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'll get it right sometime. You will."
I tell myself that everyday.
"You don't need to latch on to anything.
You'll just end up back here
In your little limbo scene."
It's repetitious and exhausting.
I might need some therapy;
Anything to keep me in check through the day.
Don't think about your lover.
You're already steady shaking."
I might need a sedative,
But I hate the taste of medicine.
"You just need to let her go."
These pills shaking in my hand
Just make me feel defeated,
Like I'm not able to just let her go away.
I hate this place but I love these chords.
"An empty fate just means an even score."
And the pain this morning...
It filled my head.
It's Jameson.
It means that I'm not dead.
And I just can't seem to get away
There's no such thing as escape,
Even with the sedaives
You're always in the same state,
Clutching to a limbo scene.
You're never changing anything,
You just stop the shaking.
And it's constantly repeated through the days.
I tell myself that everyday.
"You don't need to latch on to anything.
You'll just end up back here
In your little limbo scene."
It's repetitious and exhausting.
I might need some therapy;
Anything to keep me in check through the day.
Don't think about your lover.
You're already steady shaking."
I might need a sedative,
But I hate the taste of medicine.
"You just need to let her go."
These pills shaking in my hand
Just make me feel defeated,
Like I'm not able to just let her go away.
I hate this place but I love these chords.
"An empty fate just means an even score."
And the pain this morning...
It filled my head.
It's Jameson.
It means that I'm not dead.
And I just can't seem to get away
There's no such thing as escape,
Even with the sedaives
You're always in the same state,
Clutching to a limbo scene.
You're never changing anything,
You just stop the shaking.
And it's constantly repeated through the days.
Lyrics submitted by dudu666, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Trusty Chords Lyrics as written by Christopher James Wollard Charles Allen Ragan
Lyrics © TERRORBIRD PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
Midnight
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Midnight” is a song about finding a love that is so true that it provides a calming feeling through every storm. Ed Sheeran reflects on his good fortunes in landing someone with such peace and support and speaks of not fearing the dark days because he knows they’ll all end in the safety nets of her arms.
“Well, good morning there / What a way to start the day / With everything laid bare,” Ed Sheeran sings in the first verse, enthusiastic to be waking up beside his woman. He apologizes for missing her calls in the second verse and promises to return them because for him, speaking to her is the most important thing. “Well, I get lost inside my head / In this chaos, you’re my calm / And I will find my feet again / ‘Cause еven the worst days of my life will always еnd / At midnight in your arms,” sings Ed Sheeran in the chorus, revelling in his good luck.
This song is fucking beautiful. Beautiful.
I can really identify with this song.I mean, at least in my interpretation.
""you'll get it right.You will." I tell myself that everyday. "you don't need to latch on to anything. you'll just end up back here in your little limbo scene." it's repititous and exhausting. I might need some therapy; anything to keep me in check through the day."
He needs help.Therapy. Anything to keep him in check trough the day.
""don't think about your lover you're already steady shaking." I might need a sedative But I hate the taste of medicine "you just need to let her go" These pills shaking in my hand Just make me feel defeated Like I'm not able to just let her go away"
It can be either drugs or anti-depressants, but it's a remedy, his way to deal with the pain.And he can't let her lover go away.Whatever the reason, he needs to let her go away, but he can't.He is too fucked up to deal with not having her.And he feels pathetic and defeated because the pills he takes shows that she "wins".He is defeated, alone, broke.She's not, she's ok.
"I hate this place but I love these chords "an empty fate just means an even score" And the pain this morning...... it filled my head It's JAMESON. It means that I'm not dead."
An empty fate would be life without trying, only trying to dull the pain.The pain is filling his head, and he's dealing with it with alcohol.He is not dead, he is fighting, trying to kill the pain.He is alive.
"and I just can't seem to get away There's no such thing as escape Even with the sedatives you're always in the same state clutching to a limbo scene you're never changing anything you just stop the shaking and it's constantly repeated through the days. "
He can't get away of the pain and his life.There's no such thing as escape, or at least he did not found it.Even with the sedatives(anti-depressants,drugs) he keeps in the same state.He is in limbo, never founding salvation, never changing anything, just stopping the shaking(which i interpret as the crisis he have to deal with).
This song is on par w/ "Under Pressure" by Bowie & Queen.
"You'll get it right sometime. You will." I tell myself that everyday.
-This line might imply him just going through a really intense breakup. By telling himself that he "will get it right sometime", he wants to convince himself that someday he will find that true love he's looking for without making any mistakes on the way. He's, however, not at all sure about that, hence the line "I tell myself that everyday". He doesn't believe his own words.
"You don't need to latch on to anything. You'll just end up back here In your little limbo scene."
-Again talking to himself, he's trying to get himself to accept that they cannot be together. He shouldn't hold on to a thing that wasn't supposed to be, otherwise he'll end up in his own "limbo" (basically pre-hell) scene. That probably refers to him ending up in a very deep depression if he cannot let go of what once was and holding on to it.
It's repetitious and exhausting. I might need some therapy; Anything to keep me in check through the day.
-His own personal hell is coming back every single day and pulling him down, he feels like with everyday he has less and less of a will to make it through. He considers therapy at this point here first, anything to keep himself "in check". Here I first thought he meant to keep him kinda ok, but he actually phrases it as "in check". I think this is a metaphor for a kind of game that is going on between two sides of himself. His one side tries to keep his other side, his depressed and probably close to suicidal side, "in check". Here the example is therapy, but for the most parts it'll be different kinds of substances.
Don't think about your lover. You're already steady shaking."
-The thought of his lover brings along sadness. By thinking about her, he start "shaking". This might be a metaphor for his pain that gets him to shake, maybe crying and sobbing might be what he's referring to here. Or it might also be his mental state that stops being stable and suddenly starts "shaking" here.
I might need a sedative, But I hate the taste of medicine.
-He needs somthing to distract himself, to keep him in check. He thinks about sedatives, but he hates the taste, or rather the meaning behind taking that medicine. Here he basically stated that he doesn't really enjoy taking the substance, but that he needs it.
"You just need to let her go." These pills shaking in my hand Just make me feel defeated, Like I'm not able to just let her go away.
-Letting go seems impossible for him. If he could do it, he wouldn't have to take any kinds of substances. But he can't and therefore he feels forced to do that. His hand is shaking, again probably referring to his sadness and his complete hopelessness. They make him feel defeated because it's the only way to keep his dark, sad side in check. He thinks he should be able to just let her go, but, to his own disappointment, he's unable to do that.
I hate this place but I love these chords.
-He hates the place that he's in, all the memories he associates with her and his past in it. This could be any kind of place, but probably his apartment where he's currently writing the song. He loves the chords; he's currently fighting the pain by writing a song about it. The name of the song, "trusty chords", also gives us some information here: The chords, or rather the music, never lets him down, it is always there and trustworthy.
"An empty fate just means an even score."
-An empty fate, an empty future without any hope, but also no pessimism or sadness, just completely empty, means he managed to keep himself in check. This is where the metaphor of his two sides fighting comes back in.
And the pain this morning... It filled my head. It's Jameson. It means that I'm not dead.
-In the first part he's simply talking about a hangover he got from drinking too much the night before. The pain in his head is caused by the Jameson whiskey he drank before. This, for him, means he's not dead. The alcohol is one of the things keeping him from doing worse things; in this case especially suicide. The pain in his head is telling him that he made it through tha last day because of his alcohol consumption.¨
And I just can't seem to get away There's no such thing as escape, Even with the sedaives
-Here's where we see that this song is actually not glorifying drugs, but actually just showing us a way of how someone could possibly have gotten into them. The drugs don't offer an escape forever, no getting away from your pain, just short trips away before one then returns to the same hell.
You're always in the same state, Clutching to a limbo scene. You're never changing anything, You just stop the shaking. And it's constantly repeated through the days.
-Here again: The state of your life doesn't change, through the consumption you're just settling inside of your own personal hell. Nothing is ever changed, only the shaking, the sadness and grief, is stopped for a certian while. However, it returns the day after, and so the entire process starts again.
i truly love this song, as i love the whole new record. "I hate this place but I love these chords", this line itself is so great. anyway, there's something i don't understand - probably because i'm from germany - and that is: what does JAMESON mean??? is it a place, a person, a band, or what? i really hope you can help me out because it sucks to quote and sing along with words you don't understand.
Jameson is a whiskey
i'm pretty sure that "Jameson" is a brand of whiskey
"Jameson" is an Irish whiskey.
Great song. Kinda wish they would have played it tonight.
i thought i heard this one when i saw em not too long ago.maybe not?! but this song is so fucking awesome..i love it. and hot water music is one of the best fucking bands in existance. right on
the vocals on this song, and all are just so fuckin immense now...they keep the roughness, but the solid im pact n emtion is unrivaled
Could someone explain this line to me:
"an empty fate just means an even score"
great song, great band, nuff said
@wussy I always heard it as "an empty fret". Kind of a play on words with the preceding line.