Not As We – English Lyrics

• By: Alanis Morissette
• Album: Flavors Of Entanglement

Lyrics & Translation

Embark on a linguistic and emotional journey with Alanis Morissette's 'Not As We.' This powerful piano ballad, penned from a place of profound heartbreak and rebirth, offers a rich vocabulary for expressing vulnerability, loss, and the daunting process of rediscovering oneself after a significant life change. Its clear, confessional lyrics and emotive delivery make it an excellent resource for understanding English expressions related to personal struggle, resilience, and new beginnings. Delve into the nuances of emotional language and the strength found in starting anew, 'I as I, and not as we.'

[English]

Reborn and shivering

Spat out on new terrain

Unsure, unconvincing

This faint and shaky hour

Day one, day one, start over again

Step one, step one, I am barely making sense

From now I'm faking it 'til I'm pseudo making it

From scratch, begin again, but this time I as I? And not as we?

Gun shy and quivering

Timid, without a hand

Feign brave with steel intent

Little and hardly here

Day one, day one, start over again

Step one, step one, with not much making sense

Just yet I'm faking it 'til I'm pseudo making it

From scratch, begin again, but this time I as I? And not as we?

Eyes wet, toward

Wide open frayed

If God's taking bets

I pray He wants to lose

Day one, day one, start over again

Step one, step one, I am barely making sense

Just yet I'm faking it 'til I'm pseudo making it

From scratch, begin again, but this time I as I? And not as we?.

...

Key Grammar Structures

• Reborn and shivering

  ➔ Present participle adjectives

  ➔ The words 'reborn' and 'shivering' are present participles used as adjectives to describe the subject, adding a dynamic quality to the state of being.

• This faint and shaky hour

  ➔ Adjective order

  ➔ The adjectives 'faint' and 'shaky' follow the typical order of opinion before size, age, shape, color, origin, material, and purpose.

• Day one, day one, start over again

  ➔ Repetition for emphasis

  ➔ The phrase 'Day one, day one' is repeated to emphasize the significance of starting anew.

• I am barely making sense

  ➔ Present continuous tense

  ➔ The phrase 'I am barely making sense' uses the present continuous tense to describe an action happening now with a temporary or incomplete result.

• From scratch, begin again

  ➔ Prepositional phrase

  ➔ The phrase 'From scratch' is a prepositional phrase that indicates starting from the very beginning.

• But this time I as I? And not as we?

  ➔ Rhetorical question

  ➔ The phrase 'But this time I as I? And not as we?' is a rhetorical question used to emphasize a point or express contemplation.

• If God's taking bets

  ➔ Conditional sentence (Type 2)

  ➔ The phrase 'If God's taking bets' is a Type 2 conditional sentence, expressing a hypothetical situation in the present with an unlikely outcome.