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"
My baby went out with her family to a ski resort in Colorado
Well she put on her skis and she slid down hill
Yeah she slid downhill in her bright red muffler
My baby went out with her family to a ski resort in Colorado
And left me all alone for a couple of weeks
Well she called me up, she said, "I love you in the middle of the night"
I said, "In the middle of the night, everybody loves everybody else these days"
She said, "Oh, in the middle of the day I love you very much"
I said, "Everybody loves each other these days"
I said, "I don't ever get to go on any vacations"
I said, "I've gotta go to work every day"
I said, "You get to slide downhill in your bright red muffler"
She said, "I love you, oh I love you in the middle of the day"
And she said
"Take off your sunglasses"
I don't wanna take off my sunglasses
Take off your sunglasses
I said, "Baby, oh, the sun is bright
I need my sunglasses"
And then I woke up in the middle of the night
One night and I felt so unworthy
I said I woke up in the middle of the night
One night and I felt so unworthy
It didn't bother me too much, I think I am unworthy
And everybody's unworthy of everybody else these days
Everybody's unworthy of everybody else these days
And I don't need to think about things I don't want to think about
She called me up in the middle of the day
She said, "I love you in the middle of the night"
I said, "In the middle of the night
Everybody loves everybody else in the middle of the day"
She said
"Take off your sunglasses"
I don't wanna take my sunglasses
Take off your sunglasses
I said, "Why don't you take off your sunglasses?"
She said, "I already have"
I don't want to think about
Things I don't want to think about in the middle of the night
In the middle of the day I don't want to think about
Things I don't want to think about in the middle of the night
I don't want to think about it
I don't want to think about it
I don't want to take off my sunglasses
Everybody's unworthy and
Everybody loves everybody else and
Everybody takes off their sunglasses
Oh baby I don't want to fall into the patterns
Oh baby, she said
"Take off your sunglasses"
I don't wanna take my sunglasses
"Take off your sunglasses"
I said, "That's like me asking you to take out your shoelaces"
So she took out her shoelaces
Well she put on her skis and she slid down hill
Yeah she slid downhill in her bright red muffler
My baby went out with her family to a ski resort in Colorado
And left me all alone for a couple of weeks
Well she called me up, she said, "I love you in the middle of the night"
I said, "In the middle of the night, everybody loves everybody else these days"
She said, "Oh, in the middle of the day I love you very much"
I said, "Everybody loves each other these days"
I said, "I don't ever get to go on any vacations"
I said, "I've gotta go to work every day"
I said, "You get to slide downhill in your bright red muffler"
She said, "I love you, oh I love you in the middle of the day"
And she said
"Take off your sunglasses"
I don't wanna take off my sunglasses
Take off your sunglasses
I said, "Baby, oh, the sun is bright
I need my sunglasses"
And then I woke up in the middle of the night
One night and I felt so unworthy
I said I woke up in the middle of the night
One night and I felt so unworthy
It didn't bother me too much, I think I am unworthy
And everybody's unworthy of everybody else these days
Everybody's unworthy of everybody else these days
And I don't need to think about things I don't want to think about
She called me up in the middle of the day
She said, "I love you in the middle of the night"
I said, "In the middle of the night
Everybody loves everybody else in the middle of the day"
She said
"Take off your sunglasses"
I don't wanna take my sunglasses
Take off your sunglasses
I said, "Why don't you take off your sunglasses?"
She said, "I already have"
I don't want to think about
Things I don't want to think about in the middle of the night
In the middle of the day I don't want to think about
Things I don't want to think about in the middle of the night
I don't want to think about it
I don't want to think about it
I don't want to take off my sunglasses
Everybody's unworthy and
Everybody loves everybody else and
Everybody takes off their sunglasses
Oh baby I don't want to fall into the patterns
Oh baby, she said
"Take off your sunglasses"
I don't wanna take my sunglasses
"Take off your sunglasses"
I said, "That's like me asking you to take out your shoelaces"
So she took out her shoelaces
Lyrics submitted by jhewitt127
Take Off Your Sunglasses Lyrics as written by Ezra Mordechai Furman
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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Great version of a great song,
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Ahhhh I love this song! The singing is so different. Sorry for the rant.
Anyway, I think this song is about a man, afraid to love and believe things are good for fear of being hurt. People often talk about rose-colored glasses through which one would see the world as better than it actually is, whereas if you looked through sunglasses you would see everything darker and worse than in reality.
So when his girlfriend leaves him to go to Colorado, even though it's innocent and just a family vacation, he feels left alone and dejected. She tries to cheer him up and calls him, in the middle of the night and the middle of the day, to tell him she loves him, but he just feels that she doesn't really mean it. After all, everyone loves each other these days. He feels unworthy.
She wants him to stop being so negative, but he can't and doesn't want to take off his sunglasses because he doesn't want her to end up hurting him ("the sun is bright i need my sunglasses").
As for the last line, I don't think taking off the shoelaces is a direct metaphor for any action, but maybe they represent commitment. He's too afraid to love so she goes ahead and commits ("So she took off her shoelaces") and shows him that she is for real and he shouldn't be afraid.