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"
Dear Mr. and or Mrs. sender
We're pleased to inform you that your application's been accepted
Starting from the time you get this letter
Your life will be one never-ending "hope you're feeling better"
You get your choice of an aesthetic
Ah we need to chop your clock off tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock
It might not be what you expected
There is no money back once you've been ripped off, ripped off, ripped off
Today's a very special day
The boys'll murder for it but what will the neighbors say?
It leaves you feeling pretty hollow it might be nice to look at
Don't forget you're stuck with it tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
You're big enough to stop pretending
You'll start to really show it in a week or so
So don't go saying it's just come to your attention
You'll get more than you're asking for without the right protection
Today's a very special day
And how you'd love to have a little thing with which to play
But love won't get you very far, today be still your beating heart
You'll have to keep on feeding it tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Boys will be boys, will be boys, will be boys, will be boys
Will be boys, will be girls with no warning
Girls will be girls, will be guys, will be boys that don't cry over toys
That they use to beat girls they despise by the morning
They always said that sex would change you
Change you, change you, change you
No second thoughts the knife is nearing
You'll never hear the little pitter patter pitter patter
Of this little feat of engineering
Of course I love you and of course it's what's inside that matters
But I think the whole charade is ending
It seems to me to be the only way to keep from getting
Caught up in a long life of regretting
The doctors say that once you get a taste for it should keep on cutting
But while you happen to be here
Why don't you whisper all those sweet forevers in my ear?
Stiff upper lip in all this sorrow, hurry up and stick it in
You never know when it will end tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
They always said that sex would change you
Change you, change you, change you
We're pleased to inform you that your application's been accepted
Starting from the time you get this letter
Your life will be one never-ending "hope you're feeling better"
You get your choice of an aesthetic
Ah we need to chop your clock off tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock
It might not be what you expected
There is no money back once you've been ripped off, ripped off, ripped off
Today's a very special day
The boys'll murder for it but what will the neighbors say?
It leaves you feeling pretty hollow it might be nice to look at
Don't forget you're stuck with it tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
You're big enough to stop pretending
You'll start to really show it in a week or so
So don't go saying it's just come to your attention
You'll get more than you're asking for without the right protection
Today's a very special day
And how you'd love to have a little thing with which to play
But love won't get you very far, today be still your beating heart
You'll have to keep on feeding it tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Boys will be boys, will be boys, will be boys, will be boys
Will be boys, will be girls with no warning
Girls will be girls, will be guys, will be boys that don't cry over toys
That they use to beat girls they despise by the morning
They always said that sex would change you
Change you, change you, change you
No second thoughts the knife is nearing
You'll never hear the little pitter patter pitter patter
Of this little feat of engineering
Of course I love you and of course it's what's inside that matters
But I think the whole charade is ending
It seems to me to be the only way to keep from getting
Caught up in a long life of regretting
The doctors say that once you get a taste for it should keep on cutting
But while you happen to be here
Why don't you whisper all those sweet forevers in my ear?
Stiff upper lip in all this sorrow, hurry up and stick it in
You never know when it will end tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
They always said that sex would change you
Change you, change you, change you
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The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
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”
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.
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.
damnit i thought it didn't go through the first time! arrrghhhhhh...