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 know that things are broken
And though there's too many words left unsaid
You say you have spoken
Like the coward I am, I hang my head
And you lay careless your head on my chest
And don't even look at me looking my best
And all these things I can't describe
You would rather I didn't try
But please don't cry, you liar
Oh please, don't cry, you liar
They told me love was a fortress
And I had never put it to the test
And all the while I relied on this honesty
Well in love we are but amateurs at best
But please don't cry, you liar
Oh please, don't cry, you liar
Oh please, don't cry, you liar
Oh please, don't cry, you liar
You're leaving for your last kiss
And who in this world could ask me to resist
Your hands cold as they find my neck
All this love that I've found I detest
And though there's too many words left unsaid
You say you have spoken
Like the coward I am, I hang my head
And you lay careless your head on my chest
And don't even look at me looking my best
And all these things I can't describe
You would rather I didn't try
But please don't cry, you liar
Oh please, don't cry, you liar
They told me love was a fortress
And I had never put it to the test
And all the while I relied on this honesty
Well in love we are but amateurs at best
But please don't cry, you liar
Oh please, don't cry, you liar
Oh please, don't cry, you liar
Oh please, don't cry, you liar
You're leaving for your last kiss
And who in this world could ask me to resist
Your hands cold as they find my neck
All this love that I've found I detest
Lyrics submitted by rozelemarijn
Liar Lyrics as written by Edward James Milton Dwane Marcus Oliver Johnstone Mumford
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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."
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
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,
The obvious connotations of this song are about rejection, betrayal, and a broken heart, but after listening to it recently I came up with a new angle on it. I think the singer's girl is dying.
"You lay careless, your head on my chest" and "You lean in for your last kiss" make me think of death. "I know things are broken" sounds like it could be referring to the relationship, but it could also be an allusion to a failing body. I think the main point that gives me this impression is that the singer seems bitter about whatever's gone wrong, but not angry at the subject of the lyrics. "You liar" in the chorus could be a reflection of his pain and denial at her death, a response to something like "Things will be okay" or "You have to move on when I'm gone" or something related.
I think I might just be thinking this because I recently watched The Fountain again. But anyways, there it is.