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"
This is the song for Baby Birch
Though I will never know you
And at the back of what we've done
There is the knowledge of you
Well, I wish we could take every path
Could spend a hundred years adoring you
Yes, I wish we could take every path 'cause you know
I hated to close the door on you
Do you remember staring up at the stars?
So far away in their bullet-proof cars
When we heard the rushing, slow intake
Of the dark, dark water and the engine brakes
And I said how about them engine brakes?
And if I should die before I wake
Will you keep an eye on baby birch?
Because I'd hate to see her make the same mistake
When it was dark I called and you came
When it was dark I saw shapes
When I see stars I feel your hand
And I see stars and I reel again
Well mercy me, I'll be goddamned
It's been a long, long time since I last saw you
And I have never known the plan
It's been a long, long, time
How are you?
Your eyes are green, your hair is gold
Your hair is black, your eyes are blue
I closed the ranks and I doubled back
But you know I hated to close the doggone door on you
We take a walk along the dirty lake
Hear the goose cussing at me over her eggs
You poor little cousin, I don't want your dregs
A little baby fussing over my legs
There is a blacksmith and there is a shepherd and there is a butcher boy
And there is a barber who's cutting and cutting away at my only joy
I saw a rabbit as slick as a knife and as pale as a candlestick
And I had thought it'd be harder to do but I caught her and skinned her quick, held her there
Kicking and mewling upended unspooling unsung and blue
Told her wherever you go little runaway bunny I will find you
And then she ran
As they're liable to do
Be at peace baby, and be gone
Be at peace baby, and be gone
Though I will never know you
And at the back of what we've done
There is the knowledge of you
Well, I wish we could take every path
Could spend a hundred years adoring you
Yes, I wish we could take every path 'cause you know
I hated to close the door on you
Do you remember staring up at the stars?
So far away in their bullet-proof cars
When we heard the rushing, slow intake
Of the dark, dark water and the engine brakes
And I said how about them engine brakes?
And if I should die before I wake
Will you keep an eye on baby birch?
Because I'd hate to see her make the same mistake
When it was dark I called and you came
When it was dark I saw shapes
When I see stars I feel your hand
And I see stars and I reel again
Well mercy me, I'll be goddamned
It's been a long, long time since I last saw you
And I have never known the plan
It's been a long, long, time
How are you?
Your eyes are green, your hair is gold
Your hair is black, your eyes are blue
I closed the ranks and I doubled back
But you know I hated to close the doggone door on you
We take a walk along the dirty lake
Hear the goose cussing at me over her eggs
You poor little cousin, I don't want your dregs
A little baby fussing over my legs
There is a blacksmith and there is a shepherd and there is a butcher boy
And there is a barber who's cutting and cutting away at my only joy
I saw a rabbit as slick as a knife and as pale as a candlestick
And I had thought it'd be harder to do but I caught her and skinned her quick, held her there
Kicking and mewling upended unspooling unsung and blue
Told her wherever you go little runaway bunny I will find you
And then she ran
As they're liable to do
Be at peace baby, and be gone
Be at peace baby, and be gone
Lyrics submitted by blueofthesky
Baby Birch Lyrics as written by Joanna Newsom
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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I don't know what this song is about but I have both miscarried and lost a much wanted baby over a year ago, she had severe Hydrocephalus incompatible with life and instead of seeing her suffer, we chose to terminate the pregnancy which meant me having to give still-birth to her at 22 weeks. This song for me sums up the experience perfectly, like the feeling your soul is being ripped out along wth the physical pain, confusion, guilt and emotional aftermath. It's a personal perspective of course but every verse reflects an aspect of how I feel still to this day. I love the line about 'staring up at the stars so far away in their bullet-proof cars'. It's like how when you were young, everything seemed so far off and the thought of loss wasn't as real, like it would never happen to you, then suddenly the dark water rushes in, you can do nothing to stop it and the horror of reality hits you. I think the end is really hopeful though, it kinda ends on a positive note for me, like that's life, you won't forget but just get on with it.
Can't thank her enough for this song in particular along with others, she's an absolute rarity and to be cherished.
@Lolatada Dear Lolatada, just to say, for tonight, reading your words in Cambridge, England, some six years after you wrote them, I cried, because you said life was precious and sad and bloody resilient and damn I needed to say 'it is! it is!' So here's just a word to say, I hope your life is being cherished too.