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"
La Di Da
Goodness only knows
This future would be smiling (There’ll be no more children dying)
Once the goodness shows
La Di Da
Goodness here to stay
Once the music, the music
Music starts to play
I've got your picture in my brain
The real thing or a facsimile obtained
You’re the best friend that I have today
So for the children’s sake remain
Why must I live this way
Up and down and day to day
And when I swear I’ll stop it all
The same old shit and down I fall
Rise, rise but my bed’s so nice
Come daylight you cannot think twice
Out in the street there’s the heavy beats
And a chance to make my life feel right
Did they laugh at what you stood to say
Now that breathing comes the hard way
Keep your headphones on
Sing your favorite song
Let it carry you
It won’t take long
From the left to the right
With no compromise in site
Begs for common sense
The bill is on the fence
While the reps all say goodnight
Because the proof rolls across the street
The Bush’s plan cannot be beat
There’s a battleship
Going to set adrift
So the gas I pump stays cheap
So much emphasis on odometer readings
Get together say what you’re feeling
When thoughts collide, put it in the mix
You better get in line, better get your fix
From the look of your big brown eyes
I know that everything’s going to be alright
So let’s shift gears
From our hopes and fears
I said whacha doin’ tonight
Oh my goodness, did you know?
The time gets stranger as you grow old
Oh my goodness, look out below (the market shows)
My brain’s in danger of overload (My brain’s shares are being bought and sold)
The TV stations where all they show are
Manipulations of lies that grow
From these lies is all we know
But not music, music
Cause the CD on my stereo
As I press play tells me where to go
Is it up and down is it side to side
Are you feeling me when our thoughts collide
The record spins and my thoughts begin
I can make it stop and push it back again
With my tracks in line bout to get my fix
When these thoughts collide I put it in the mix
Goodness only knows
This future would be smiling (There’ll be no more children dying)
Once the goodness shows
La Di Da
Goodness here to stay
Once the music, the music
Music starts to play
I've got your picture in my brain
The real thing or a facsimile obtained
You’re the best friend that I have today
So for the children’s sake remain
Why must I live this way
Up and down and day to day
And when I swear I’ll stop it all
The same old shit and down I fall
Rise, rise but my bed’s so nice
Come daylight you cannot think twice
Out in the street there’s the heavy beats
And a chance to make my life feel right
Did they laugh at what you stood to say
Now that breathing comes the hard way
Keep your headphones on
Sing your favorite song
Let it carry you
It won’t take long
From the left to the right
With no compromise in site
Begs for common sense
The bill is on the fence
While the reps all say goodnight
Because the proof rolls across the street
The Bush’s plan cannot be beat
There’s a battleship
Going to set adrift
So the gas I pump stays cheap
So much emphasis on odometer readings
Get together say what you’re feeling
When thoughts collide, put it in the mix
You better get in line, better get your fix
From the look of your big brown eyes
I know that everything’s going to be alright
So let’s shift gears
From our hopes and fears
I said whacha doin’ tonight
Oh my goodness, did you know?
The time gets stranger as you grow old
Oh my goodness, look out below (the market shows)
My brain’s in danger of overload (My brain’s shares are being bought and sold)
The TV stations where all they show are
Manipulations of lies that grow
From these lies is all we know
But not music, music
Cause the CD on my stereo
As I press play tells me where to go
Is it up and down is it side to side
Are you feeling me when our thoughts collide
The record spins and my thoughts begin
I can make it stop and push it back again
With my tracks in line bout to get my fix
When these thoughts collide I put it in the mix
Lyrics submitted by VampedVixen
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The Night We Met
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Yo La Tengo
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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,
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
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