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"
Gordon Lightfoot
Sang a song
About a boat
That sank in the lake
At the break
Of the morning,
A Cat named Stevens
Found a faith
He could believe in
And Joan Baez
I never listened
To too much jazz,
But hippie songs
Could be heard
In our pad
Eddie Rabbitt sang
About how much
He loved a rainy night,
Abba, Devo, Benatar
Were there day
John Lennon died,
Mr. Springsteen said
He had a hungry heart
Grover Washington
Was happy on the day
He topped the charts
These are the songs
[Chorus]
These are my heart songs
They never feel wrong
And when I wake
For goodness sake
These are the songs
I keep singin'
Quiet Riot got me started
With the bangin' on my head
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest
And Slayer
Taught me how to shred
I gotta admit though
Sometimes
I would listen
To the radio
Debbie Gibson
Tell me that you think
We're all alone
Michael Jackson's
In the mirror
I've gotta have faith
If I wanna see clear
Never gonna give you up
Wish me love
Or wishing well
It takes two to make
A thing go right
If the Fresh Prince
Starts a fight
Don't you worry
For too long
'Cause you know
These are the songs
[Chorus]
Back in 1991
I wasn't havin' any fun
Till my roommate said
"Come on and put
A brand new record on"
Had a baby on it
He was naked on it
Then I heard the chords
That broke the chains
I had upon me
Got together with my bros
In some rehearsal studios
Then we played
Our first rock show
And watched the fan base
Start to grow
Signed the deal that gave
The dough to make
A record of our own
The song come
On the radio
Now people go
This is the song
[Chorus]
[Repeat x4]
These are the songs
I keep singing
Sang a song
About a boat
That sank in the lake
At the break
Of the morning,
A Cat named Stevens
Found a faith
He could believe in
And Joan Baez
I never listened
To too much jazz,
But hippie songs
Could be heard
In our pad
Eddie Rabbitt sang
About how much
He loved a rainy night,
Abba, Devo, Benatar
Were there day
John Lennon died,
Mr. Springsteen said
He had a hungry heart
Grover Washington
Was happy on the day
He topped the charts
These are the songs
[Chorus]
These are my heart songs
They never feel wrong
And when I wake
For goodness sake
These are the songs
I keep singin'
Quiet Riot got me started
With the bangin' on my head
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest
And Slayer
Taught me how to shred
I gotta admit though
Sometimes
I would listen
To the radio
Debbie Gibson
Tell me that you think
We're all alone
Michael Jackson's
In the mirror
I've gotta have faith
If I wanna see clear
Never gonna give you up
Wish me love
Or wishing well
It takes two to make
A thing go right
If the Fresh Prince
Starts a fight
Don't you worry
For too long
'Cause you know
These are the songs
[Chorus]
Back in 1991
I wasn't havin' any fun
Till my roommate said
"Come on and put
A brand new record on"
Had a baby on it
He was naked on it
Then I heard the chords
That broke the chains
I had upon me
Got together with my bros
In some rehearsal studios
Then we played
Our first rock show
And watched the fan base
Start to grow
Signed the deal that gave
The dough to make
A record of our own
The song come
On the radio
Now people go
This is the song
[Chorus]
[Repeat x4]
These are the songs
I keep singing
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Great version of a great song,
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'Till my roommate said "come on and put a brand new record on"
... isnt it supposed to be (attention to the quotes):
'Till my roommate said "come on" and put a brand new record on