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"
Don't know
What I was looking for
When I went home
I found me alone
And sometimes
I need someone to say you'll be all right
What's on your mind?
But the water's shallow here
And I am full of fear
And empty-handed after two long years
Another sunny day in California
I'm sure back home they'd love to see it
But they don't know that what you love is ripped away
Before you get a chance to feel it
Back home
I always thought I wanted so much more
Now I'm not too sure
'Cause sometimes
I miss knowing someone's there for me
And feeling free
Free to stand beside
The ocean in moonlight
And light myself a smoke beneath
The dark Atlantic sky
Another sunny day in California
I'm sure back home they'd love to see it
But they don't know that what you love is ripped away
Before you get a chance to feel it
Everybody here is living life in fear
Of falling out of line
Tearing lives apart and breaking lots of hearts
Just to pass the time
And the eyes get red in the back of your head
This place will make you blind
Put it all behind me
And I'll be just fine
Another sunny day beneath this cloudless sky
Sometimes I wish that it would rain here
And wash away the west coast dreaming from my eyes
There's nothing real for them to see here
Another starry night in California
I'm sure back home they'd love to see it
But they don't know that what you love is ripped away
Before you get a chance
Before you get a chance to feel it
What I was looking for
When I went home
I found me alone
And sometimes
I need someone to say you'll be all right
What's on your mind?
But the water's shallow here
And I am full of fear
And empty-handed after two long years
Another sunny day in California
I'm sure back home they'd love to see it
But they don't know that what you love is ripped away
Before you get a chance to feel it
Back home
I always thought I wanted so much more
Now I'm not too sure
'Cause sometimes
I miss knowing someone's there for me
And feeling free
Free to stand beside
The ocean in moonlight
And light myself a smoke beneath
The dark Atlantic sky
Another sunny day in California
I'm sure back home they'd love to see it
But they don't know that what you love is ripped away
Before you get a chance to feel it
Everybody here is living life in fear
Of falling out of line
Tearing lives apart and breaking lots of hearts
Just to pass the time
And the eyes get red in the back of your head
This place will make you blind
Put it all behind me
And I'll be just fine
Another sunny day beneath this cloudless sky
Sometimes I wish that it would rain here
And wash away the west coast dreaming from my eyes
There's nothing real for them to see here
Another starry night in California
I'm sure back home they'd love to see it
But they don't know that what you love is ripped away
Before you get a chance
Before you get a chance to feel it
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The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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.
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.
this song isnt necessarily about how california is fake....its about how its just not EVERYTHING its made out to be by people everywhere. And it just goes to show that no matter where you are there is nothing better than home, wherever you want to call home, where your childhood friends may be or where you grew up or whatever. its just how he may feel homesick.