The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Less yesterday and more today
I gotta get my head on straight
The tree trunks rot and people get caught
Buying bullshit we don't need or want
Well full forests turn to desert's hot dried dirt
The animals dig ditches, they hide and watch our backs get burned
And less yesterday, and more today
Yea I gotta start livin' that way
And less yesterday, and more today
Yea I gotta get my head on straight
The ground shrinks fast and the spot-lit strips of houses
They look like christmas lights she'd hang in her apartment
So I turn my head, I try to watch the screen instead
But my eyes go fuzzy and start painting shapes all over the movie I'm watching
And they mix and match my present with my past
But the colors are crisp and I press to hard so ink soaks straight through the back
And less yesterday, and more today
Yea I gotta start to live, to live that way
So less yesterday, and more today
Yea I gotta get my head on straight
Cause I keep ending up exactly where I start
A roller rink I stumble through waiting for the songs to stop
And I used to drown it out with empty space I found
But I turned my back and my life got too crowded so it's really hard to do that now
And less yesterday, and more today
Yea I gotta start livin that way
And less yesterday, and more today
Yea I gotta get my head on straight
I gotta get my head on straight
The tree trunks rot and people get caught
Buying bullshit we don't need or want
Well full forests turn to desert's hot dried dirt
The animals dig ditches, they hide and watch our backs get burned
And less yesterday, and more today
Yea I gotta start livin' that way
And less yesterday, and more today
Yea I gotta get my head on straight
The ground shrinks fast and the spot-lit strips of houses
They look like christmas lights she'd hang in her apartment
So I turn my head, I try to watch the screen instead
But my eyes go fuzzy and start painting shapes all over the movie I'm watching
And they mix and match my present with my past
But the colors are crisp and I press to hard so ink soaks straight through the back
And less yesterday, and more today
Yea I gotta start to live, to live that way
So less yesterday, and more today
Yea I gotta get my head on straight
Cause I keep ending up exactly where I start
A roller rink I stumble through waiting for the songs to stop
And I used to drown it out with empty space I found
But I turned my back and my life got too crowded so it's really hard to do that now
And less yesterday, and more today
Yea I gotta start livin that way
And less yesterday, and more today
Yea I gotta get my head on straight
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"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"
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This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
he's just saying he's got to start living in the present and not the past.