Added: 3 years ago
From: slicknick1986
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  • This is one of the most realistic songs about a relationship I've ever heard. It condemns the actions of both the husband and the wife, but you can totally understand why they keep acting like that. I've actually had one or two moments in my life when I'd be like "why can't I just convince her to stop being like this," but it's easier to just keep existing. Eventually, you lose them or they lose you and it's over.

  • Suicide?! This song is bittersweet, but i can't see a word in this that might indicate the husband suggesting she kill herself. Why do you say that? Because he mentions tall buildings?

    I agree with the people above me-it's hopeful, the couple both recognize possibility.

    For me, it's really a question of whether they both believe the impossible gift of time //will// ever change things. Yes, it's possible, but is it likely? Will anything change?

    just my opinion :-)

  • @peachtable966 It's about a Woman's struggle with alcoholism. Not suicide, the building is a reference to how high her problem is, and how high she has to climb said building to overcome her addiction.

  • @buickboy92 that seems like a valid interpretation, although my first thought was that the buildings are his distracting himself.. He'd rather look the other way out the window than face the drinking problem sitting next to him. He loves her, and tries to move past the drinking problem as quickly as possible in hopes that it will go away.

    He just gives her time, he doesn't ever push her to get help. He sits still and waits for change to magically happen.

    I think your way is just as valid tho!

  • @peachtable966 Very true, excellent point. That is a good way to look at it too ;)

  • @peachtable966 Yea?I always figured the "Tall buildings" part to be a reference to progress,and hope,in a sort of a naive way.It's something a very old person would say about modern life.Here,the idea behind it would be:"Yes,I have a serious problem,but looking at this skyscraper makes me feel like anything is possible these days,and I'll surely overcome it."When the truth is that fighting an addiction is about personal effort,and has nothing to do with how technologically evolved the world is.

  • I feel like this song was written for me (except it wouldn't be about alcohol).

  • I kinda sifted this through the fall of my own relationship... and to me its about 2 people who love each other, he has patience but she never has the words to say what her problem is. It's a love of unrecognizable complexity.

  • @rma42084 kill yourself please.

  • @therealmcnulty wow. that was totally called for.

  • Sometimes i wonder if she knew my parents in a past life...

  • Maybe the husband loves her so much he wants her suffering to end. He knows how miserable she is, so he suggests that she end her life. "And in the bathroom he would hold her hair back and hope, saying; They build buildings oh they build buildings oh they build buildings so tall these days"

  • I really like this song o:

    I interpret the repetition of buildings as either being smalltalk, the husband trying to distract his wife and cheer her up despite her dire situation, or... him loving her & not wanting to see her suffer, so he tries to suggest she commits suicide... which isn't nearly as hopeful XD

  • i took a video of myself dancing freely and improvised to to this song and i look a great idiot .D

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  • she's diseased, an alcoholic, and he ignores it because he doesn't want to upset her. he takes care of her, and he tells her its okay, even though he knows it won't be. he's weak and she's an alcoholic. its a sad song.

  • @NokDwai : He's not weak. If he were weak he would have abandoned the situation a long time ago. It's his way of dealing with it, even though it's building up over time... hence the title...

  • @Mamooshka220 He's weak because he WON'T abandon the situation. or even try to alter it. the woman needs a wake up call. the notion of buildings in in reference, is similar to saying "Gee, Nice Weather We're Having, Isn't It?" its just a distraction, small talk, nothing that will ever help her.

  • Time is not given and time is not taken, it just sifts through his sift.

  • When we had coffee and coffee and coffee and coffee

    And coffee and coffee some more

  • Probably one of my all time favorite songs by Regina, I love the tune and her unique lyrics, they really make you think...

  • I've been listening to Regina for a while now, I killed her far and begin to hope tracks by playing them all day- or all year?. It was just now that I listened to her old albums, out of curiosity, and I see how different her music was compared to her recent ones. The old ones are very raw, untouched while the new ones are packed with instruments and I saw how she progressed with her writing skills- she's a better poet I guess?. still I appreciate all her songs.

  • The whole point of what he is saying is that he is saying nothing. He's not suicidal or commenting on morality, or being inspirational. He is making small talk and enabling her. You could replace it with a comment about the weather and the meaning of the song would stay the same. They're both doing nothing and they're running out of time. The cycle repeats and repeats and the time is always lost because he offers her patience, and love, but he cannot give her time.

  • I like Regina 'cause everyone can relate to her songs :P or know someone who can. Well that and the fact she's the best vocalist ever. That may be a good reason too

  • I've always thought of this song as a hopelessness. The buildings are so tall, and they're getting so old, and can't keep up. Dunno, this song is so interpreative though!

  • i defintely have always seen this song as sort of optimistic. my interpretation of the buildings thing was always that the husband was saying "they build buildings so tall, i must be able to help my wife with her addiction." its about his optimism. i never even thought of the suicide idea, now this song is depressing :(

  • Regina Spektor saves my life every day.

  • This song doesn't end good. Listen how the random words in the end give an idea of this woman falling from the tallest building in town...

  • Incredibly beautiful. =)

  • these lyrics could be so depressing, but Regina makes them positive with her voice, you have to listen and think

  • I turn lesbian when I listen to her

  • @chrupkolak I thought I was the only one :P haha

  • I don't even know how many times i listened to this song. touches me every time. thank you sooo much for uploading this!

  • I love this song!

  • Where is this album?!!!

  • This song is so cool!

  • Just throwing this out there for consideration:

    When i firt heard the line "Don't they build buildings tall these days?" I thought of a kind of loneliness, a separation, being cut off from the earth by layers of concrete and glass. But then, as the song progressed, the line took on new meaning. By the last time she says it, I thought "We build them tall because we're reaching for the sky." I don't know what anyone else thinks of that, but it's a sudden thought that struck me.

  • where can i get this cd?

  • Ma dad's an alcholic...no story behind it...theres no recovery story because he is a drunk always will be a drunk. its that simple. great song tho.

  • I ACCIDENTALLY DISLIKED THIS!!! I'm sloop sorry everyone D:

  • @DISASTARCAKE123 its ok. i liked it for you to cancel it out :)

  • @MusicAndOrHumor yay! thank you :)

  • I think the last bit of this song explains the whole story behind. That woman is falling from the highest building in town, while recollecting memories from her fatal drunkenness ("last warning", "scrub scrub"). Quite sad... When Regina says "...these days", she has already died

  • GOD it's like super awesome sex for my earss and makes my whole body feel awesomeeeeeeeee

  • love this song

  • I think the husband saying "they build buildings so tall theses days" is also to show the fact that he doesn't get mad at her or scold her so instead of dealing with the problem they use small talk to fill the silence.

  • @KatherineenirethaK

    Glad someone else can see that. The songs actually says it "She would lean her head against the side door window" saying. Sort of rubbish we all talk when drunk.

  • I just realized why she was saying that the buildings are so tall. Wow.

  • @Jamesscalise  why??

  • @ChLo0oex It's like she's realizing how tall they are, and she's thinking suicidal.

  • ( They do , they build them so tall . )

    Really , this hits me so close to the heart , in the most amazing , unexplainable way in the world .

  • That voice...

  • I don't think she's neccessarily an alcoholic... I think their relationship is failing, so she's begun to party all hard to avoid the fact.

    I feel like when the husband says it, it's hopeful. "If people can build buildings that tall, we can get better."

    But not when the wife says it. I can't explain it, but I feel like when the wife says it, it's defeated... On time, I feel like they both think they just need time to work on the relationship, but the narrator knows better.

  • I am so determined to find this CD! None of my local bookstores sell it. Even the used record store didn't have anything!

  • @TaleahHannah You would be VERY lucky to get a hold of a physical copy. The album was only given out in limited numbers at a few of Regina's earliest live shows. Occasionally one appears on eBay for a good $600 to $800 dollars. :D

  • @slicknick1986 I have a copy is it really worth that much?

    

  • @SuperRedchicken not that I would sell

  • @TaleahHannah i torrented it. i believe in buying my music when it comes to artists whom realy deserve it. but i needed this and it wasnt for sale so downloadin was the only way

  • @sgtOOX it is on sale to download from Amazon.com

  • @TaleahHannah Check out Amazon.com. Search "11:11 Regina Spektor" and you can download the ablum there.

  • @TaleahHannah You can download it on iTunes...which isn't the same as having a physical copy, but at least you can listen to it that way. :)

  • @TaleahHannah You can download this album on iTunes...which isn't the same has having a physical copy, but at least you would be able to listen to it. :)

  • @TaleahHannah i'm going to buy it off amazon, as much as i would ADORE a physical copy it seems like a quest for the holy grail. <3 regina

  • It blows my mind that she wrote this at 19! Well don't I feel small and I'm 18. The power of her voice is amazing and I can't think of a single word to describe it. utterly amazing every time I hear her. Bravo Regina!

  • @buickboy92 I Know Right!

  • I just noticed the beats in the background.. is that weird? maybe I only paid attention to the lyrics but it adds a different layer to the song

  • She has light and compassion

  • Now this is the Regina I love :D !!!

  • I really love it.

  • i heared a lot about the tru meaning of this song but i kinda gave it i just take it for what it is a great song but if i ever meet her i will ask her

  • I see regina being a good author, actress, musician, poet, classical pianist, singer, and traveller and journalist. Maybe a reporter too :) she'd make an adorable reporter. Regina live would probably be like a legit theatre performance.

    Anyways, just sayin'.

  • She loves people and situations. Her music is just so incredibly global too. She writes about so many different kinds of people! Sometimes it takes author a full book to go on and on, trying to explain the character, but she can just BE the character, sing as if they were singing through her, and make people understand them in one song. Amazing!

  • She alludes to beautiful is so many different ways. Every song you can envision and she can paint different portraits with her songs. She sings and plays her song like an author.

  • i love alcoholics

  • Its about the love and patience a man has for her, and how much she admires it...'(and loves it)

    true love in a nutshell I would say???

  • she's really really pretty in this picture:)

  • @AntiVaccine ???! They also save lives.

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  • I think the song is more about the dissolution of a marriage than suicideKeep in mind that she also has a song called Ode to Divorce.

  • She's asking more than one person for time. Time for life and time from her husband. She has a guilty conscience. He is a saint, struggling to watch his love suffer from a disease which is herself. In a way they are both dying, mentally.

  • Tiime is not given and time is not taken, it just sifts...

    I love Regina Spektor.

  • I lovvve her soooo much!!

  • do it!!

    shes even better live!!

    xx

  • I love her so much.

  • in a way i think the husband actually ends up dying...

  • I think "they build buildings so tall these days" may mean that they are gambling with it and that they will make too tall buildings eventually, causing them to be unstable and fall down in the end, which makes sense to me when combined with a relationship they are in - she has serious problems, and she always pushes his limits, and he always lets her do that time and time again... But "time is not given and time is not taken" and it's bound to fall apart eventually - relationship, her and him.

  • Hmmmm... Thinking about it... I think a distinction has to be made between when the man says the "they build buildings so tall these days" and when his wife does it. His one is hope, hers is a warning to herself, which may suit what I just said in a previous comment.

  • I think what she's saying is " if they can buil buildings soooo tall, nowadays and manage all this amazing stuff, why schouldn't she be able to get over her alcohol problem? It just needs time."

    but maybe that's wrong, because even skyscrapers can fall

  • Maybe it issued another last warning becaue of A: her alcoholisim or B: the fact that her marriage couldnt handle the strain of her addiction. I Never and still dont get the suicide angle mentioned here. neither have i EVER heard it brought up. I mean what is even the pointer towards that?

  • I think its a really hopeful song as well. I always took the whole buildings thing as some sort of view of optimism.

    And though they aren't the last words of the song these words appear near the end in that one line..."Hope, Time, Give"

  • @slicknick1986 i dont feel its hopeful, i think it shows them as being hopeful but i dont feel like the narrator thinks its gonna end well. Maybe its the repetativeness of the lyrics, kinda gives me the feeling its gonna keep being like that forever and ever repeating itself over and over. Theyre leaning their hope on the fact that these days we can do so many amazing things that you almost woudlnt believe could be done, but we know most problems can be solved that way.

  • @chaozchild

    The suicide angle is because he looked out of the window on such a tall tall building, as he gave her more and more time.

  • @chaozchild maybe people think the fact that he's saying the buildings are so tall means he wants to jump but i personally don't think it is and i think this is a really sweet song.

  • i interpret it as the husband is distracting himself from the fact that his wife has problems or whatever...but the suicide interpretation does make sense. wow, this song kinda creeps me out now lol.

  • I don't think it's so much a suicide thing, I think that she just knows shes going to die from alcoholism

  • Does anybody know when is she going to release her next album? Regina's music is amazing!

  • She released a new album, Far, this June. So I doubt it's going to be anytime soon. Unless that's the one you meant?

  • Yeah, I have already listened to "Far", but I didn't know if she's going to release more discs. I think so..

    Thank you!

  • Wait, maybe I'm missing something....... The alcoholic wife killed herself?

    I thought the husband was saying " Oh, they build building so tall these days" cause he was taking her mind of her problem. And giving her some more time so she can get though it herself.

    Well, either way (from my perspective) it a good song!

    I love Regina Spektor!

    MackenzieAnn

  • <3 <3 <3

  • this is my favourite song today... classic regina spektor. I wish I could sing like her, just so I could hear her voice all day long

  • Did any one else get the feeling that the husband kept giving the alcoholic wife time but she ended up killing herself (accidentally?) because she got drunk and jumped/ fell off of a building?

  • i didnt but mmmmmmkayy

  • i thinkshe was planning to, because itt says:

    And her conscience would issue yet another last warning

    Saying, oh, they build buildings

    Oh, they build buildings

    Oh, they build buildings

  • Don't They

  • I'v got a question..

    I wanna buy "Songs" and "11:11" but I don't have enough money to buy them both.. so, which oh those two do you think is better? I know it's hard.. :P

  • I would choose 11:11 because of the incredible vocals in Back of a Truck, Buildings, 2.99 Cent Blues, and the quirkiness that is Pavlov's Daughter.

    Good luck with your ultimate decision. :D

  • i loooooooove pavlov's daughter!!!!

  • @slicknick1986

    Lol it's a really hard decision!

    I think Ill go for 11:11, tnx :)

  • @LiLeorre That's such a hard decision. What did you ultimately choose?

  • just a beautiful song, kinda reminds me of an early tori amos.

    regina just rocks.

  • 11:11 11:11

    11:...

  • did the woman regina's singing about kill herself?? :'c

    its still a beautiful song

  • When you look at the last stanza, it is a chaotic jumbling of words that recall what has happened before, suggesting a continuity--that this chaos will happen over and over again. This is not an uncommon pattern for alcohol (or any kind of) abuse.

  • my mother is an alcoholic. this song makes me tear up every time i hear it. she struggles through the most simple aspects of life. but she improves each and everyday.

  • My dad to. I don't know wether or not he has actually quit though, and it really freaks me out.

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  • it's such a lovely song. it really paints a picture i frickin love regina spektor

  • nice 11:11

  • This song makes me cry like crazy. And it's not like I've known anyone who was alcoholic or killed themselves. But still... total sobfest.

  • 11:11 :)

  • 11:11

  • 11:11

  • 11:11

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  • high five!

    I have a version of this song on my guitar, but not on here...way to embarrasing. Have you heard the live version? I actualyl prefer it to this version...

  • Hahaha, wow, it would still be cute to hear it... and thanks, but no I haven't heard the live, but I'll listen to it soon. :)

  • sheesh, I get it guys. Is it because I switched some of the lyrics? lol remind me to never do that again...

  • I always say, when it hits 11:11, "Its Regina Spektor time!" =D

  • lol I started doing that because you said this. Now at night when I see 11:11, I do say that and do a little dance and laugh.. lol

  • some of her songs are really gloomy lol, i like the songs which are like these instead =)

  • This song is about a couple suffering through alcoholism.  I would say that is rather gloomy.

  • only the lyrics, her voice and the piano stop the song from being to depressing; her voice has a natural optimistic quality.

  • really good voice here. A nice return to her blues voice of Chicken song and cinderella.

  • this song is beautiful and amazing!!!!!!!!!!

  • One of her best songs :)

    Just wonderful.

  • a most beautiful song, the lyrics...amazing

  • God. My favourite song. until eet came along =D

    I actually prefer the live version of this though =D

  • I really love this song!

  • I'd assume it's a song that's about alcoholism based on the beginning part and talking about her scrubbing the bathroom and rotting at the core...Lovely song yes it is<3

  • Haha, I see I'm not the only one here who thought that as well...

  • drunk from a party doesn't nessecairly mean drunk from alchohol. it could be a metaphor.

    i'm not sure whether it is implying the wife was drunk or was he.

  • forget i wrote that. slightly high and exhausted.

    what am i saying?

  • oh, i love this song <3

  • i love love love this song sooooo mucho!!!!!!!

  • I love this song!

  • Wow, im still seeing 11:11 everywhere i go. Wish i knew what it meant. i used to live at 211, i live at 211 in another city and highway 11 is just out the door where i live. 1+1+1+1= my favourite number.

    that how many letters in the word love and that how many letters in the name of the woman i love too....

  • 11:11 is the time to make a wish, like wishing on a shooting star. 11:11, kiss the clock, make a wish...

  • Cool. I always wondered why she named the album that.

  • lol! i always make a wish when i notice 11:11 but i never thought about that connection to the album name

  • jane? beth? cara? dana? dawn? dina? drew? eden? emma? kate? lexi?

  • anyone know all the albums she made?????i reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaa­aaaaaalllllllllllllyyyyy wanna (need) to know!!!!

  • As far as retail albums go, here they are:

    - 11:11 (no longer in print, but you can download digitally from Amazon)

    - Songs (buy from CDBaby)

    - Soviet Kitsch (any retailer)

    - Begin to Hope (any retailer)

    - Far (buy it June 23!)

  • wow, i must buy this album

  • The last verse of this song is like lyrical snapshots of the song as a whole. I t sums up the song in a kind of stream of consciousness, ad-lib style and sung with such emotional intensity that it just about blows me away.

    Someone else mentioned that it is about co-dependence in an alcoholic relationship. The husband knows she has a problem, & superficially helps by driving car, holding hair when pukes etc but he NEEDS her to stay sick or his role will have to change. So he talks of Buildings.

  • I'm the daughter of an alcoholic and this to me is a story of most alcoholics and their significant others thats probably why I saw this song the way i did. Hope I helped you understand the wonderful and sad depth of this song. Alcoholism and codependency is a tragic cycle that most people don't have the heart to escape from.  It's in the codependent's nature to take care of people and they naturally find alcoholics who can't control their need for something else.

  • Interesting, thank you for sharing your insights. :)

  • The husband is always there for his wife despite her constant struggles with alcohol. She always feels guilty when she sobers up and claims if he just gives her time it will never happen again. He gave her time because he loved her unconditionally and she cleaned up their lives for a short while and he tried to hope that there really wouldnt be another time. "oh they build buildings so tall these days" but at the end it is apparent that she repeated her actions in the kind of summary at the end.

  • I know you have seen this, as I have been part of it, and i mostly agree with yr Interpretation. I feel he does not love her unconditionally, only as well as he is able. Tough love, Real Love in my view would see him not in denial talking of buildings & how tall they are these days. That's cold, it's changing the focus to somewhere they can both be in denial. They're both sick. To get well u need to accept yr role in the Rescuer, Victim, Persecutor Triangle. See Karpman Drama Triangle. Peace.g

  • you're dead on with your interpretation. I found it easier to acknowledge my dad for his problem but I love my mom (the codependent) so much that I've only recently seen that she has a problem as well. Being only fifteen, my prior interpretation was a little optimistic of the codependency side. My mom is a wonderful person and it's hard to think bad of her. Also, she is trying to get help but my dad is not. I'm learning everyday and I pray I don't grow up to be either one of them.

  • the consonants and vowels...

    The Consequence of Sounds!

    lol

  • Don't you think it's wonderful the way she pronounce the word pine at 2:40

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  • She has an accent that she can control to an amazing extent, and she uses it to fall back on when she wants to give it that Russian passion that can only be shown with the right vowel sounds. You're talking to a payed singer here, I know what I'm talking about. Go see Jojo sing Caccini in a live performance, -she- knows vowels so well she can sing them with her mouth closed, and I think even she would commend Good ol' 'Gina.

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