Are you ten years ago?

[exclamation]

If you're taken I am yours
I'm up and doing circles
I'm taken, I am yours I'm up and doing circles
I'm taken, I am yours I'm up and doing circles
I'm taken, I am yours I'm up and doing circles
I collapse
I might stay out longer than I left the light on for you
Then if you show, you show
If you show, you show
When I feel like this
When I get so in
To myself
I lose track of where I'm going and lose track of how to get going again
I feel myself slowing down
Feel myself turning around
Is this taken?
When I feel like this
When I get so sick of myself
Where are you going now without me
And not knowing then, that we're slowing down
You've gotta turn that around
And tell me that I'm taken,
Tell me if I'm yours
You collapse
The pressure of this life is so
You can't be held accountable
If you go, you go
If you go, you go
When you act like this
When you get so sick, of yourself
The whole world falls away and since
I feel
Like I have only missed the feeling that I'm here again
The feeling that I'm clear again
I'm not taken
When you act like this
When you get so in
To yourself I lose sight of common goals
And letting go so I can be all alone
Feel myself, going slow
Feel myself, letting go
Not taken,
Not feeling like I'm yours
I'm taken, I am yours
I'm up and doing circles
I'm taken, I am yours
I'm up and doing circles
I'm taken, I am yours
I'm up and doing circles
I'm taken, I am yours
I'm up and doing circles
I collapse
This life looks like a sentence, though
A constant game of falling short
If you know, you know
If you know, you know
When I feel like this
When I'm just so sick of feeling less than perfect
Is it right for me I never fight to see if coming clean
Would get to me I feel myself, holding back
I feel the pressure, it's finally back
I'm taken
When you feel like this
When you saw it call come crashing down
Subtle but not underground
I was there
I saw the signs, I saw unfair
And so I write to you
Through other means
I let myself finally feel taken
Like I was yours
If you're taken I am yours
I'm up and doing circles
I'm taken, I am yours
I'm up and doing circles
I collapse I collapse I collapse

At first, i didn't like this one because it is complicated. But then i watched the Con DVD where Tegan says it's about feeling 15. And bang. I got enlightened. So, what's your interpretation?

[Agreen]

This is at the top of my Tegan and Sara favorites.
It is complicated!
And I have a hard time 'getting' it.
But most of the time I don't dwell on it, I just enjoy it.
I would like to hear other peoples opinions of it.

[exclamation]

I think it's about
1) drugs...a creative way to say "don't take drugs, kids, it's gonna destroy your life"
2) a relationship which isn't as good as it used to be
3) she's not sure if they are together or not
4) all of the above

[reliefnexttome]

does anybody know what sara is saying in the background vocals? to me it sounds like "I feel different", "I feel sick" or "I feel taken"... I love this song, by the way... probably favorite tegan song

[silentxautumn]

does anybody know what sara is saying in the background vocals? to me it sounds like "I feel different", "I feel sick" or "I feel taken"... I love this song, by the way... probably favorite tegan song

I hear "I feel taken".

[officially obsessed]

giving up on someone?
"I might stay out longer than I left the light on for you "
"Is this taken? " questioning her desicion?
"When I feel like this
When I get so sick of myself
Where are you going now without me
And not knowing then, that we're slowing down
You've gotta turn that around
And tell me that I'm taken,
Tell me if I'm yours "
"You can't be held accountable "
I'm not taken
When you act like this
When you get so in "

what do you think?

[silentxautumn]

Hmm, I don't know. My impression of this song was, as she said, her feeling 15.

I remember 15 being like the most confusing time of my life. And that's when I had started dating my first "serious" girlfriend, which just added to it all. For me, when I got wrapped up into something, my life revolved around it. More often than not, I just lost myself in everything that I did. And when I turned around to look at what I left behind, there would most likely be a mess from whatever it is I ended up missing (including my ex taking a break from me). So basically, you would feel like the whole world came crashing down then and you wouldn't know what to do with yourself.

So! Maybe it is about giving up on someone - maybe your past self. Like, trying not to look back at it and feel such a way again. Okay, I'm done rambling about things that probably don't make sense.

[duckypoison]

I've thought of it as if it's about being in a relationship which is uncertain or unstable (either after a while or from the beginning) and it describes the whole process of coming to terms with what they have. Like, should I continue, or should we end this?

"I lose track of where I'm going and lose track of how to get going again
I feel myself slowing down
Feel myself turning around
Is this taken?"

And then with the;
"I let myself finally feel taken
Like I was yours"

I've always thought that is when she decides, that yes, I will allow myself to feel taken, to feel. I'll give this a shot...

[GoAway]

I lose track of where I'm going and lose track of how to get going again
I feel myself slowing down
Feel myself turning around
Is this taken?

That, to me, is like you're letting yourself feel taken by this person, when you're not, adn you're like 'up and doing circles' as in, you're like, well, up and doing circles I guess is the best way to describe it.

I let myself finally feel taken
Like I was yours

Then that part is just what I said before where you open up and let your guard down or whatever, and then you let yourself feel taken by this person when really, you're not. Maybe you're emotioally invested in this person, but you're not actually 'theirs', you know?

[IwannaDance]

does anybody know what sara is saying in the background vocals? to me it sounds like "I feel different", "I feel sick" or "I feel taken"... I love this song, by the way... probably favorite tegan song

I know it says I feel taken, BUTTTT yay! I'm not the only one who thought it said I feel sick!

[duallynoted]

I think this song shows us how fragile one can be when someone breaks your heart. You have to revert back to when you were 10 years ago (is that when she was 15?). She is unsure and fragile and does not really know what is going to happen next. She is looking for stability and can not decide if she wants to be stable on her own or with some one.

I collapse I collapse

[leeshj]

Tegan: I use numbers on this record as more of an emotional barometer rather than a chronological thing. So, “Are You Ten Years Ago,” I was 25 when I wrote it, but I was writing about feeling 15. ’Cause there’s part of you that’s like, you think when you get to your 20s or 30s, or I’m sure at any age, that when you’re done with a relationship, you think, “OK, well I’m never going to do that again.” Or, “I’m never gonna feel that in love again.” And you’re nostalgic for the time when you were 15, when you first loved, when you first had those feelings. And so “Are You Ten Years Ago” was kind of like a little bit of a dis on me. Like it was, “What are you, 15? What is the problem here? It isn’t gonna work. This isn’t happening. She doesn’t want you. What is wrong with you?”

That was from Under the Radar Bonus Quotes Tegan Quin May 2007 Interview. It can be found here: http://www.undertheradarmag.com/teganquinmay2007.html

[someone]

When you act like this, When you get so in
To yourself,
I lose sight of common goals And letting go
so I can be all alone
Feel myself, going slow
Feel myself, letting go
Not taken,
Not feeling like I'm yours

brilliant

[hcoresuperstar]

On the Con DVD, Tegan says she feels like she sounds like she's saying "Tegan I am yours.." and so on. Did anyone else actually hear that the first time they listened to this song? Because I know I didn't. I actually never thought of that untill she said it, and NOW I hear it, haha.

[Purissimus]

On the Con DVD, Tegan says she feels like she sounds like she's saying "Tegan I am yours.." and so on. Did anyone else actually hear that the first time they listened to this song? Because I know I didn't. I actually never thought of that untill she said it, and NOW I hear it, haha.

First time I listened to the song, I heard "Tegan I'm yours..." and then felt completely stupid when I looked up the lyrics afterwards.
Anyway, I can definitely relate to this song. It's so amazing and beautiful!

[Jessie181]

This is one of my favourite songs from T&S. Even though Tegan tends to write the more straightforward songs out of the two, I feel like this song is pretty complicated and layered.

Anyway, my interpretation of this song is that she's been "talking" (or "courting," if you prefer) to this person for a while.
And the way they act towards each other, you would think that they were dating.

So Tegan, herself, isn't sure where she stands with this person. She feels like she's taken (in a relationship) at times but at times she also doesn't feel like she's taken.
The "I'm up and doing circles" part is her going around and around in her mind about what exactly she is to this person and what kind of relationship they actually have.
At the same time, she's deciding whether or not to stay in whatever type of relationship they have or whether to drop it altogether.
The "I collapse," to me means two things in the song. One, it means she's basically feeling exhausted and frustrated and the other is that she's collapsing and letting herself feel taken/like she's in a relationship with this person.

And to me, the "And so I write to you through other means" means that she doesn't feel like she can express her concerns and feelings in a direct way or to them directly, so she's going to try to ask/say what she feels in other ways (like in a letter like in soil, soil. I honestly feel like that part is related to the letter part in Soil, Soil).

Although, my interpretation of the song is like that because I felt like I was in a similar situation with someone late last year.
Late last year, when it truly felt like that (doesn't feel like that anymore) It was almost like we were in a relationship, but neither of us could discuss our feelings with one another, so we would do it in these sort of roundabout ways, not directly saying anything to each other. Things started to cool off, and I didn't end up feeling "taken" in the end.