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"
Oh my fair North Star,
I have held to you dearly,
I had asked you to steer me,
Till one cloud-scattered night,
I got lost and in my travels I met Leo the lion,
Met a king and met a giant, with their errant light,
There's the wind and the rain, and the mercy of the fallen,
Who say they have no claim to know what's right.
There's the weak and the strong and the beds that have no answer,
And that's where I may rest my head tonight.
I saw all the bright people,
In imposing flocks they landed,
And they got what they demanded,
And they scratched at the ground.
Then they flew, and the field grew as sweetly for the flightless,
Who had longing yet despite this,
They could hear every sound.
There's the wind and the rain,
And the mercy of the fallen,
Who say they have no claim to know what's right.
There's the weak and the strong and the beds that have no answer,
And that's where I may rest my head tonight.
If your sister or your brother were stumbling on their last mile,
In a self-inflicted exile,
You'd hope they'd meet a humble friend.
And I hope someday that the best of Falstaff's planners
Give me seven half-built manors,
Where half-dreams may dream without end.
There's the wind and the rain, and the mercy of the fallen,
Who say they have no claim to know what's right.
There's the weak and the strong and the many stars that guide us,
We have some of them inside us.
I have held to you dearly,
I had asked you to steer me,
Till one cloud-scattered night,
I got lost and in my travels I met Leo the lion,
Met a king and met a giant, with their errant light,
There's the wind and the rain, and the mercy of the fallen,
Who say they have no claim to know what's right.
There's the weak and the strong and the beds that have no answer,
And that's where I may rest my head tonight.
I saw all the bright people,
In imposing flocks they landed,
And they got what they demanded,
And they scratched at the ground.
Then they flew, and the field grew as sweetly for the flightless,
Who had longing yet despite this,
They could hear every sound.
There's the wind and the rain,
And the mercy of the fallen,
Who say they have no claim to know what's right.
There's the weak and the strong and the beds that have no answer,
And that's where I may rest my head tonight.
If your sister or your brother were stumbling on their last mile,
In a self-inflicted exile,
You'd hope they'd meet a humble friend.
And I hope someday that the best of Falstaff's planners
Give me seven half-built manors,
Where half-dreams may dream without end.
There's the wind and the rain, and the mercy of the fallen,
Who say they have no claim to know what's right.
There's the weak and the strong and the many stars that guide us,
We have some of them inside us.
Lyrics submitted by VampedVixen, edited by IDanielsen
Mercy of the Fallen Lyrics as written by Dar Williams
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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As a songwritermyself, I am hesitant to attach specific meanings to a song. Other people make up their own meanings that have nothing to do with how or why the song was written. And that is a good thing. That said, I love this song and here's what it says to me...
The first verse is addressed to “my fair North Star,” which speaks to me of a permanence and reliability, an unwavering trust in a belief for a concept or a role model. When that certainty is obscured will we allow ourselves to discover new ways to navigate life.
There are harsh forces that touch us - wind and rain - but also the compassion that comes from others who have lost their own certainty. They are no longer dogmatic or judgmental, but forgiving and understanding. Admitting you don’t have the answers may look weak, but takes great strength, and gives us peace.
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If someone you love is in trouble, you want them to get help from some who will accept them, and not judge them as if from a lofty position.
The narrator casts herself as the silly-but-profound character from Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor. She hopes that whoever is directing or orchestrating her life gives her places that are not complete, where she can be at peace in the beds of uncertainty, and where dreams are never finished.
We can be guided by more than one goal, some of them are high and far away, but others are only discovered in our hearts.