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"
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, oh
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, oh
I wear women's underwear
And then I go to strike a pose in my full length mirror
I cross my legs just like a queer
But my libido is strong when a lady is near, yeah
What defines a straight man's straight?
Is it the boxer in the briefs or a twelve ounce steak? Nah
I tell you what a women loves most
It's a man who can slap but can also stroke
Goin' in the wind is an eddy of the truth and it's naked
It's verbatim and it's shakin'
No, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no more gettin' elated
No more listless invitations
I live by a hospital
And every day, I go out walking past its sickly windows
I see people dying there
But my tender age makes it hard to care
The incinerator and a big smoke stack
It's a phallic symbol and it makes me laugh
All I need is a heart attack
Come on, humble my bones with a cardiac
Goin' in the wind is an eddy of the truth and it's naked
It's verbatim and it's shakin'
No, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no more gettin' elated
No more listless invitations
For the love of fuck
For the sake of Pete
Oh, did you ever really think you'd love a guy like me?
I am the rooster in the morning
I'm the cock of the day
I'm the boxer in the briefs
I'm a twelve ounce steak
Ayy-oh
Ayy-oh
Ayy-oh
Hey-oh
Yeah-bo
Yeah-bo
Yeah-bo
Yeah-bo
Yeah-bo
It's verbatim
And yeah, and it's naked
And yeah, and it's shakin'
It shakes, shakes, shakes
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, oh
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, oh
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, oh
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, oh
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, oh
I wear women's underwear
And then I go to strike a pose in my full length mirror
I cross my legs just like a queer
But my libido is strong when a lady is near, yeah
What defines a straight man's straight?
Is it the boxer in the briefs or a twelve ounce steak? Nah
I tell you what a women loves most
It's a man who can slap but can also stroke
Goin' in the wind is an eddy of the truth and it's naked
It's verbatim and it's shakin'
No, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no more gettin' elated
No more listless invitations
I live by a hospital
And every day, I go out walking past its sickly windows
I see people dying there
But my tender age makes it hard to care
The incinerator and a big smoke stack
It's a phallic symbol and it makes me laugh
All I need is a heart attack
Come on, humble my bones with a cardiac
Goin' in the wind is an eddy of the truth and it's naked
It's verbatim and it's shakin'
No, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no more gettin' elated
No more listless invitations
For the love of fuck
For the sake of Pete
Oh, did you ever really think you'd love a guy like me?
I am the rooster in the morning
I'm the cock of the day
I'm the boxer in the briefs
I'm a twelve ounce steak
Ayy-oh
Ayy-oh
Ayy-oh
Hey-oh
Yeah-bo
Yeah-bo
Yeah-bo
Yeah-bo
Yeah-bo
It's verbatim
And yeah, and it's naked
And yeah, and it's shakin'
It shakes, shakes, shakes
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, oh
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, oh
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, oh
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah
Lyrics submitted by causewitheffect, edited by B3Ndrowned, nam1067029
Verbatim Lyrics as written by Ryan Guldemond
Lyrics © Anthem Entertainment
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[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.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Agreed with LoveIsAPlace's analysis. Oh man this is such a cool, catchy song, it's been stuck in my head all day xD I love how Mother Mother uses the sounds of syllables to their advantage.
I'm going to address a few lines here:
"Goin' in the wind is an eddy of the truth and it's naked It's verbatim and it's shakin' No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no more getting' elated"
This and the verse with the hospital and smokestack makes this more of a melancholy song for me. The "eddy of the truth" seems to suggest that the farther away the wind takes the facts, the more they get distorted. So we're left with a "shaky verbatim" that can't be taken at face value. Maybe that's the way the world is going, where things can easily get out of hand?
Not sure how "listless invitations" relates to that, though;;;