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"
You gonna look fine
Be primed for dancing
You're gonna trip and glide
All on the trembling plane
Your diamond hands
Will be stacked with roses
And wind and cars
And people of the past
I'll call you thing
Just when the moon sings
And place your face in stone
Upon the hill of stars
And gripped in the arms
Of the changeless madman
We'll dance our lives away
In the ballrooms of Mars
You talk about day
I'm talking 'bout night time
When the monsters call out
The names of men
Bob Dylan knows
And I bet Alan Freed did
There are things in night
That are better not to behold
You dance
With your lizard leather boots on
And pull the strings
That change the faces of men
You diamond browed hag
You're a glitter-gaunt gangster
John Lennon knows your name
And I've seen his
Be primed for dancing
You're gonna trip and glide
All on the trembling plane
Your diamond hands
Will be stacked with roses
And wind and cars
And people of the past
I'll call you thing
Just when the moon sings
And place your face in stone
Upon the hill of stars
And gripped in the arms
Of the changeless madman
We'll dance our lives away
In the ballrooms of Mars
You talk about day
I'm talking 'bout night time
When the monsters call out
The names of men
Bob Dylan knows
And I bet Alan Freed did
There are things in night
That are better not to behold
You dance
With your lizard leather boots on
And pull the strings
That change the faces of men
You diamond browed hag
You're a glitter-gaunt gangster
John Lennon knows your name
And I've seen his
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The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
If you think this song is meaningless you are very shallow. It's easy to find out from any ammount of research that Marc Bolan was obsessed with fantasy and he used fantasy terms to illustrate meanings in songs. When you take all of the space references out it's a song about someone that he either has or had a strong emotional attachment to. That one sour cord he plays every other verse and the dark imagery leads me to believe something bad happened to this person, or his relationship with this person. Thus they are no longer "on earth" or in his reality, This is why he would have to meet them on mars. The beginning of the song is set up to show that it is something that he is dreaming about. "You're gonna look fine." phrases like this show that it hasn't happened yet. It's something that he is dreaming up or that he wishes would happen. The fact that he says "John Lennon knows your name" leads me to believe she might be some groupie he liked who has some type of standing in the music industry. This could just be a bias of mine since Marc Bolan dated syd barret's ex girlfriend. Hope you guys enjoy my interpretation. :)
One of my faves, too, Child Star. T Rex was brilliant not in spite of, but because of, such enigmatic lyrics. One of the best bands ever!!
Wonder why someone would even bother to post about lyrics he hates? Eeyore may not be quite retarded, but he probably has an IQ of, oh maybe 90.
Uhm,, eeyore. If this song is so simple to write, why don't you write one yourself and earn millions of dollars? Yeah, I thought so. So shut up. I think these lyrics don't really mean anything, just describing a dream or something. It's pure poetry.
spot on, Lady Stardust. People go on and on about how Marc Bolan's lyrics make no sense BUT THEY ARE POETRY. A lot of the time it's just about the sound the words make together with the music. I suppose some people just have no soul....
and you're a loser. great song, actually.
Thanks spojmonkey. Nice interpretation.
Beautiful mysterious song. Like the best of Bolans songs it works just below the conscious. I think it's about the influence of his musical heroes. He works in haunting images of cars and escaping into the night. His songs foretell his own tragic end.
One of the best ever, Would like this at my funeral ( in many years time) Bolan classic
yeah eeyore this song is actually a amazing song its one of my personal favorites by t. rex. they are my favorite band of all time.
I will admit that I have never heard of T. Rex before in my life, but I heard this song on the School of Rock soundtrack and loved it for some reason. I intend to look at their other stuff. I like the music and the singer's voice and although I don't really know what they're about, I like the lyrics. But isn't the one line: Your diamond brown hair instead of whatever the hell it says above? I guess what I think doesn't make much sense, but neither does the line in the lyrics above.
My favourite t-rex song. Not sure what it is about but absolutely adore it