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"
Fuck all that, we've got to get on with these
(Fuck all that, fuck all that)
Got to compete with the wily Japanese
There's too many home fires burning and not enough trees
(Fuck all that)
So fuck all that, we've gotta get on with these
(Gotta get on with these)
Can't stop, lose job
Mind gone, silicon
Stroll on what bomb?
Get away, payday
Make hay, break down
Need fix, big six
Click, click
Hold on, oh no
Bingo (bingo)
Make 'em laugh, make 'em cry
Make 'em dance in the aisles
Make 'em pay, make 'em stay
Make them feel okay
Not now John, we've got to get on with the film show
(Gotta get on, gotta get on)
Hollywood waits at the end of the rainbow
(End of the rainbow)
Who cares what it's about as long as the kids go
(As long as the kids go)
So, not now John, we've gotta get on with the show
(Gotta get on, gotta get on)
(Gotta get on, gotta get on, gotta get on)
Hang on John I've gotta get on with this
(Gotta get on, gotta get on)
Don't know what it is, but it fits on here like, sss
Come at the end of the shift, we'll go and get pissed
But not now John, I've gotta get on with this
(Gotta get on with this, gotta get on)
Hold on John, I think there's something good on
I used to read books but
Could be the news or some other abuse
Could be reusable shows
Fuck all that, we've gotta get on with these
Gota compete with the wily Japanese
(Gotta get on, gotta get on)
No need to worry about the Vietnapeace
Gota bring Russian Bear to his knees
(Gotta get on)
Well, maybe not the Russian Bear, maybe the Swedes
We showed Argentina, now let's go and show these
(Gotta get on, gotta get on)
Make us feel tough and wouldn't Maggie be pleased?
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na
(Na, na, na, na, na, na, na)
(One, two, Free Four)
(One, two, Free Four)
S'cusi, dov'è il bar? (What?) (gotta get on)
Se parakalo, pou einai to bar?
S'il vous plaît, où est le bar? (Say it in English, fairy)
Oi, where's the fucking bar John? (Oh, now you're talking)
(Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the day) (gotta get on, gotta get on)
Down (gotta get on)
Go, Maggie
(Gotta get on, gotta get on)
Hammer, Hammer, Hammer, Hammer, now
(Fuck all that, fuck all that)
Got to compete with the wily Japanese
There's too many home fires burning and not enough trees
(Fuck all that)
So fuck all that, we've gotta get on with these
(Gotta get on with these)
Can't stop, lose job
Mind gone, silicon
Stroll on what bomb?
Get away, payday
Make hay, break down
Need fix, big six
Click, click
Hold on, oh no
Bingo (bingo)
Make 'em laugh, make 'em cry
Make 'em dance in the aisles
Make 'em pay, make 'em stay
Make them feel okay
Not now John, we've got to get on with the film show
(Gotta get on, gotta get on)
Hollywood waits at the end of the rainbow
(End of the rainbow)
Who cares what it's about as long as the kids go
(As long as the kids go)
So, not now John, we've gotta get on with the show
(Gotta get on, gotta get on)
(Gotta get on, gotta get on, gotta get on)
Hang on John I've gotta get on with this
(Gotta get on, gotta get on)
Don't know what it is, but it fits on here like, sss
Come at the end of the shift, we'll go and get pissed
But not now John, I've gotta get on with this
(Gotta get on with this, gotta get on)
Hold on John, I think there's something good on
I used to read books but
Could be the news or some other abuse
Could be reusable shows
Fuck all that, we've gotta get on with these
Gota compete with the wily Japanese
(Gotta get on, gotta get on)
No need to worry about the Vietnapeace
Gota bring Russian Bear to his knees
(Gotta get on)
Well, maybe not the Russian Bear, maybe the Swedes
We showed Argentina, now let's go and show these
(Gotta get on, gotta get on)
Make us feel tough and wouldn't Maggie be pleased?
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na
(Na, na, na, na, na, na, na)
(One, two, Free Four)
(One, two, Free Four)
S'cusi, dov'è il bar? (What?) (gotta get on)
Se parakalo, pou einai to bar?
S'il vous plaît, où est le bar? (Say it in English, fairy)
Oi, where's the fucking bar John? (Oh, now you're talking)
(Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the day) (gotta get on, gotta get on)
Down (gotta get on)
Go, Maggie
(Gotta get on, gotta get on)
Hammer, Hammer, Hammer, Hammer, now
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae, edited by digitalmanMKII, Noubledigger
Not Now John Lyrics as written by George Roger Waters
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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i do have one question about this song that noone else seems to know... when roger comes back on with the fifth verse, what does he say after "i used to read books but...". it sounds something like "he caught fishing jacks". i know that's not what it is but thats what it sounds like.