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"
Rita was sixteen years, hazel eyes and chestnut hair
She made the Woolworth counter shine
And Eddie was a sweet romancer, and a darn good dancer
And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
And they'd sing
Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now
Dance a little closer tonight
Dance a little closer to me, 'cause it's closing time
And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
Eddie played the steel guitar
And his mama cried 'cause he played in the bars
And kept young Rita out late at night
So they married up in Abilene, lost a child in Tennessee
Still that love survived
'Cause they'd sing
Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now
Dance a little closer tonight
Dance a little closer to me, 'cause it's closing time
And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
One of the boys in Eddie's band took a shine to Rita's hands
So Eddie ran off with the bass man's wife
Oh, but he was back by June, singin' a different tune
And sportin' miss Rita back by his side
And he sang
Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now
Dance a little closer tonight
Dance a little closer to me, 'cause it's closing time
And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
Eddie traveled with the barroom bands
'Til arthritis took his hands
Now he sells insurance on the side
Rita's got a house to keep
Dimestore novels and a love so sweet
They dance to the radio late at night
And they sing
Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now
Dance a little closer tonight
Dance a little closer to me, 'cause it's closing time
And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
'Cause Rita was sixteen years, with hazel eyes and chestnut hair
She really made the Woolworth counter shine
Eddie was a sweet romancer, and a darn good dancer
And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
She made the Woolworth counter shine
And Eddie was a sweet romancer, and a darn good dancer
And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
And they'd sing
Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now
Dance a little closer tonight
Dance a little closer to me, 'cause it's closing time
And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
Eddie played the steel guitar
And his mama cried 'cause he played in the bars
And kept young Rita out late at night
So they married up in Abilene, lost a child in Tennessee
Still that love survived
'Cause they'd sing
Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now
Dance a little closer tonight
Dance a little closer to me, 'cause it's closing time
And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
One of the boys in Eddie's band took a shine to Rita's hands
So Eddie ran off with the bass man's wife
Oh, but he was back by June, singin' a different tune
And sportin' miss Rita back by his side
And he sang
Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now
Dance a little closer tonight
Dance a little closer to me, 'cause it's closing time
And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
Eddie traveled with the barroom bands
'Til arthritis took his hands
Now he sells insurance on the side
Rita's got a house to keep
Dimestore novels and a love so sweet
They dance to the radio late at night
And they sing
Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now
Dance a little closer tonight
Dance a little closer to me, 'cause it's closing time
And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
'Cause Rita was sixteen years, with hazel eyes and chestnut hair
She really made the Woolworth counter shine
Eddie was a sweet romancer, and a darn good dancer
And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
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Kinda 'our' song, my wife worked in Woolworths when we first met.