a few interesting constructions to learn.
Comfortable as I am
I need your reassurance
And comfortable as you are
You count the days
But if I wanted silence
I would whisper
And if I wanted loneliness
I'd choose to go
And if I liked rejection
I'd audition
And if I didn't love you
You would know
And why can't you just hold me
And how come it is so hard
And do you like to see me broken
And why do I still care
still care
You say you see the light now
At the end of this narrow hall
And I wish it didn't matter
I wish I didn't give you all
But if I wanted silence
I would whisper
And if I wanted loneliness
I'd choose to go
And if I liked rejection
I'd audition
And if I didn't love you
You would know
And why can't you just hold me
And how come it is so hard
And do you like to see me broken
And why do I still care
Poor little misunderstood baby
No one likes a sad face
But I can't remember life without him
I think I did have good days
I think I did have good days
And why (why) can't you just hold me
And how come it is so hard
And do you like to see me broken
And why do I still care
COMFORTABLE= Pronounced /kʌmfə*təbəl/
COMFORTABLE AS I AM, I NEED...= Although I am comfortable, I need... / I'm comfortable but I need...
We can use this construction to express some kind of contradiction. E.g:
- Strong as I would like to be, I don't want to spend hours in a gym = I'd like to be strong. Nevertheless, I don't want to spend hours in a gym.
This construction with AS sounds much more formal and beautiful, so we rarely use it in conversation.
REASSURANCE= /ri:əʃɔ:rəns/ The act of restauring confidence and trust. She needs reassurance because now she's not sure he loves her. Maybe if he holds her she'll feel again he cares for her.
YOU COUNT THE DAYS= You know this is over (finished), so every day is one day closer to the end.
IF I WANTED SILENCE I WOULD WHISPER= In this paragraph there are four conditional sentences, type 2. The if-clause is in the past ("if I wanted silence") and the main clause uses WOULD ("I would whisper").
WHISPER= To speak in a very low voice.
LONELINESS= The state of feeling lonely. You feel lonely when you are sad because you feel alone (even if you are not alone). ALONE is a fact, LONELY is a feeling.
AUDITION= If you are an actor and want to take part in a film, for example, you go to an audition. There you act for a while and they can see if you are right for the job or not. Many people go to an audition but only one person gets the post, so the singer uses that as a good example of rejection.
HOW COME= Why (colloquial).
DO YOU LIKE TO SEE ME BROKEN?= If you are broken you are physically or spiritually devastated. She feels crushed with sorrow and wonders if he is doing everything on purpose, to hurt her. What she is trying to say is that he should be honest and tell her the truth, because this confusion is killing her.
WHY DO I STILL CARE?= I still love you, but I shouldn't because this is making me suffer.
YOU SEE THE LIGHT= "you see the end of all this trouble". The usual expression is "to see the light at the end of the tunnel", but she says here "at the end of this narrow hall", which is the same thing. When we just say "to see the light", it means "to suddenly understand", but if we say "to see the light at the end of the tunnel", we mean "to find hope, to see the end of problems".
I WISH IT DIDN'T MATTER= The verb WISH is followed by past tense, although it refers to the future:
- I whish it rained tomorrow = my wish is that it will rain tomorrow.
If it refers to the past, we use past perfect (not past tense):
- I whish it had rained yesterday - but it didn't rain yesterday.
I THINK I DID HAVE GOOD DAYS= We can use DO in affirmative sentences to emphasize the verb:
- I do love you = I really love you a lot.
If the sentence has a special verb (modals & auxiliaries) we can't use DO, so we emphasize the verb stressing it:
- She CAN help you
- They WILL come tomorrow - yes, it's true, they'll come.
Everything's going on fine, apparently, but she feels something's wrong, she needs him to hold her to be reassured. But now it's too late, and she knows, he's counting the days (he has decided to leave). In the paragraph beginning with "if I wanted silence I would whisper..." she's telling him to be honest and show his true feelings, because that's what she would do.
But she still loves him so much (she still cares) that she has mixed feelings about the whole thing. On the one hand she's telling him to prove her right and show he's not in love anymore, and on the other hand she's telling him to prove her wrong and hold her to show he still loves her.
The video makes the situation even more melodramatic, and in the end she decides to kill herself because she finds out he loves another girl and she can't live without him. She gets into the tub and we all suppose she's going to cut her veins, but the video is nice enough to save us all the blood. Instead, she turns into a butterfly and flies away for freedom out of the window. In Christian imaginary a butterfly or a bird may be a symbol of the soul, so yes, on the video she dies.
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