James Blunt: Goodbye My Lover Meaning

Song Released: 2005

Goodbye My Lover Lyrics

Did I disappoint you or let you down?
Should I be feeling guilty or let the judges frown?
'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,
Yes I saw you were blinded and I knew I had won.
So I took what's mine by eternal right.
Took your soul out...

1. anonymous

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   May 16th 2011 !⃝

   For an interpretation, this song goes word for word with my recent experience. The woman I loved dearly left me for another man. One day I noticed something different about her almost immediately and just had a gut feeling about what was to come. Things were going great but she was simply charmed by another man and there was nothing I could do to keep her by my side. She was definitely my lover, friend, and without a doubt the woman I would spend a lifetime with. I'm still deeply in love with her, and the term "hollow" is spot on for relating how I feel.
   My situation is far worse than the song and excruciatingly painful to fully share even on the internet. James Blunt needs to hear my story to make this song even sadder and more depressing.
2. anonymous

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   Mar 14th 2011 !⃝

   He is married. He fell in love with this girl. She thought she could make him break his family for her but he won't. She has to go on with the life of a woman who wants a family so although she was deeply in love she has to go; she has no future with him and she needs to find a future, so she'll go.
   He saw first that he would never be all hers but he took her, loved her and hurt her.
3. anonymous

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   Jan 14th 2011 !⃝

   I think that the song is actually about two people who were having an affair. He knew he had someone else but she didn't. Looking at the song from this perspective actually explains everything. While with her he imagined a perfect relationship other than the one with his real wife/ g friend "I'm a dreamer but when I'm awake & I'd be the father of your child I'd spend a lifetime with you " but he knew from the beginning that it wouldn't work out but still "took her soul out into the night". For some reason he cannot leave his present relationship but he still loves her and wants her back "and I love you I swear that's true"and wishes to at least be friends "I am here for you if you'd only care". He's simply saying goodbye because she's found out the truth and she doesn't want him back.
4. anonymous

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   Sep 12th 2009 !⃝

   "Should I be feeling guilty, or let the judges frown?" - I left someone. I love him so much, and he couldn't understand how I could be treating him the way I did (back and forth - should we be together or not) and yet love him at the same time. He couldn't understand how I could call him his soulmate... and yet let him go.. after all we have been through, all he's done for me....after EVERYTHING.
   
   Interpretation through actually experience.
   
   It won't work, or I'm too afraid for what will happen, I can't explain the feeling, So I have to let him go for his sake. I have to make that choice for him though he said he would deal with it forever since he loved me that much.. It's about saying goodbye to someone you feel like you can't live without.
5. anonymous

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   Sep 24th 2008 !⃝

   It's actually pretty simple... If you ever broke up with any one you'll understand the song.
   here's the deal, the girl is not dead... He thinks of coming back to her in "kneeling at your feet" and James Blunt is not a ghost...
   so, it's about a ending relationship (of course) where you think you know what would go wrong since the beginning, but you want to believe it can work out and try to make it happen and so on... you can see that in "I'm a dreamer and when I'm awake you can break my spirit, it's my dreams you take" and "and I still hold your hand in mine, in mine when I'm asleep" so... He knows it won't work out, but he dreams it could do, but when he wakes up, he realizes the thruth... So she "takes his dreams away"
   got it? it's my interpretation, I don't know what James was thinking when he wrote it but it fits to me...
6. anonymous

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   Jul 23rd 2008 !⃝

   This song is about the girl he truly loved even though he didn't show it and it wasn't until she died that he realized just how much he loves he and missing her deeply
7. anonymous

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   Sep 23rd 2007 !⃝

   Some of the lyrics are as follows...
   
   "Cause I saw the end, before it began.
   
   Yes I saw you were blinded, and I knew I had won.
   
   So I took whats mine, by eternal right.
   
   Took your soul, out into the night.
   
   
   ........ I am here for you, if you'd only care."
   
   This is more a posting of wanting to understand these lyrics, It seems to me that he met this girl and could see before she could see that the relationship had no long term prospects of working out, however he persued it anyhow knowing he was going to hurt her badly in the end.
   
   "Took your soul out into the night"
   
   I am guessing is a reference to leading her on and giving her the impression that he loved her just as much..... when really he was hot for her and her attention but knew it wouldn't work... He didn't love her the same way.
   
   Could someone please let me know if I'm understanding this song correctly. Im confused cause of a later line line that says....
   "........ I am here for you, if you'd only care."
   
   Is this about him now realizing that he really does love her and wants her back but she's too hurt now but he's begging her to come back? Or is he leaving her cause he knows it won't work ..... So he's saying goodbye? Or did she finally leave him?
   
   Then another idea I had was I wonder if she has died and he's saying goodbye?
   
   Please Help!

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