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"
While stumbling where our hearts beat regular time
Where the landscapes dump on rivers flowing by
We’re just drifting all night long, hands to the sky
And our captain, oh, he is never denied
I hear them sinking out from shore, hands at their sides
So we find a rock to hold the head to tear at the sky
We’re just drifting all night long, here with the flies
And our captain, oh, he is never denied
As if you didn't know that it would sting
Kissing the beehive
Pissing down the mountainside while nude in the rain
As if you didn't know that it would sting
Kissing the beehive
And fucking up your finger from pushing on the ring
Well, we lie on frigid shores of light
We knew nothing of this bitter hand of war
Something strange in the coals tonight
Still we knew nothing of these bitter hands of war
I wish I could believe in you
Crashing all the weddings wearing white
But we all hate the landlord, baby, it’s alright, it’s alright
I wish I could believe in who you are
You held your cap in the air and you called it a guitar
You put your face on the glass and you call it good cinema
As if you didn't know that it would sting
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Jonathan, Jonathan, waterfalls are running thin
You know here's a holy grail for you to hold and
Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole
I'm not a wild party, I'm just an evening at the show
Put the ring back on, and take your husband home and
Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole, oh, oh, oh
Radio, radio, why did you leave Virginia’s side
It's an alibi, we all know how the music died
Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole!
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Jonathan, Jonathan, waterfalls are running thin
You know here's a finger made for me, for you to hold and
Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Estranged from the captain’s light
And his bitter hand
Oh, oh, oh, oh…
Where the landscapes dump on rivers flowing by
We’re just drifting all night long, hands to the sky
And our captain, oh, he is never denied
I hear them sinking out from shore, hands at their sides
So we find a rock to hold the head to tear at the sky
We’re just drifting all night long, here with the flies
And our captain, oh, he is never denied
As if you didn't know that it would sting
Kissing the beehive
Pissing down the mountainside while nude in the rain
As if you didn't know that it would sting
Kissing the beehive
And fucking up your finger from pushing on the ring
Well, we lie on frigid shores of light
We knew nothing of this bitter hand of war
Something strange in the coals tonight
Still we knew nothing of these bitter hands of war
I wish I could believe in you
Crashing all the weddings wearing white
But we all hate the landlord, baby, it’s alright, it’s alright
I wish I could believe in who you are
You held your cap in the air and you called it a guitar
You put your face on the glass and you call it good cinema
As if you didn't know that it would sting
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Jonathan, Jonathan, waterfalls are running thin
You know here's a holy grail for you to hold and
Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole
I'm not a wild party, I'm just an evening at the show
Put the ring back on, and take your husband home and
Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole, oh, oh, oh
Radio, radio, why did you leave Virginia’s side
It's an alibi, we all know how the music died
Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole!
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Jonathan, Jonathan, waterfalls are running thin
You know here's a finger made for me, for you to hold and
Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Estranged from the captain’s light
And his bitter hand
Oh, oh, oh, oh…
Lyrics submitted by omegadaxer, edited by legislacerator
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Mm...I see the radio connection to California Dreamer, but don't see any other connections in those last stanzas. Though I do see a lot of throw backs in Dan's lyrics
"Our hearts beat regular time" :: "You know our hearts beat time out very slowly"
"The landscapes don't, rivers flowing by" :: "Getting tired of landscapes, we're just floating"
"We're just drifting on my long hair with the flies" :: "Until then don't tear your hair out, I won't tear it out if you don't"
Some of these may be a stretch. Just things I've noticed.