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 took a plane
I took a train
(Ah, who cares, you always end up in the city)
I said to Carl
look up for one
(See just how the sun sets in the sky)
I said to Jon
Do you think the girls here
(Ever wonder how they got so pretty?)
Oh well I do
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
All the boys
with their home-made microphones
(Have very interesting sounds)
All the girls falling to ruin
dropping out of school, breakin' daddy's heart
(Just to hang around)
I walked into the local record store
and asked for an American music anthology
It sounds fun
They tore my skirt, then
Stuck it on the walls at PS 1
I took a plane
I took a train
(Ah, who cares, you always end up in the city)
Stranded at Bleecker and Broadway
Looking for something to do
Someone somewhere asked me is there anything in particular I can help you with?
(All I ever want to help with was you)
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
I took a train
(Ah, who cares, you always end up in the city)
I said to Carl
look up for one
(See just how the sun sets in the sky)
I said to Jon
Do you think the girls here
(Ever wonder how they got so pretty?)
Oh well I do
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
All the boys
with their home-made microphones
(Have very interesting sounds)
All the girls falling to ruin
dropping out of school, breakin' daddy's heart
(Just to hang around)
I walked into the local record store
and asked for an American music anthology
It sounds fun
They tore my skirt, then
Stuck it on the walls at PS 1
I took a plane
I took a train
(Ah, who cares, you always end up in the city)
Stranded at Bleecker and Broadway
Looking for something to do
Someone somewhere asked me is there anything in particular I can help you with?
(All I ever want to help with was you)
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
Look out upon the Myriad Harbour
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The Night We Met
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Mountain Song
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
No Surprises
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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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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Midnight
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Midnight” is a song about finding a love that is so true that it provides a calming feeling through every storm. Ed Sheeran reflects on his good fortunes in landing someone with such peace and support and speaks of not fearing the dark days because he knows they’ll all end in the safety nets of her arms.
“Well, good morning there / What a way to start the day / With everything laid bare,” Ed Sheeran sings in the first verse, enthusiastic to be waking up beside his woman. He apologizes for missing her calls in the second verse and promises to return them because for him, speaking to her is the most important thing. “Well, I get lost inside my head / In this chaos, you’re my calm / And I will find my feet again / ‘Cause еven the worst days of my life will always еnd / At midnight in your arms,” sings Ed Sheeran in the chorus, revelling in his good luck.
Dan Bejar. Yes, he does sound pretty feminine in this song. (but Kathryn?!)
(from their website) "In this song, Dan urges me to 'look up for once and see just how the sun sets in the sky.' Two songs later, I sing that 'there is something unguided in the sky tonight.' Coincidence?"
So he's talking to Carl in the second verse, could he be talking to John (Collins) in the third?
Just a thought.
haha, ok, well, in my defense, it was quite clearly not carl and not neko, i've only heard kathryn's voice live before so i'm not really familiar with it...and he sounds REALLY girlish. i mean, i could tell some parts were dan bejar. whatever. im stupid.
um, but, the song is still quite brilliant.
supaah song. that opening riff reminded me of another song but i couldn't place it for forever. i just realized 2 minutes ago it's "i bleed" by the pixies. crazy shit
Interesting you bring that up, I thought the way they go "Look out upon the Myriad Harbour-rah-ah-ah" was very Black Francis-ish. Love finding Pixies influences.
i like this. is this kathryn singing?
One of the best Bejar Porno songs, imho.
I think it's "Stranded at Bleeker and Broadway", as in: maps.google.com/
Best song on Challengers imo.
Brilliant, Dan Bejar.
You're not stupid, my mom thought it was a woman too. He really does sound like one.
dan bejar is by far the most talented new pornograoher.
thsi is my fave song off of challengers. "I said to Jon Do you think the girls here (Ever wonder how they got so pretty?) Oh well I do"--favorite line. :]
I totally thought this was a girl singing... but on youtube all the clips are Bejar singing. I see them in Paris in two days so maybe all will be revealed then. YAY!