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"
The streets are wet
The lights have yet
To shed their tawdry lustre on the scene
My skirt's too short
My tights have run
These new heels are killing me
My second pack of cigarettes
It's a slow night but there's time yet
Here comes John from his other life
He may be driving to his wife
But he'll slow down take a look
I've learned to read them just like books
And it's already half past ten
But they'll be back again
Headlights in the rainy street
I check, make sure it's not the heat
I wink, I smile, I wave my hand
He stops and seems to understand
The small transaction we must make
I tell him that my heart will break
If he's not a generous man
I step into his van
They say the first is the hardest trick
And after that it's just a matter of logic
They have the money I have the time
Being pretty's my only crime
You ask what future do I see
I say it's really up to me
I don't need forgiving
I'm just making a living
Don't judge me
You could be me in another life
In another set of circumstances
Don't judge me
One more night I'll just have to take my chances
And tomorrow we'll see
A friend of mine he wound up dead
His dress was stained the colour red
No next of kin no fixed abode
Another victim on this road
The police just carted him away
But someone took his place next day
He was home by thanksgiving
But not with the living
Don't judge me
You could be me in another life
In another set of circumstances
Don't judge me
One more night I'll just have to take my chances
And no it's just not in my plan
For someone to care who I am
I'm walking the streets for money
It's the business of love, 'hey honey'
C'mon, don't leave me lonely, don't leave me sad
It'll be the sweetest five minutes you ever had
Don't judge me
You could be me in another life
In another set of circumstances
Don't judge me
One more night I'll just have to take my chances
And tomorrow we'll see
The lights have yet
To shed their tawdry lustre on the scene
My skirt's too short
My tights have run
These new heels are killing me
My second pack of cigarettes
It's a slow night but there's time yet
Here comes John from his other life
He may be driving to his wife
But he'll slow down take a look
I've learned to read them just like books
And it's already half past ten
But they'll be back again
Headlights in the rainy street
I check, make sure it's not the heat
I wink, I smile, I wave my hand
He stops and seems to understand
The small transaction we must make
I tell him that my heart will break
If he's not a generous man
I step into his van
They say the first is the hardest trick
And after that it's just a matter of logic
They have the money I have the time
Being pretty's my only crime
You ask what future do I see
I say it's really up to me
I don't need forgiving
I'm just making a living
Don't judge me
You could be me in another life
In another set of circumstances
Don't judge me
One more night I'll just have to take my chances
And tomorrow we'll see
A friend of mine he wound up dead
His dress was stained the colour red
No next of kin no fixed abode
Another victim on this road
The police just carted him away
But someone took his place next day
He was home by thanksgiving
But not with the living
Don't judge me
You could be me in another life
In another set of circumstances
Don't judge me
One more night I'll just have to take my chances
And no it's just not in my plan
For someone to care who I am
I'm walking the streets for money
It's the business of love, 'hey honey'
C'mon, don't leave me lonely, don't leave me sad
It'll be the sweetest five minutes you ever had
Don't judge me
You could be me in another life
In another set of circumstances
Don't judge me
One more night I'll just have to take my chances
And tomorrow we'll see
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The Night We Met
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"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Teenage transvestite prostitutes? I didn't even know such a cruel "job" exists! I've always wondered why he's refering to the friend that ended up dead as a "he". I mean, sure, there are male prostitutes too but it's not very common (at least in our society).
Anyway, not knowing what this song was actually about, I've always seen it as Roxanne's answer to the young man who loved her so desperately. ; ) She's trying to explain why she can't come with him: She's somehow trapped in her way of life but she's also afraid to leave this life. As horrible as it may seem to us, it's her everyday routine - she's good at her job and it's the only life she knows. She'd rather carry on "walking the streets for money" than trying to get out and maybe risking not succeeding in a new life.
I think this is a general problem of many prostitutes/criminals. They are so used to the life they are living that they are afraid to leave it behind because they think it's the only thing they are good at. And they hide their fears behind the excuse that it's only "one more night and tomorrow we'll see".