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"
Ain't it hard when you wake up in the morning
And you find out that those other days are gone?
All you have is memories of happiness
Lingerin' on
All your dreams and your lovers won't protect you
They're only passing through you in the end
They'll leave you stripped of all that they can get to
And wait for you to come back again
Yet still a light is shining
From that lamp on down the hall
Maybe the star of Bethlehem
Wasn't a star at all
And you find out that those other days are gone?
All you have is memories of happiness
Lingerin' on
All your dreams and your lovers won't protect you
They're only passing through you in the end
They'll leave you stripped of all that they can get to
And wait for you to come back again
Yet still a light is shining
From that lamp on down the hall
Maybe the star of Bethlehem
Wasn't a star at all
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The Night We Met
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Gentle Hour
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,
Magical
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How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Head > Heels
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“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
i always felt this song is dealing with the fact that we're all alone in this world no matter how you slice it and that the only one you can depend on is yourself.that you should realize that this is all there is and so you better make the most of it doing what makes you happy and not depend on the after life or someone else.
@tennisluvr71 I agree to an extent. Your statement that the song addresses, and “means”, that the only thing upon which you can depend in this world is yourself is true, but the song is more involved than that, I believe so anyway…<br /> <br /> Neil’s narrator here is having what some might call a “dark<br /> Night of the soul”, he’s at the end of a relationship - yet ANOTHER one, if the narrator’s really “reliable” - and it’s possibly a relationship that he’d had a lot of hopes/dreams tied up in, but now it’s over, and Neil’s feeling the strain. So, he’s facing some HARD truths, some uncomfortable realities… and as he thinks more and more deeply, and those “dark” truths about life & love create changes in his mind, SCARY changes, ones that make him feel as if he will never truly “connect” with another person in this world. But then, those realities eventually come around to NEW realizations, makes me think of Springsteen’s ‘Two Hearts’: <br /> <br /> “Once I spent my time playing tough guy scenes<br /> But I was living in a world of childish dreams.<br /> Someday these childish dreams must end,<br /> To become a man and grow up<br /> To DREAM AGAIN”<br /> <br /> We humans are taught to “put away childish things”, but for me, as well as many others I’m sure, when we first hear this in life, it’s like, “oh, I get it, the fun is over”. And it can seem Sometimes as if The entire world has lost its sense of humor, and that, depending on yr personality, can be a devastating discovery…and it can seem like “Life”, at least the GOOD part, is gone forever…but it’s not! <br /> <br /> The final verse, Neil brings it home…but, the “lamp on down the hall” is not the “new” SoB. No, Neil has discovered, happily, that whatever the hell the Star Of Bethlehem USED TO BE, or used to “mean”, the NEW understanding within Neil shows the Star of Bethlehem to be something you can NEVER lose…<br /> <br /> In fact it’s entirely Possible that what Neil calls the “Star of Bethlehem” also goes by the phrase/name The Will To Love…<br /> <br /> That’s right, I said it. <br />
I’m still working this one out but I’m of the mind, lately, that when the going gets tough, and we are down on ourselves, facing some hard truths, when we feel like we have nothing to hold onto, nothing to look forward to, when i’m busted flat in Baton Rouge, and ol’ Bobbie McGee has already slipped away, something will spark your interest again If you can just hold on and try to have faith. Because it’s not “about” anybody else, it’s about me. And “maybe the Star of Bethlehem wasn’t a star at all” means the answer is really within us, meaning you’ll eventually move on,and change - and embrace change - like you need to. You just need to let it happen, FEEL it...It will pass if we let it.
Extra stanza (from live versions) that goes between the second and third stanzas:
You might wonder, "Who can I turn to?" On this cold and chilly night of gloom the answer to that question is nowhere in this room
Lyrics blocked by the publisher. That is so stupid. As if someone couldn't listen to the song and write down the lyrics. All it blocks is discussion of the song.