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"
I've come back this morning
To where I first came alive
Here within this terminal
Where the buses arrive
I was a commuter on the 804
Worked for a computer
On the 19th floor and
You came down the aisle of the bus
And you sat by my side
Shoulder up to shoulder
We shared that 9 o'clock ride
Oh my heart was screaming
As you left your seat
Following your movements
I was at your feet and
Oh... down into the terminal
Both of us smiled
So... we entered the terminal
Just as you smiled
"Won't you leave out work for today?"
You asked of me then
So I phoned in sick on the way
To the home of a friend
We were all alone from 10 a.m. till 3
Really thought the fire
Had gone out of me but
You awoke the sleep of my life
From gray into red
Made the weary wonder of Wall Street
Rise from the dead
Could have held up
Budding my entire life
But I had to get home
To the kids and the wife and so
I left for the terminal where I began
Baby no, I wouldn't have left
If I'd been half a man
So here I am this morning
Where love had asked for the dance
Here within this terminal
Where I passed on the chance
Lord I'll never find her
Though I've truly tried
Probably she's found another
Bus to ride and
I am now about to begin
The last of my days
I'm within what others
Would call a terminal phase
I myself can only say it's livin' dead
Riding to the office with
A song in my head that goes...
La da da...
And you know it grows
La da da...
To where I first came alive
Here within this terminal
Where the buses arrive
I was a commuter on the 804
Worked for a computer
On the 19th floor and
You came down the aisle of the bus
And you sat by my side
Shoulder up to shoulder
We shared that 9 o'clock ride
Oh my heart was screaming
As you left your seat
Following your movements
I was at your feet and
Oh... down into the terminal
Both of us smiled
So... we entered the terminal
Just as you smiled
"Won't you leave out work for today?"
You asked of me then
So I phoned in sick on the way
To the home of a friend
We were all alone from 10 a.m. till 3
Really thought the fire
Had gone out of me but
You awoke the sleep of my life
From gray into red
Made the weary wonder of Wall Street
Rise from the dead
Could have held up
Budding my entire life
But I had to get home
To the kids and the wife and so
I left for the terminal where I began
Baby no, I wouldn't have left
If I'd been half a man
So here I am this morning
Where love had asked for the dance
Here within this terminal
Where I passed on the chance
Lord I'll never find her
Though I've truly tried
Probably she's found another
Bus to ride and
I am now about to begin
The last of my days
I'm within what others
Would call a terminal phase
I myself can only say it's livin' dead
Riding to the office with
A song in my head that goes...
La da da...
And you know it grows
La da da...
Lyrics submitted by fromthislandofmine
Terminal Lyrics as written by Rupert Holmes
Lyrics © JORDAN - HERMAN - HOLMES PUBL, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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am writing because i can't figure out exactly what the song really means. especially when the song mentioned children and wife... hmmm, it seems to me that the song is telling the the person on the song is on his last phase, a terminal phase of an illness. and he's reminiscing the wonderful moments that happened in his life especially when he met and how they met with his love of his life... but beautiful song... heart crushin' when you listen to the melody.. it's lonely...
i think it's about an affair.. something that gave life to his dreary routine.
Believe it or not, this song is about ERECTION.<br /> <br /> At first i mistook this song as about a guy having an affair. However, only after careful review of the lyrics did i realize that it's really about erectile dysfunction, sexism, family, and possibly bipolar disorder.<br /> <br /> "...We shared that 9 o'clock ride<br /> Oh my heart was screaming as you left your seat<br /> Following your movements I was at your feet and..."<br /> <br /> -this part of the song is about the man on a bus who sat beside a lady, which was implied to be a "looker" (beautiful). <br /> <br /> "Oh... down into the terminal both of us smiled<br /> So... we entered the terminal just as you smiled."<br /> <br /> -This is where his fantasy begins. the entire episode on the bus is played back in his head for a second time, but this time with a different outcome: the man and the lady know each other and agree to have a "sexual encounter" by signalling each other with a smile.<br /> <br /> "Won't you leave out work for today?"<br /> You asked of me then<br /> So I phoned in sick on the way<br /> To the home of a friend"<br /> <br /> -in his head, the lady asked him if he could phone in sick, which he did the moment they reached the woman's house and was able to use a phone. the "friend" decribed is the lady.<br /> <br /> "We were all alone from 10 a.m. till 3"<br /> <br /> -both of them spent the entire day together...<br /> <br /> "Really thought the fire had gone out of me but<br /> You awoke the sleep of my life from gray into red<br /> Made the weary wonder of Wall Street rise from the dead"<br /> <br /> -the man probably had some erection problems, it is implied that the lady had effectively given him an erection.<br /> <br /> "Could have held up budding my entire life"<br /> <br /> -he could've maintained the erection for a long time.<br /> <br /> "But I had to get home to the kids and the wife and so..."<br /> <br /> -he could've had sex with the girl for a longer time, but he had a family to worry about.<br /> <br /> "I left for the terminal where I began<br /> Baby no, I wouldn't have left if I'd been half a man"<br /> <br /> -so he goes back to the terminal to catch a bus back home. He feels that he is not man enough to have chosen to spend more time with the lady instead of going home.<br /> <br /> "So here I am this morning where love had asked for the dance<br /> Here within this terminal where I passed on the chance"<br /> <br /> -The plot twist. The man realizes that he is back in reality where he actually passed on the chance to be with the lady, which i found ironic because the lady never really asked him. He probably thought that he had the chance to get to know the lady but he never found the guts to do so.<br /> <br /> "Lord I'll never find her though I've truly tried<br /> Probably she's found another bus to ride and..."<br /> <br /> -the man thinks that he will never see her again.<br /> <br /> "I am now about to begin the last of my days<br /> I'm within what others would call a terminal phase<br /> I myself can only say it's livin' dead riding to the office with a song in my head that goes..."<br /> <br /> -"terminal phase" may or may not mean that the man has an incurable illness, but it may mean that his erection problem really does not have a clear solution. "Last of my days" may also mean that, but i think it means that his boredom with his family is never going to end. "livin' dead" may mean that he can still use his pecker for urinating, but definitely he cannot have an erection for sexual purposes. his penis is "Livin'" but really "Dead".<br /> <br /> "I've come back this morning to where I first came alive" may mean that he felt an erection by just sitting shoulder to shoulder with the lady.<br /> <br /> Hence... ERECTION.
Believe it or not, this song is about ERECTION.
At first i mistook this song as about a guy having an affair. However, only after careful review of the lyrics did i realize that it's really about erectile dysfunction, sexism, family, and possibly bipolar disorder.
"...We shared that 9 o'clock ride Oh my heart was screaming as you left your seat Following your movements I was at your feet and..."
-this part of the song is about the man on a bus who sat beside a lady, which was implied to be a "looker" (beautiful).
"Oh... down into the terminal both of us smiled So... we entered the terminal just as you smiled."
-This is where his fantasy begins. the entire episode on the bus is played back in his head for a second time, but this time with a different outcome: the man and the lady know each other and agree to have a "sexual encounter" by signalling each other with a smile.
"Won't you leave out work for today?" You asked of me then So I phoned in sick on the way To the home of a friend"
-in his head, the lady asked him if he could phone in sick, which he did the moment they reached the woman's house and was able to use a phone. the "friend" decribed is the lady.
"We were all alone from 10 a.m. till 3"
-both of them spent the entire day together...
"Really thought the fire had gone out of me but You awoke the sleep of my life from gray into red Made the weary wonder of Wall Street rise from the dead"
-the man probably had some erection problems, it is implied that the lady had effectively given him an erection.
"Could have held up budding my entire life"
-he could've maintained the erection for a long time.
"But I had to get home to the kids and the wife and so..."
-he could've had sex with the girl for a longer time, but he had a family to worry about.
"I left for the terminal where I began Baby no, I wouldn't have left if I'd been half a man"
-so he goes back to the terminal to catch a bus back home. He feels that he is not man enough to have chosen to spend more time with the lady instead of going home.
"So here I am this morning where love had asked for the dance Here within this terminal where I passed on the chance"
-The plot twist. The man realizes that he is back in reality where he actually passed on the chance to be with the lady, which i found ironic because the lady never really asked him. He probably thought that he had the chance to get to know the lady but he never found the guts to do so.
"Lord I'll never find her though I've truly tried Probably she's found another bus to ride and..."
-the man thinks that he will never see her again.
"I am now about to begin the last of my days I'm within what others would call a terminal phase I myself can only say it's livin' dead riding to the office with a song in my head that goes..."
-"terminal phase" may or may not mean that the man has an incurable illness, but it may mean that his erection problem really does not have a clear solution. "Last of my days" may also mean that, but i think it means that his boredom with his family is never going to end. "livin' dead" may mean that he can still use his pecker for urinating, but definitely he cannot have an erection for sexual purposes. his penis is "Livin'" but really "Dead".
"I've come back this morning to where I first came alive" may mean that he felt an erection by just sitting shoulder to shoulder with the lady.
Hence... ERECTION.
@innocentyears <br /> I read this comment again and again, and after 2 years, I just wanted to read this again and show it to my students online. I'm an ESL teacher, and you, my friend are a a genius. Thanks for the laugh and great interpretation. <br />
@bogartmana<br /> You're welcome. Wrote this more than 10 years ago and I find what I said here quite ridiculous now, personally. But I'm just glad someone found it funny.
Sorry to disappoint folks, but the words are not “could have held up budding the rest of my life”, which shows up everywhere on the net. It’s just “could have held her body the rest of my life”, which makes a lot more sense, I think you’ll agree.
Can’t believe I’ve been looking for this song since 1974!!! It stuck in my head because of the “terminal/terminal” wordplay, and because I really thought the character in the song was dying. Then it disappeared, and I was left wondering.
It’s just a song about a man who took a chance on a fling with a woman he met on a bus, but couldn’t bring himself to run away with her. She made him feel alive, but now he feels dead again - hence the “terminal phase.”
I also thought at one time that Barry Manilow did this. Hearing it again, I can see why. You almost expect this to transition into “Mandy”. Funny!
I was just listening to this and decided to search if others would have the same interpretation as mine. I think this was about a middle-aged guy having a mid life crisis who was one day, side-tracked by a "working girl", so they had a day of fun, but in the end she"found another bus to ride", and him being back to his vanilla life.,, so there.
The song is about AIDS. But by that time they have no knowledge yet about the disease. He got the disease from the woman he met on the terminal. They check-in to a motel and made love , although he was married and have kids. Its a betrayal and punishment. The song says “and you know it grows!. And he’s like a living dead. Its such a sad song.