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"
Tonight, I'll have a look and try to find my face again
Buried beneath this house
My spirit screams and dies again
Out back, a monster wears a cloak of Persian leather
Behind the TV screen, I've fallen to my knees
I said, you've got me where you want me again and I can't turn away
I'm hanging by a thread and I'm feeling like I'll fall
I'm stuck here in between these shadows of my yesterday
I want to get away, I need to get away
Blanket of silence makes me want to sink my teeth in deep
Burn all the evidence of fabricated disbelief
Pull back the curtains, took a look into your eyes
My tongue has now become a platform for your lies
I said, you've got me where you want me again and I can't turn away
I'm hanging by a thread and I'm feeling like I'll fall
I'm stuck here in between these shadows of my yesterday
I want to get away, I need to get away
Now you know, yeah
You've got my back against the wall
Oh God, I ain't got no other place to hide
Chained down, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall
You know, yeah
You've got my back against the wall
Deep in the jungle, camouflaged by all the fallen leaves
A hand holds up the sky while, shamefully, I make my plea
The altar's calling, but my legs won't seem to stand
Guess I'm a coward scared to face the man I am
I said, you've got me where you want me again and I can't turn away
I'm hanging by a thread and I'm feeling like I'll fall
I'm stuck here in between these shadows of my yesterday
I want to get away, I need to get away
Now you know, yeah
You've got my back against the wall
Oh God, I ain't got no other place to hide
Chained down, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall
You know, yeah
You've got my back against the wall
Now you know, yeah
You've got my back against the wall
Oh God, I ain't got no other place to hide
Chained down, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall
You know, yeah
You've got my back against the wall
Buried beneath this house
My spirit screams and dies again
Out back, a monster wears a cloak of Persian leather
Behind the TV screen, I've fallen to my knees
I said, you've got me where you want me again and I can't turn away
I'm hanging by a thread and I'm feeling like I'll fall
I'm stuck here in between these shadows of my yesterday
I want to get away, I need to get away
Blanket of silence makes me want to sink my teeth in deep
Burn all the evidence of fabricated disbelief
Pull back the curtains, took a look into your eyes
My tongue has now become a platform for your lies
I said, you've got me where you want me again and I can't turn away
I'm hanging by a thread and I'm feeling like I'll fall
I'm stuck here in between these shadows of my yesterday
I want to get away, I need to get away
Now you know, yeah
You've got my back against the wall
Oh God, I ain't got no other place to hide
Chained down, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall
You know, yeah
You've got my back against the wall
Deep in the jungle, camouflaged by all the fallen leaves
A hand holds up the sky while, shamefully, I make my plea
The altar's calling, but my legs won't seem to stand
Guess I'm a coward scared to face the man I am
I said, you've got me where you want me again and I can't turn away
I'm hanging by a thread and I'm feeling like I'll fall
I'm stuck here in between these shadows of my yesterday
I want to get away, I need to get away
Now you know, yeah
You've got my back against the wall
Oh God, I ain't got no other place to hide
Chained down, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall
You know, yeah
You've got my back against the wall
Now you know, yeah
You've got my back against the wall
Oh God, I ain't got no other place to hide
Chained down, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall
You know, yeah
You've got my back against the wall
Lyrics submitted by shelbeargothops
Back Against The Wall Lyrics as written by Daniel Tichenor Brad Shultz
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think this is about how so many people are trapped by their television sets. I think the average American now spends 4 or 5 hours a day -- the majority of their free time -- watching television.
"Tonight I'll have a look And try to find my face again Buried beneath this house"
He's looking for himself but he's buried by his television addiction. He's a couch potato.
"My spirit screams and dies again Out back a monster wears a cloak of Persian leather"
The monster is his leather couch he lives on.
"Behind the TV screen I've fallen to my knees"
He's praying for the will to escape and live outside of the fantasy world of TV.
"I said you got me where you want me again And I can't turn away I'm hanging by thread and I'm feelin like a fool I'm stuck here in-between The shadows of my yesterday I want to get away I need to get away"
Pretty straight forward: He can't turn away from the TV, because he has to see what is going to happen next. He feels like a fool but can't turn away.
"Blanket of silence Makes me want to sink my teeth in deep Burn all the evidence A fabricated disbelief Pull back the curtains Took a look into your eyes My tongue has now become A platform for your lies"
The blanket of silence is his mind turning off during TV, he wants to sink his teeth into the tv, to destroy it and burn it. He wants to burn its "fabricated disbelief": the suspension of disbelief necessary to believe the crap on TV. He says take a look into the "eyes" of those on TV, for he has now become a "platform" for their "lies."
"Now you know Yeah you got my back against the wall Oh god I ain't got no other place to hide Chained down Like a sittin duck just waitin for the fall You know Yeah you got my back against the wall"
His back is against the wall both figuratively and literally as he is stuck mesmerized by the television set. He is "chained down" by its images.
"Deep in the jungle Camouflaged by all the fallen leaves A hand holds up the sky While shamefully I make my plea The alters callin But my legs won't seem to stand Guess I'm a coward Scared to face the man I am"
The image of the true roots of man -- alive in the natural world, in the jungle, in touch with the world around him...touching the sky. While he shamefully is unable to stand and leave his television controlled existence. He has been enslaved by technology. He is scared to come to grips with what he has really become -- a couch potato coward.
Dude this is one epic though...and it makes sense haha.