This song is a first person account of a man with deep rooted abandonment issues falling apart at the seams when his relationship is ending. The relationship isn't built on anything substantive or healthy, but still the singer is devastated because of his fear of being alone. In the opening verse of the song, the singer acknowledges that the relationship in question isn't a good fit:. I have been to this place before, the right guy for the wrong girl. And early on in the song he acknowledges that his reconciliation efforts are probably going to fall short:. Wishing don't count for much when that thing you wwon is gone. And that he pretty much deserves his pain and suffering;. All the bad things that I've done in my life are coming back to torture me. He even acknowledges that his initial attraction was completely narcissistic in nature:. I obsessed on how you obsessed on me, I wish that I could see what you saw in me. He even acknowledges that his groveling is pathetic:. I'm sorry this sounds so lame. But guess what, he is going to do it anyway:. Just tell me what I need to say that'll make you wanna stay. Despite that he knows the relationship is wrong, that he deserves to be abandoned, that his efforts are futile, that the relationship had a phony foundation, and that he is being totally desperate, the singer is still begging this woman to stay with him, because he is absolutely terrified of being alone. And he acknowledges his reasoning bluntly in the chorus. Please don't leave me. Please don't go. I don't know how to be alone.

This song has an energy that will remind many everclear fans of the song amphetamine, while conveying a message that is less than optimistic. Art sings of people who beamed with potential as teenagers, only to have their adult lives fall far short of expectations. He introduces us to a prom queen:. "she was sweet and funny, popular and cool. It's gotta be a drag when you peak in high school". The prom queen ends up 35 and serving at starbucks, after various life disappointments. Later verses cover promising young people who find themselves in prison, p***, or maimed. Art moves toward his point when he tells the story of a brett, who gets stabbed in the eye for talking smack to the wrong person. "he learned that you can go too far and never get back" Art brings home the message in the chorus, and it is to minimize the damage when your life falls short of where you might have expected it to be. "life goes south when pretty goes away. The best that you can get is when you are falling in a good way". It's a brutally honest, if somewhat pessimistic, view of adulthood.

The opening song ruminates on the tremendous pressure the world can put on people and the manner in which folks deal with most desperate situations (i. E. Being a tiger in a burning tree). Art tells a story of a woman who handles her desperation in a most final kind of way. I heard about a woman from a city in the south. She lost her god when the bottom fell out. She sold her life to the deep blue sea. She left a message for the whole world to see. She knows now what it's like to be a tiger in a burning tree. The morbid spoken word versus are offset by a soothing melodic chorus, that at least provides a drop or two of optimism:. Close your eyes and take a big deep breath. Imagine a world so much better than this. But ultimately, the song is asking for compassion from the people who have it well. Art wants those who are living the good life to put themselves in the position of people who feel like they have no way out. Now close your eyes, and jump to a place you're afraid to be. Then you can tell me what if feels like to be a tiger in a burning tree.