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"
Remember Rio and get down
Like some other DJ, in some other town
She's been trying to tell me to hold tight
But I've been waiting this whole night
But I've been down across a road or two
But now I've found the velvet sun
That shines on me and you
In the back, ah-ho, I can't crack
We're on top
It's just a shimmy and a shake, ah-ho
I can't fake, we're on top, we're on top
The day is breaking, we're still here
Your body's shaking and it's clear
You really need it, so let go
And let me feed it, but you know
That I've been down across a road or two
But now I've found the velvet sun
That shines on me and you
In the back, ah-ho, I can't crack
We're on top
It's just a shimmy and a shake, ah-ho
I can't fake, we're on top, we're on top
We bring the bump to the grind, ah-ho
I don't mind, we're on top
It's just a shimmy and a shake, ah-ho
I can't fake, we're on top, we're on top
And we don't mean to satisfy tonight
So get your eyes off of my pride tonight
'Cause I don't need to satisfy tonight
It's like a cigarette in the mouth
Or a handshake in the doorway
I look at you and smile because I'm fine
And we don't mean to satisfy tonight
So get your eyes off of my pride tonight
'Cause I don't need to satisfy tonight
It's like a cigarette in the mouth
Or a handshake in the doorway
I look at you and smile because I'm fine now
Like some other DJ, in some other town
She's been trying to tell me to hold tight
But I've been waiting this whole night
But I've been down across a road or two
But now I've found the velvet sun
That shines on me and you
In the back, ah-ho, I can't crack
We're on top
It's just a shimmy and a shake, ah-ho
I can't fake, we're on top, we're on top
The day is breaking, we're still here
Your body's shaking and it's clear
You really need it, so let go
And let me feed it, but you know
That I've been down across a road or two
But now I've found the velvet sun
That shines on me and you
In the back, ah-ho, I can't crack
We're on top
It's just a shimmy and a shake, ah-ho
I can't fake, we're on top, we're on top
We bring the bump to the grind, ah-ho
I don't mind, we're on top
It's just a shimmy and a shake, ah-ho
I can't fake, we're on top, we're on top
And we don't mean to satisfy tonight
So get your eyes off of my pride tonight
'Cause I don't need to satisfy tonight
It's like a cigarette in the mouth
Or a handshake in the doorway
I look at you and smile because I'm fine
And we don't mean to satisfy tonight
So get your eyes off of my pride tonight
'Cause I don't need to satisfy tonight
It's like a cigarette in the mouth
Or a handshake in the doorway
I look at you and smile because I'm fine now
Lyrics submitted by Linger:, edited by kpraetsch, emily608, Aaronblake
On Top Lyrics as written by Dave Brent Keuning Brandon Flowers
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Word Collections Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I love this song very much. I never thought about the meaning much, until very recently, when I wondered myself if there was a site that might analyze song meanings. I read some of the below interpretations and I just didn't really agree with many of them. So I thought I'd express what I thought about it. So I was listening to On Top on my iPod the other day, trying to figure out for myself exactly what it meant, and it feels/sounds to me like it's about his relationship with a certain "she" and sex...and I'll explain this way:
She's been trying to tell me to hold tight But I've been waiting this whole night (this can be interpreted differently. Perhaps waiting all night to have sex with a certain someone? This aforementioned "she" perhaps?)
But I've been down across the road or two (he's had some experience/is not a virgin, and "she" knows this)
But now I've found the velvet sun that shines on me and you ("velvet sun" to me is just poetic license for "you're the best I've had." I think this is a testament that since he's finally had intercourse with this certain "she," he's decided that he'd rather only have intercourse with her, and not another person, because it's just so good with her.)
In the back, uh huh, I can't crack (them having sex in the back of a car, I assumed.)
Your body's shaking, and it's clear (marking the anticipation she has to be touched) You really need it, so let go (needs...well, what? Sex, I guess) And let me beat it, but you know ("beat it" is more modern sexual slang...but this may not be what he meant)
We bring the bump to the grind, uh huh (grinding is a really sexual dance, that resembles sex in some instances. This could also be very straight to the point...bumping and grinding can be easily associated with intercourse, no?)
And we don't mean to satisfy tonight (I'm not sure what to make of this, but my original guess was that the song was about two people just wanting a casual romp, so this line kind of makes me think they weren't really aiming to satisfy one another, rather just themselves or something like this.)
'Cause I don't need to satisfy tonight (same as the above interpretation ^)