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"
The gutter may profess its love
Then follow it with hesitation
For there are just so many of
You out there for rent
A stronger girl would shake this off in flight
And never give it more than a frowning hour
But you have let your heart decide
Loss has conquered you
You've won one too many fights
Wearing many hats every time
But you won't win here tonight
You made it through the direst of straits alright
Can you help it if plain love now seems less interesting?
You haven't changed an ounce in my eyes
And I cannot lecture you
And does anything I say seem relevant at all?
You've been at the helm since you were just five
While I cannot claim to be more than a passenger
But, you've won one too many fights
Wearing all of your clothes at the same time
Let the good times in tonight
Oh girl sailor don't sink her
This time
Just a moment or two from now
Not a mind will retain even a trace
Of the thoughts that I struggle to tell
And how our stack of cards just fell
So settle this once and for all
The light no longer shows the cracks around my door
And I have no lantern to light your way home tonight
You are not some saint who's above
Giving someone a stroll through the flowers
You've got so much more to dream of
Oh girl sailor, don't sink her
This time
This time
This time
Then follow it with hesitation
For there are just so many of
You out there for rent
A stronger girl would shake this off in flight
And never give it more than a frowning hour
But you have let your heart decide
Loss has conquered you
You've won one too many fights
Wearing many hats every time
But you won't win here tonight
You made it through the direst of straits alright
Can you help it if plain love now seems less interesting?
You haven't changed an ounce in my eyes
And I cannot lecture you
And does anything I say seem relevant at all?
You've been at the helm since you were just five
While I cannot claim to be more than a passenger
But, you've won one too many fights
Wearing all of your clothes at the same time
Let the good times in tonight
Oh girl sailor don't sink her
This time
Just a moment or two from now
Not a mind will retain even a trace
Of the thoughts that I struggle to tell
And how our stack of cards just fell
So settle this once and for all
The light no longer shows the cracks around my door
And I have no lantern to light your way home tonight
You are not some saint who's above
Giving someone a stroll through the flowers
You've got so much more to dream of
Oh girl sailor, don't sink her
This time
This time
This time
Lyrics submitted by heyheyhey111
Girl Sailor Lyrics as written by James Mercer
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think a big part of understanding this song would actually relate back to Shakespeare's Hamlet. In Hamlet Ophelia was a young woman who went mad (giving away flowers to various male characters before drowning herself in the river). Hence the title of this song, seems to refer to a girl who is in trouble & close to drowning.
"The gutter may profess its love then follow it with hesitation for there are just so many of you out there for rent"- many girls have made her mistake & he sees her repeating it, falling into the trap. "And I cannot lecture you"- in his heart the singer desires to help her, but realizes its fruitless so he pleads with her.
"You are not some saint who's above giving someone a stroll through the flowers"-Basically, this line is another reference to Shakespeare's Ophelia meaning that she is promiscuous.