Don't Talk To Me Anymore [Shaw/Blades featuring Tommy Shaw]

Don't Talk To Me Anymore
Written by Tommy Shaw & Jack Blades
Lead Vocals by Tommy Shaw

When I look at what's been going on
I have to laugh to keep from crying
When I think of how it used to be
And how so much has changed

I never thought to look down that road
To see the distance in your eyes
And now to think of all that might have been
I don't know who to blame

At last to sleep, to dream
Escape the world that might have been
Enough to face the sun again
To feel the love shine through the rain

Don't talk to me anymore
Don't talk to me oh no no no

If I ever get over you
If my memory starts to fade away
Don't be sorry and don't feel sad
That's just the way it should be

A lesson learned is a penny earned
Thank the banker for keeping count of
Keep these treasures buried deep in the ground
Saved for the bridges we burned

A chance to live again
To breathe the air, let freedom in
To face the world a different man
Be who I might have never been

Don't talk to me anymore
Don't talk to me oh no no no

Should our paths cross tomorrow
I won't stay for the night
There can be no forgiveness
Exit dark, enter light

'til you get some religion
'til you're down on your knees
And you're stripped of the madness
Then maybe you can believe

Don't talk to me anymore
Don't talk to me oh no no no

Interpretation

It hurts when a meaningful relationship ends. In this case, the singer is saying better to say goodbye and make a new start than to continue to suffer the pain of trying when only he cares enough to make it work.

Note the Shakespearean reference to start the third stanza. "At last to sleep, to dream" is taken almost verbatim from Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1, in Hamlet's famous soliloquy as he ponders taking his own life: 

To be, or not to be - that is the question;
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep -
No more - and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep -
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub....

Of course, in this case, the singer is deciding that to "Escape the world that might of been" does not mean "to die, to sleep" but simply to separate himself from his estranged lover and say simply "Don't talk to me anymore."