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"
His keeping busier as bitter storms
His imaginations and his palindromes
It was anything but hear the voice
Anything but hear the voice
It was anything but hear the voice
That says that we're all basically alone
Poor Professor Pension had only good intentions
When he put his Bunsen burners all away
And turned into a playground a Petri dish
Of single cells would swing their fists at anything
That looks like easy prey in this
Nature show that rages every day
It was bound, a part his intuition say
We were all basically alone
And despite what all his studies had shown
What was mistaken for closeness, was just a case of mitosis
Weighed deception or mercy while others train for the show
And tell me doctor can you pull my file
?Cause he just wants to know the reason, the reason why
Why do they congregate in groups of four
Scatter like a billion spores
And let the wind just carry them away?
How can cutes be so mean
Our famous doctor tried to gleam
As he went home at the end of the day
In this Nature show that rages every day
It was bound apart his intuition, say
We were all basically all alone
Despite what all his studies had shown
What was mistaken for closeness, was just a case of mitosis
She fatal doses, malcontent to osmosis
Weighed deception or mercy while others are paying for the shot
Well, tell me doctor can you pull my file, reason why
His imaginations and his palindromes
It was anything but hear the voice
Anything but hear the voice
It was anything but hear the voice
That says that we're all basically alone
Poor Professor Pension had only good intentions
When he put his Bunsen burners all away
And turned into a playground a Petri dish
Of single cells would swing their fists at anything
That looks like easy prey in this
Nature show that rages every day
It was bound, a part his intuition say
We were all basically alone
And despite what all his studies had shown
What was mistaken for closeness, was just a case of mitosis
Weighed deception or mercy while others train for the show
And tell me doctor can you pull my file
?Cause he just wants to know the reason, the reason why
Why do they congregate in groups of four
Scatter like a billion spores
And let the wind just carry them away?
How can cutes be so mean
Our famous doctor tried to gleam
As he went home at the end of the day
In this Nature show that rages every day
It was bound apart his intuition, say
We were all basically all alone
Despite what all his studies had shown
What was mistaken for closeness, was just a case of mitosis
She fatal doses, malcontent to osmosis
Weighed deception or mercy while others are paying for the shot
Well, tell me doctor can you pull my file, reason why
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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,
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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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 adore this song... might have screwed up the lyrics in some parts but Bird tends to mutter...
"what was mistaken for closeness was just a case for mitosis"... ran on loop all through Valentine's day this year, just for the fuckery of it.
palindromes is definitely a reference to "Fake palindromes" off the previous record... i think. also "we're all basically alone" is a reference to "I" off weather systems.
i think it's great that the lyrics are self-referential... although puzzling as usual.
i love the idea of romantic love and intimacy as simply being an illusion of sorts, and the reference to science for proof.
anyhow, point being any songwriter that mentions mitosis wins enormous points in my book.