What does Terrible Things mean?

Mayday Parade: Terrible Things Meaning

Album cover for Terrible Things album cover

Terrible Things Lyrics

By the time I was your age, I'd give anything,
To fall in love truly, was all I could think.
That's when I met your mother, the girl of my dreams,
The most beautiful woman that I'd ever seen.
She said, "Boy, can I tell you a wonderful...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 13th 2013 !⃝

    For me, this song is a story of a father telling his son about his and his' mothers love story, how they first met until he proposes and his mother confess' and says that she is dying and got only a few weeks to live, their very happy love story turned into a very sad story so he told his son that if he had a chance not to fall in love then he better not and should just walk away and walk away because he doesn't want to see his son to suffer such a terrible thing, a great pain, that happened to him.
    It is really a heartbreaking story, it touched me so much even if I can't really relate to the very same situation, even the first time I heard this, it made me sad but for no reason I can't stop listening to this.
    It is really not that easy to give an interpretation to this very touching and wonderful song for no words can explain the feeling that it expresses.
    That's all I can say, thank you for spending time reading this or even not, still thanks for listening to this song. :(:

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 4th 2015 !⃝

    He is telling his son the story of him and his mother falling in love. It explains how happy they were and how much fun they had together and how much they loved eachother. He asks her to marry her, but before they got married they did have a child (who he is dedicating the song to). The wife then tells him that she is sick and only has weeks to live and for him not to be sad because he was the best thing that happened to her. He then explains to his son not to fall in love because there is too much to lose. He is telling him how to save heartache and hurt, just for him to walk away and dont let the girl in because he doesnt want to see what happened to him happen to his son. He is saying life can do terrible things and not to expect everything to last forever because thats how he got hurt assuming that nothing would happen to either of them. He says not to fall in love because all the pain he experienced and how hurt he was, he cant bear his son to go through that nor anyone to have to deal with that.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 16th 2012 !⃝

    By the time I was your age
    I'd give anything
    to fall in love truly was all i could think
    that's when i met your mother
    the girl of my dreams
    the most beautiful woman that I'd ever seen

    ^ Talking to his son he told him that when he was a kid/younger all he wanted was to fall in love "to fall in love truly was all i could think". When he was looking for love he found the girl he married which he classified as "your mother" because he is speaking to his son.

    She said, "boy can i tell you a wonderful thing?"
    I cant help but notice you staring at me
    I know i shouldn't say this
    But, i really believe i can tell by your eyes
    That you're in love with me

    ^ When she fell in love with him when they met she loved how he looked and stared at her. and he didn't even have to say it, but she just knew that it was love.


    Now, son I'm only telling you this
    Because life can do terrible things

    ^ telling his son that life can sometimes be harsh.


    Now most of the time we'd have too much to drink
    We'd laugh at the stars and we'd share everything
    Too young to notice and too dumb to care
    But, love was a story that couldnt compare

    ^They fell in love and the dad is explaining to his son how great it was and how all they needed was eachother and love was perfect and nothing could top it in anyway "love was the storyh that couldn't compare".


    I said, "girl can i tell you a wonderful thing?"
    I made you a present with paper and string
    Open with care now im asking you please
    You know that i love you, will you marry me

    ^ when they were dating he gave a gift,a box with a ring. he asked to marry him. this is the dad telling his son the story of his parents and how it all happened.


    Now son, I'm only telling you this
    Because life can do terrible things
    You'll learn one day I'll hope and I'll pray
    That God shows you differently

    ^telling his son that life can sometimes be harsh.
    he is praying and wants to make sure God doesn't do anything to hurt him and make it bad. or he hopes it doesn't do anything bad.


    She said boy can i tell you a terrible thing
    Seems that im sick and ive only got weeks
    Please dont be sad now, i really believe
    You were the greatest thing that ever happened to me

    ^the dad quotes what the wife said to him and she explained that she was sick and only had a couple weeks to live. she told him not to be sad because she was happy because of the love they had. and she was happy and he needed to be happy for what they had too.


    Slow, so slow
    I fell to the ground on my knees

    ^ when the dad heard the news he fell to the ground because he was so devistated.


    Don't fall in love
    It's just too much to lose
    if given the choice
    Then I'm begging you to choose
    To walk away, walk away
    Dont let her get you
    I cant bare to see the same
    Happen to you


    ^ he then told his son that he shouldn;'t fall in love because when you do you can loose it easily and it takes away to much of you as a person. if he falls in love and he has the choice to either walk away or stay with the person his dad wants him to walk away so he nebver has to hurt. he tells him to not the girl he falls in love with get to him and to not let her walk all over him . he doesn't want to see him ever have to go through loosing love like he(the father) ever had too.


    Now, son im only telling you this
    Cause, life can do terrible things

    ^telling his son that life can sometimes be harsh.

    it's long but there it is. i love this song. it makes me cry its so deep!

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 27th 2021 !⃝

    He tell to his son what of her love story, how they meet, how he propose to her wife its happy for him but one day her wife told that she has a sick and thats a breakdown for the father and he don't want that her son fell inlove because he don't want to see her son suffer for what he experience that a heartbreaking. He compared his life to his son and that is unfair for her son but he can't imagine that his son experience those things.

  5. anonymous
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    May 7th 2019 !⃝

    Fuck love. Life sucks

  6. anonymous
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    Apr 5th 2016 !⃝

    In my opinion the father tells his son of what happened to his mother or the love story of his mother and father. His father fell in love deeply to his mother, his father thought before that he and his mother will have a happy life together, so his father proposed to his mother and get married. As the days, weeks, months or days passed by, of course they had a child and that was his son. But later on after their son was born his mother found out that she had a dying disease or his mother didn't tell his father or I'd say her husband at first that she would be dying and she only tells to her husband that she got only week to live. His father hurt deeply and got depressed when her mother is gone. His father giving him advice and his father is hoping and praying to God that he won't let it happened to his son, what happened to him before. At the end his telling his son that do not fall in love deeply or you'll get hurt deeply at the end.

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 29th 2015 !⃝

    This song is to tell his son that many terrible things happen to everyone. Such as how the band members wife died. He put his thoughts into lyrics and changed it into a song. he wanted his kid to understand that anything can happen at any moment no matter what. And that his son should be ready for anything that would happen. Its a super sad song

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 10th 2015 !⃝

    he is telling his son that you can not have love without heartbreak.he is telling the story of the love of his life.or rather their life.he asked to marry her. but she cant because she dying.. he hopes that his son will not learn that that love only leads to heartbreak the same way he did. because life can do terrible things.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  9. anonymous
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    Jul 24th 2014 !⃝

    The son is just his imagination. His thoughts of what he hopes to happen in a few years time. Because you can't have a son with someone who will be dying in a few weeks time. This song tells that if he has a son, love is the last thing he want his son to get into.

  10. anonymous
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    Jun 11th 2014 !⃝

    He's saying to not fall in love. He had his own experience with it and learned that all it did was give him so much to lose. And once it was gone, that was it.
    He's saying that he experienced real true love. and that's the result. pain.

  11. senseofwonder
    click a star to vote
    Mar 16th 2013 !⃝

    I love this song so much. I find it beautifully sad, and I love the way mayday parade chose to sing the song.
    My interpretation of the song is about a father that offers his son advice on relatioships, but you only find that out at the end. He starts of with telling us a love story, his love story. How he met this girl and fell hopelessly in love with her, " the most beautiful woman that I'd ever seen' ( this happens to be the sons mother). I love the manner he describes this 'girl' , how she comes across as being quite frank by the way she says 'I probably shouldn't say this but I really believe I can tell by your eyes that you're in love with me'. I love that, You'll find that the father stops the love story every now and then, to warn the son ' I'm only telling you this because life can do terrible things' , as if he is building up to a big climax. For me, the climax of the song is the mans reaction when the girl announces that she is going to die... The music picks up pace and its as if his pain is being conveyed through the music! You can actually feel his heart breaking, how he is falling apart. He tells his son to never fall in love because there's too much to loose, to walk away from love if given a choice. He actually goes so far as to say that he prays what happened to him, never happens to his son. Now consider this: Imagine how he loved that girl? To still not be able to accept her death or comprehend it. Imagine a love that strong...

  12. anonymous
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    Apr 19th 2012 !⃝

    The songs about a father telling his son never to fall in love, because it only leads to heartbreak, and he cant bare to see the same thing happen to his son.

  13. anonymous
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    Mar 16th 2012 !⃝

    I think this is about a man telling his son how he met his son's mom. The song pretty much tells the story. I think though, hes warning his son to never fall in love because it just leads to heartbreak. Hes worried his son will fall in love with some girl and she'll end up getting sick too, or worse. He doesn't want his son to end up hurt. The lines "So don't fall in love theres just too much to lose" are probably my favorite song lyrics ever. This is such a beautiful song.

  14. anonymous
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    Dec 29th 2011 !⃝

    The is about when you fall in love things you will not expect could happen. And you could be so hurt that you would never want to fall in love again. Just by losing somebody you care about so much. He did not want his son to feel the same and suffer through what he did.

  15. anonymous
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    Jul 15th 2011 !⃝

    How you shouldn't love because it'll just go down the shitter in the end. Everyone gets hurt.

  16. anonymous
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    Jul 7th 2011 !⃝

    How life can be so perfect and then next thing you know everything is over.. Brought tears to my eyes

  17. anonymous
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    Jun 20th 2011 !⃝

    The song is about a man telling his son about the love of his life. The sons mom. He explains how they fell in love and she got sick and died and how much it killed him. The son was already born before she died. He tells his son that life can do terrible things and that you should run away from love.
    This song really touches my heart and means alot to me. This is just my interpretation.

  18. anonymous
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    Jun 12th 2011 !⃝

    The song "Terrible Things" is about a man that falls in love with a women and she doesn't tell him that she has been sick an its getting worse, by the time she tells him she only has weeks but in the end of the song she tells him that he was the greatest thing that ever happened to her. The man tells his son that life puts you through situations that might be difficult but always remember it will be fine in the end.
    i love this song:)

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