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"
Once I had a dream
Stuck somewhere in-between
The water and the beach
Oh, both worlds out of reach
So with elegance and style
Caught a wave and took a ride
An empty plastic bag
A starry night
Floats into the black
Look at how she dip and dive
No one could ever know, yeah
How many miles she'll go
Or how she does with such elegance and style
Look at how she dip and dives
Take only what you need
Like the water and the seed
And so after we are gone
There is something good to carry on
All this elegance and style
Dancing with the butterfly
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Now, math's no miracle
It's all grown mechanical
Oh, machines by cells designed, yeah
To float into the sky
With such elegance and style
The ocean and the butterfly
Stuck somewhere in-between
The water and the beach
Oh, both worlds out of reach
So with elegance and style
Caught a wave and took a ride
An empty plastic bag
A starry night
Floats into the black
Look at how she dip and dive
No one could ever know, yeah
How many miles she'll go
Or how she does with such elegance and style
Look at how she dip and dives
Take only what you need
Like the water and the seed
And so after we are gone
There is something good to carry on
All this elegance and style
Dancing with the butterfly
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Now, math's no miracle
It's all grown mechanical
Oh, machines by cells designed, yeah
To float into the sky
With such elegance and style
The ocean and the butterfly
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
This song was written for his daughters. It is such a lovely song and it always brings tears to my eyes. The best songs are those that make you feel.
It's basically a lullaby of comfort- perfect for when your soul feels tired.
He wrote this song for a scene in Because of Wynn-Dixie, while he was shooting. In the commentary, the director said he wrote it in his trailer and brought it to him to see if it would fit for the scene when he plays for the little girl. It's not suprising that he was inspired by his daughters.
To me it's a sweet lullaby for his girls. I have three and they are my butterflies. I wish he'd put out a childrens album. My girls love to listen to DMB. They jam out!
C'mon any1 have any thoughts?
Its always such a lonely loom Its sudden like a broken bone
Can any1 decipher that line?
Do you know for sure this is about his daughters? Just curious. I heard it at Red Rocks & wasn't sure but I like it. My personal opinion of "Its always such a lonely loom, Its sudden like a broken bone" is just that life can have lonely times and crappy times that arise out of nowhere but to keep living....maybe? It's all up to a person's own interpretation though right?
It is about his daughters, i have a version where he says so (I think it's farm aid 04).
I think it's a very sweet song, it sounds like he is explaining to his daughters what life can be like. Sometimes it can hit you hard and suddenly (like a broken bone) and it can hurt, but you need to dry your tears and live your life (fly away).
I am very sure it was for his daughters- At the concert in Oakland he says he was wrting it when he was "thinking about his little girls".
I think your interpretation is pretty good too :)
Dave from Farm Aid '04: "I know my daughters are here, but I'm guessing that they're probably not paying too much attention to me right now, but anyway, I kinda wrote this song for them."
Yep, it's about his daughters.
This is a DMB gem. A nice rare treat to see live.