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"
[random sample]
All the peeps said I wouldn't laugh
Don't make me laugh, don't make me laugh
[Sage Francis]
I'd give a twenty one gunshot salute
With a toy rifle you bought me but it won't shoot
And all is well because there's been one too many shots
The sterile robots want to talk to me about Detox
Stop the presses, there's been an update
Delivered via 1:30 AM phone call
When an only half-informative sauce talks discretely
Meet me-- at the family room at the side of the Intensive Care Unit
Immediately, I'll carry a tune
The sirens so loud, can't hear my music
Keep free-- of negative thoughts, everything'll be fine
We all assume... That it would go back to the way things were
That it would go back to normal soon
Saw the moon in a way that I never seen it before
When I looked up that night into the sky wondering why
Lookin' for answers, guess I ain't ask right
I'm guessin most of y'all out there know exactly what that's like
What that's like, now tell me what's that like?
It's like a whirlwind of emotions occurs when moms and dads fight
It's like when a girl grins, an emotion of hers
That holds your arm, and grabs tight
Hurl him into the ocean, one of them cold sweat heat flash types
With extreme fluctuations and temperature changes
Have been known to crack pipes...
...crack pipes...crack pipes...
Meet me-- half way in a gold, extra length just to help your strength
Meet me-- at the AA meeting, needing to take more then 12 steps
Bring me to your hiding place, so I can face your vice grip
I'll chisel every single monkey off your back with this ice pick
Come meet up with me on the sidelines when the game is over
Just to say hello, then afterwards, backstage
To let me know that you enjoyed the show
And go to grandma's house for Sunday dinner
Sit at the table take away the fatal flaw
you made the day before, I seen you bleed
Meet me-- on Christmas Eve, we can fight but make up before you leave
Make peace with the rest of those that rest in pieces on my dreams
Meet me at the fork in the road where lost souls get decisive
Meet me at the crossroads so I can have someone to walk into the light with
All the peeps said I wouldn't laugh
Don't make me laugh, don't make me laugh
[Sage Francis]
I'd give a twenty one gunshot salute
With a toy rifle you bought me but it won't shoot
And all is well because there's been one too many shots
The sterile robots want to talk to me about Detox
Stop the presses, there's been an update
Delivered via 1:30 AM phone call
When an only half-informative sauce talks discretely
Meet me-- at the family room at the side of the Intensive Care Unit
Immediately, I'll carry a tune
The sirens so loud, can't hear my music
Keep free-- of negative thoughts, everything'll be fine
We all assume... That it would go back to the way things were
That it would go back to normal soon
Saw the moon in a way that I never seen it before
When I looked up that night into the sky wondering why
Lookin' for answers, guess I ain't ask right
I'm guessin most of y'all out there know exactly what that's like
What that's like, now tell me what's that like?
It's like a whirlwind of emotions occurs when moms and dads fight
It's like when a girl grins, an emotion of hers
That holds your arm, and grabs tight
Hurl him into the ocean, one of them cold sweat heat flash types
With extreme fluctuations and temperature changes
Have been known to crack pipes...
...crack pipes...crack pipes...
Meet me-- half way in a gold, extra length just to help your strength
Meet me-- at the AA meeting, needing to take more then 12 steps
Bring me to your hiding place, so I can face your vice grip
I'll chisel every single monkey off your back with this ice pick
Come meet up with me on the sidelines when the game is over
Just to say hello, then afterwards, backstage
To let me know that you enjoyed the show
And go to grandma's house for Sunday dinner
Sit at the table take away the fatal flaw
you made the day before, I seen you bleed
Meet me-- on Christmas Eve, we can fight but make up before you leave
Make peace with the rest of those that rest in pieces on my dreams
Meet me at the fork in the road where lost souls get decisive
Meet me at the crossroads so I can have someone to walk into the light with
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Great version of a great song,
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I'm sorry that's not what this song is about. Its about Sage's uncle Kevin died. He has stated it before in interviews. Its one of his best pieces of work though.