Music Review: Imagine Dragons "I Bet My Life"

Imagine Dragons

I Bet My Life

Album: Smoke + Mirrors

Year: 2014

                Dan Reynolds apologies to causing pain to his ex-girlfriend in the restless            “I Bet My Life.”

               A repentant guitar opens the single, setting a regretful tone. His girlfriend tried. She offered other suggestions. She compromised. Nothing worked. He was determined to leave to discover the world, whatever that meant then. As he moved from menial job to menial job, she and his parents worried about him. He was telling them he was all right. But he was actually keeping track of every penny, making sure he had enough to eat day to day. (“I know I took the path/That you would never want for me/I know I let you down, didn't I?/So many sleepless nights/Where you were waiting up on me/Well I'm just a slave unto the night.”)

               In the pre-chorus, he admits to being an arrogant and stubborn jerk. He said a lot of hurtful things he can never take back. He was such an awful person and he’s not proud of it. (“Now remember when I told you/That's the last you'll see of me?/Remember when I broke you down to tears?/I knew I took the path/That you would never want for me/I gave you hell through all the years.”)

              In the chorus, while he was gone he was only thinking of her. Upon returning, he was hoping she would at least acknowledge him. (“So I, I bet my life/I bet my life, I bet my life on you/I, I bet my life/I bet my life, I bet my life on you.”)

                  He went backpacking through Europe for awhile. He hiked various trails in the States. He was going to be gone forever, never to return home. The loneliness got him. She was the reason for his strength. He tried to convince himself that the countryside and canyons was his dream. He was wrong. (“I've been around the world/And never in my wildest dreams/Would I come running home to you/I've told a million lies, but/Now I tell a single truth/There's you in everything I do.”)

                    The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

                   He rushes out everything he has to say. He’s afraid she’ll close the door on him. From the look on her face, though, it’s going to take more than words. He tells her he’s done. That time of his life is over. (“Don't tell me that I'm wrong/I've walked that road before/And left you on your own/And please, believe them when they say/That it's left for yesterday/And the records that I play/Please forgive me for all I've done.”)

                 The chorus is sung again to end the single.

                 Reynolds is humbled by his mistakes. He can’t get ever those years back. He has to live with the fact that she may never let him in again.

                 The   lost   “I Bet My Life” struggles to find its place.