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"
Looking at all the rows
All these records look like big zeros
Got your picture on the back of a forty-five
A placeholder 'til you take up mine
A placeholder 'til you take up mine
I'm the person you'll never need
The biggest loser on sixteenth street
The invisible man with the see-through mind
A placeholder 'til you take up mine
A placeholder 'til you take up mine
Break off of in someone's laughter
You can tell right there
He's still a square
He likes the way that you look now
Like an open book
Just like my favorite song
Some pretty words that didn't last that long
Like a package sent priority overnight
Placeholder come and take up mine
Placeholder come and take up mine
Placeholder come and take up mine
Placeholder come and take up mine
All these records look like big zeros
Got your picture on the back of a forty-five
A placeholder 'til you take up mine
A placeholder 'til you take up mine
I'm the person you'll never need
The biggest loser on sixteenth street
The invisible man with the see-through mind
A placeholder 'til you take up mine
A placeholder 'til you take up mine
Break off of in someone's laughter
You can tell right there
He's still a square
He likes the way that you look now
Like an open book
Just like my favorite song
Some pretty words that didn't last that long
Like a package sent priority overnight
Placeholder come and take up mine
Placeholder come and take up mine
Placeholder come and take up mine
Placeholder come and take up mine
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The Night We Met
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Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
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This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
The interpretation I always got from this song, especially the last line, is not necessarily that he was replaceable, but that he didn't feel comfortable in his place in the world and wanted a way out. He wanted to neglect his duties and obligations as a person and just get away from it all, thus "Placeholder, come and take up mine." Quite sad, and relatable for me at least. R.I.P Elliott
before i go on about this song. i want to tell you guys about my religous beliefs. i don't believe in any prophets. but i do believe there is a god. if you read alot as i do you would realize our world is to perfect for there not to be one. alright... since i got that cleared out the way. i think this song is really about life/death and god.
"just like my favorite song. some pretty words that didn't last that long. like a package sent priority overnight" - i believe it is stating life is short
"a placeholder till you take up mine" - i think he is talking to god and pleading for him to take his soul "up" to Heaven when he passes.
such a good song r.i.p
'the invisible man with the see-through mind'
if elliott's talking about himself and not a character, then I disagree. I would give anything to understand what went on in his mind.
great song.
"just like my favorite song some pretty words that didn't last that long."
i always thought this referred to a person--another bad relationship. regardless, this song is the best.
"if you read alot as i do you would realize our world is to perfect for there not to be one."
story books are not real there are no happy endings the world is a fucked up horrible place i believe in god but not because the world is perfect it is far from it
yeah, to the person who said that if you read a lot you'd realize that there's a god: a LOT of well-read people believe there's no god. and unless you're seeing the perfection in the actual books themselves and not the stories or positions they take, then yeah, that might be a little bit of "perfection" for you. but just because a book is published doesn't mean that it holds any sort of truth. it's easy if you're genuinely happy to see perfection everywhere, but it's much easier to be not genuinely happy and to see the negitivity in everything. if you're trying to balance the two extremes and still find perfection, go ahead. but if you ultimately do find perfection in everything, then you haven't lived enough.
i, for one, don't think that it's about death or god or anything like that. i just thought it was about how nothing's really constant, and eventually, just like a favorite song or something, he will be replaced by the next thing. and he's just waiting for it to happen.
All of ES's songs are so lovely but I'm particularly fond of this one. I miss Elliott Smith. I just do.
it's just simply another one of his unrequited love songs, surely you Smith fans are seeing the pattern here. His song topics were mostly 'drugs' 'girls' and 'suicide.' This is one of those 'girl' ones.
"all these records look like big zeroes" pathetic fallacy, to describe his mood, he's down, he feels like a zero, a loser "The biggest loser on 16th Street" this is the effect unrequited love has on most people. "A placeholder until you take up mine" A placeholder, someone who holds a place, he's holding this place for this girl whose picture is on "the back of a 45." He wants her to "take up" his.