Song lyrics that remind us of Once Upon a Time, season 4

Regarding episode 4×05 “Breaking Glass”, and the many references to the symbolism of mirrors.

There is so much symbolism regarding mirrors, so I was trying to think if I knew any songs that referred to mirrors or glass in the lyrics.  I thought I must have heard some!

Then I remembered this one:

Jack Savoretti – Broken Glass

Broken glass on the floor by my bed
Lying next to books
I’ve never even read

Wide awake, all the mess that I made
Everything I’ve taken
you’re the one who paid

Forget what I have done
Sometimes I’ve lost you
Sometimes I’ve won

Just let me do
Everything I can
‘Cause everything I do is for you

There’s a darkness to my shadow on the wall
Every time I try to stand
That’s when I fall

There’s a fever burning deep in my bones
Even when I’m with you
I’m on my own

Forget what I have done
Sometimes I’ve lost you
Sometimes I’ve won

Just let me do
Everything I can
‘Cause everything I do is for you

Mmm, I do it all for you

You’re the lighthouse when I’m lost at sea
You’re my band-aid when I bleed
Am I hypnotizing you, like you’re hypnotizing me

Forget what I have done
Sometimes I’ve lost you
Sometimes I’ve won

Just let me do
Everything I can
‘Cause everything I do is for you

I do it all for you

Broken glass on the floor by my bed
Lying next to books
I’ve never even read

Wide awake, all the mess that I made
Everything I’ve taken
you’re the one who paid

So, who’s story does the song make you think of?  I can’t seem to decide.  I can think of several POVs that go with some of the lyrics, or even most, but not quite the whole song.

So here’s how I see it.  The different characters all take turns singing the song, each singing only the verses that are relevant to them.  And the same lines take on a different meaning, with each character who sings them.

I see quite a lot of Rumple in most of the song, but I can’t tell if he is speaking to Bae or to Belle, or to both.  Or maybe in turns.

But look at how sinister this verse becomes, if it comes from the Dairy Queen!

Forget what I have done
Sometimes I’ve lost you
Sometimes I’ve won

😮

So, what do you all think?  What or who do you see the song referring to?

Do you have any other songs that speak to this episode, or this season?

SFG (AKA / not-ash)  😉

Thank you WickedRegal! 😀

And, you are so completely right about those lyrics coming from Ingrid! I hadn’t seen the complete lyrics as fitting any one character, but since you pointed it out, I do completely see it as Ingrid’s POV. 😎

And now, looking at it again knowing what we have learned of Ingrid’s past, with Helga, it seems even more perfect. And sad. 🙁

Like this verse, is when she is most afraid of hurting her sisters. Keeping her distance, watching the ball from afar, etc.

There’s a fever burning deep in my bones
Even when I’m with you
I’m on my own

And the lines about the lighthouse and the bandaid, that is the three sisters protecting and supporting each other, before things went wrong. 🙁

Though I still see some of the other fragmented meanings that I had noticed before.

This pair of verses for example:

There’s a darkness to my shadow on the wall
Every time I try to stand
That’s when I fall

There’s a fever burning deep in my bones
Even when I’m with you
I’m on my own

The first makes me think of both Rumple and Regina, telling of their seperate struggles with their darker tendencies. Every time they try to be better people, or to make better lives for themselves, they get knocked down again.

And with that second verse, I think of Rumple. He loves Belle, but he cannot shake his yearning for power. And that makes him feel alone, because it is a selfish desire that he cannot escape.

And then this verse:

Forget what I have done
Sometimes I’ve lost you
Sometimes I’ve won

Just let me do
Everything I can
‘Cause everything I do is for you

This speaks to the stories of several different couples: Snowing, Rumbelle, and maybe even Swanfire. Any of the devoted couples on the show, who’s stories involve repeatedly losing and finding each other again. 🙂 It seems to be a common thread on the show, doesn’t it?

SFG

Here’s another one of my favorite songs. After the winter finale, I noticed that this song felt to me like it speaks to Belle’s current POV, and yet, is full of hope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuCY-x4AYxc

236-6132
© 2001 David Robert Carter, administered by Tracy Grammer Music

—

236-6132 is the number of my love
even though it’s been some time since he made fair to answer
’cause he feints and fades from view like a fighter ducks a glove
though i play the highway kind and he the china dancer

if i was afraid to break or bleed
i would find someone much easier to need
but when drifters’ dreams come true and when push comes ’round to shove
236-6132 is the number of my love

236-6132 is the number i must call
when casey’s at the bat, and sleeping beauty slumbers
when the frost is on the dew, and my teardrops freeze and fall
till the world is frozen flat, and the long night snows me under

on the icy nails of no return
we will strike the match and set the night to burn
’cause when beauty wakes anew and when casey cracks the ball
236-6132 is the only number

i am not looking for no champion of my freedom
i am anything but anybody’s foundling
sometimes i feel like i am wandering
an old balloon on broken string
a bubble in a baby’s dream
a lost and lonely buzzardling
a vulture beating creaky wings
while angry storms go gathering around me

236-6132 is the number of my love
when the clouds are howlin rain and the sky is black as ashes
’cause it’s sunlight where we flew, though the trail is cold above
and the raven quakes in vain while the lightning barks and flashes

still the clouds will fade to gray cocoons
and spring the winken monarchs, nodding never-blinken moons
when the crows come home to roost and the eagle weds the dove
236-6132 is the number of my love

This song feels so much like RumBelle to me, from Belle’s perspective.

It is a song about loving someone who is not easy to love. It speaks of the desolation and the tears of their long partings, only to make the inevitable reunions so much sweeter, in celebration.

The speaker in the song is not looking to be rescued by a hero, she is strong and independent. She still feels lost sometimes, adrift. But even when her love is not present, she knows he is her anchor, she knows they are still connected.

It is a song of much turbulence and turmoil, and yet, so much beauty. There is very much a feel of things happening in cycles. That each storm, no matter how bad, will always pass, and joy will return. 🙂

These lines in particular seem most relevant:

if i was afraid to break or bleed
i would find someone much easier to need

i am not looking for no champion of my freedom
i am anything but anybody’s foundling

And this passage is the most beautiful series of abstract descriptive lines. She is drifting, but knows she will find land again:

i am not looking for no champion of my freedom
i am anything but anybody’s foundling
sometimes i feel like i am wandering
an old balloon on broken string
a bubble in a baby’s dream
a lost and lonely buzzardling
a vulture beating creaky wings
while angry storms go gathering around me

And this is them right now, after the winter finale. It hurts, but this storm will end, as all storms end:

when the clouds are howlin rain and the sky is black as ashes
’cause it’s sunlight where we flew, though the trail is cold above
and the raven quakes in vain while the lightning barks and flashes

still the clouds will fade to gray cocoons
and spring the winken monarchs, nodding never-blinken moons
when the crows come home to roost and the eagle weds the dove
236-6132 is the number of my love

And this, might just sum up the whole thing:

the eagle weds the dove

SFG 🙂