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"
I love you from the bottom, of my pencil case
I love you in the songs, I write and sing
Love you because, you put me in my rightful place
And I love the PRS cheques, that you bring
Cheap, never cheap
I'll sing you songs till you're asleep
When you've gone upstairs I'll creep
And write it all down, down, down, down
Oh Shirley, oh Deborah, oh Julie, oh Jane
I wrote so many songs about you
I forget your name, I forget your name
Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too
I forget your name
Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too
I forget your name
I love your from the bottom of my pencil case
I love the way you never ask me why
I love to write about each wrinkle on your face
And I love you 'till my fountain pen runs dry
Deep so deep, the number one I hope to reap
Depends upon the tears you weep, so cry, lovey cry, cry, cry, cry
Oh Cathy, oh Alison, oh Phillipa, oh Sue
You made me so much money, I wrote this song for you
I wrote this song for you
Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too
I wrote this song for you
Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too
Oh Cathy, oh Alison, oh Phillipa, oh Sue
You made me so much money, I wrote this song for you
I wrote this song for you
Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too
I wrote this song for you
Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too
For you, for you
I wrote this song for you
I wrote this song for you
I love you in the songs, I write and sing
Love you because, you put me in my rightful place
And I love the PRS cheques, that you bring
Cheap, never cheap
I'll sing you songs till you're asleep
When you've gone upstairs I'll creep
And write it all down, down, down, down
Oh Shirley, oh Deborah, oh Julie, oh Jane
I wrote so many songs about you
I forget your name, I forget your name
Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too
I forget your name
Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too
I forget your name
I love your from the bottom of my pencil case
I love the way you never ask me why
I love to write about each wrinkle on your face
And I love you 'till my fountain pen runs dry
Deep so deep, the number one I hope to reap
Depends upon the tears you weep, so cry, lovey cry, cry, cry, cry
Oh Cathy, oh Alison, oh Phillipa, oh Sue
You made me so much money, I wrote this song for you
I wrote this song for you
Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too
I wrote this song for you
Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too
Oh Cathy, oh Alison, oh Phillipa, oh Sue
You made me so much money, I wrote this song for you
I wrote this song for you
Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too
I wrote this song for you
Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too
For you, for you
I wrote this song for you
I wrote this song for you
Lyrics submitted by mysteriousdragon, edited by butterfingersbeck
Song For Whoever Lyrics as written by Paul Heaton Dave Rotheray
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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Great version of a great song,
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great song, I love the way the verses go into the chorus with the dual vocals, creates a great "layered" feeling when the piano line locks in. Overall, a very cool, very early 90's piece of work, witha good video too.
I think this song is taking a dig at those commercial pop love songs where artists sing shallow love songs proclaiming love etc etc to whoever whatever and then make lots of money out of it
@oosh <br /> Yep, it's in the same line as Robbie Williams' Come Undone bit in the bridge:<br /> So write another ballad<br /> Mix it on a Wednesday<br /> Sell it on a Thursday<br /> Buy a yacht by Sunday<br /> It's a love song<br /> A love song<br /> <br /> Do another interview<br /> Sing a bunch of lies<br /> Tell about celebrities that I despise<br /> And sing love songs<br /> We sing love songs<br /> So sincere<br /> <br /> It's poking fun at the industry, but you have to understand English humour to get it completely, it's very cynical if you look at it closely.
I think this is about all the girls he fancied at school.
And maybe some other stuff as well.
I think think this song is about the one woman he loved. There were others who were flings and didn't mean anything to him ("I love you from the bottom of my pencil case.") They provided material for songs but nothing else because he couldn't remember their names. But he loved Mary and she killed herself ("Turned her grief into glory") and that ended his inspiration to write songs. ("She ripped his ribbon to shreds.")
@Milkman82 <br /> I think you got the wrong song. No grief into glory, no shredding ribbons in this song.
beautiful. paul just has a wonderful voice.
this is about all the girls he's had relationships with, whom he writes songs about and then sings them to them(they think it's romantic, so they never question it - "I love the way you never ask me why I love to write about each wrinkle on your face") and then he earns money from these songs. when he says "the number one I hope to reap Depends upon the tears you weep" i think this is having a deep emotional relationship with someone that he can then write about the relationship in a song and get a number 1 hit with the song. it's quite comical really...
He emotionally abuses the women he dates (or dates one's previously abused) to find the inspiration for his songwriting - to make lots of $$. very sarcastic (along the lines of "36D")
It's about how love songs are often written to thicken the wallet and not spill out the soul...
I think that this song is a criticism of Pop stars who start shallow, futureless relationships simply for inspiration for songwriting, with no consideration of the girls' feelings, hence the "I forget your name" line.
The pencil case line makes me think he's addressing a school crush. Perhaps it's the names of all the girls he's had crushes on throughout schooling?