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"
In 1969
i killed a man of mine
in his small mind to the town
i was hunted down by hounds
hear the nighthawks cry
the voices try and hollow
hear the crowd cheer
they cheer me to the gallow
In 1985
i was doing time alright
i made a plan to escape
and then as the lady of the late
hear the crowd it goes
their voices try and hollow
cant you hear them call
they cheer me to the gallow
1995
was the year i came out for child?
i listened to his song
and watch the sun make the shadows long
hear the nighthawk call
his voices try and hollow
hear the crowd call
they cheer me to the gallow
hear the nighthawk call
his voices try and hollow
hear the nighthawk call
in a voice thats hollow
i killed a man of mine
in his small mind to the town
i was hunted down by hounds
hear the nighthawks cry
the voices try and hollow
hear the crowd cheer
they cheer me to the gallow
In 1985
i was doing time alright
i made a plan to escape
and then as the lady of the late
hear the crowd it goes
their voices try and hollow
cant you hear them call
they cheer me to the gallow
1995
was the year i came out for child?
i listened to his song
and watch the sun make the shadows long
hear the nighthawk call
his voices try and hollow
hear the crowd call
they cheer me to the gallow
hear the nighthawk call
his voices try and hollow
hear the nighthawk call
in a voice thats hollow
Lyrics submitted by goddamnfruit
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I think I may have had something to do with them keeping this song.
Back then, Crook was posting around on TSNET's board a lot and keeping real tight with the fans and people there, and noone really dug this song except for me and a few others. It was slated for removal, but I begged and begged Crook to get it on the final release.
If not, thanks anyways, Cork.
But, the lyrics on this are wrong. They are as follows:
In 1969 i killed a man of mine in a small Montana town i was hunted down by hounds hear the nighthawks cry their voices dry and hollow hear the crowd cheer they cheer me to the gallows
In 1985 i was doing time alive i made a plan to escape and live as the lady of the lake hear the crowd of ghosts their voices dry and hollow cant you hear them call? they cheer me to the gallows
1995 was the year i came up for trial i listened to his song and watched the sun make the shadows long hear the nighthawk call his voices dry and hollow hear the crowd call they cheer me to the gallows hear the nighthawk call his voices dry and hollow hear the nighthawk call in a voice that's hollow
Another thing to note is that Crook used a (reportedly EXTREMELY old) record with audio of bullfights on it for the claps / chants on this song, and they were added after the initial recording.