This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Well, you say that I treat you like a book on a shelf
I don't take you out that often
'Cause I know that I completed you
And that's why you are here
That's the reason you stay here
How awful that must feel
You said you'd be my dream
I could have you every night
And if by morning I'd forgotten you
Well, no big deal, that'd be all right
'Cause you're the re-occuring kind
You are the re-occuring kind
You never really leave my mind
Are you the love of my lifetime
'Cause there's been times I've had my doubts
We were just kids when I first kissed you
In the attic of my parents' house
And I wish we were there now
I took so long to figure out
What this book has been about
Now I write when I'm away
Letters that you'll never read
You said go explore those other women
The geography of their bodies
But there's just one map you'll need
You're a boomerang you'll see
You will return to me
You will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. (etc.)
Because if you don't then this book's all lies
If you don't then my plans would all be ruined
If you don't, I'll start drinking like the way I drank before
And I just won't have a future anymore
I don't take you out that often
'Cause I know that I completed you
And that's why you are here
That's the reason you stay here
How awful that must feel
You said you'd be my dream
I could have you every night
And if by morning I'd forgotten you
Well, no big deal, that'd be all right
'Cause you're the re-occuring kind
You are the re-occuring kind
You never really leave my mind
Are you the love of my lifetime
'Cause there's been times I've had my doubts
We were just kids when I first kissed you
In the attic of my parents' house
And I wish we were there now
I took so long to figure out
What this book has been about
Now I write when I'm away
Letters that you'll never read
You said go explore those other women
The geography of their bodies
But there's just one map you'll need
You're a boomerang you'll see
You will return to me
You will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. (etc.)
Because if you don't then this book's all lies
If you don't then my plans would all be ruined
If you don't, I'll start drinking like the way I drank before
And I just won't have a future anymore
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Great version of a great song,
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i always thought that the girl in this story was always the one who returned to the boy (conor... i guess) but then the part with "explore those other women..." i wonder where the quote stops. the whole song could be told in the point of view of the girl and conor is really the one who keeps coming back. but then again maybe the quote stops at "geographies of their bodies" and the rest is told through conor. i don't know tho.
this meaning to this song just hit me yesterday tho. i've always loved it and thought i understood it, but now i feel like i better understand it. as the song progresses, conor s becoming more desperate. he wants the girl to return to him like she always has in the past. i think he realized he loves her ("that took so long to figure out") maybe because the girl isn't returning and he realizes how much he misses/needs her. i seems like she's always been around for him, but when he only realizes the good he has once it's gone.
the simple change in punctuation in "you will" shows this. he turns a confident "you will" (as in you willl return to me) into a desperate/pleading "will you?" (as in will you please return?) since he starts with you will. then goes into you? will. its hard to see that it's "will you?" and not "you? will." which doesn't really make sense.
at the end of the song you see how truely desperate he is for her to return. "and i just won't have a future anymore".
idk. i guess that's just the way i interpert the song. i think it's genius what a simple question mark can do. i love it. sorry for the extra lonnnng post.
i love how he manages to make "You Will. You?" in to a question and a statement. An amazing man he is.
You said you'd be my dream I could have you every night And if by morning I'd forgotten you Well, no big deal, that'd be all right 'Cause you're the re-occuring kind You never really leave my mind
i love those lines.
You're a boomerang you'll see You will return to me Well you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will you will' Cause, if you don't, then this book's all lies If you don't, then my plans would all be ruined If you don't, I'll start drinking like the way I drank before And I just won't have a future anymore
haha. wow. totally the way i feel about my ex.
I was going to ask why no one else had heard the footsteps in the song, but then I saw Mandolynn's comment. That was actually one of my favorite parts of this song, aside from the lyrics and the whole song in general. Hearing his foosteps as he gets nearer and nearer to the mic.
I think the way he comes in louder at the end adds to the happy sort of hopefulness, especially since he becomes so clear starting at the line "You will return to me."
This song is great for anyone who's in love with someone who doesn't know/who doesn't love them back yet and needs a little bit of a boost of hope.
I really like the last few lines. It almost seems to me like he's telling her, "you have to go back out with me, or else my life is ruined and it's your fault" almost. haha.
both heartachingly lovely and tender and totally bipolar dependant psychotic. classic Bright Eyes. this has to be his best. at least for moi. who hasnt had someone in their life that makes you feel like singing this in the first person, from either perspective?
THIS SONG IS LIKE ONE BIG LONG BAD PICK UP LINE. I LOVE IT.
When my boyfriend had just broken up with me we still were talking from day to day and in the back of my mind I just kept thinking that he would come back to me, he had to, I mean he loved me right? But he didn't. I expected him to return to me just like a boomerang but because I cheated he didn't want me back. When he didn't come back I felt as if i had no future, I had nothing to look forward to but just drink the way I used to..
Do you still feel this way about the song?
Breaks my goddamn heart. Every time.