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"
Damaged Goods :
She forced a smile, said,
"Boy, come kiss my mouth?I'll set you free.
You know that hope you're holding to? It looks an awful lot like fear.
Now, you're so quick to fall on failure, and so quick to raise your voice, like,
'If I can't find a mistake to blame, we didn't have a choice.'
Oh, but you had option.
I was your chance to feel complete,
But when I leaned in close to you, you
Kissed your fear instead of me.
You had my hand in your hand,
You had my lip in your teeth,
You had my heart on your sleeve,
You had a chance to breathe.
But, boy, you wouldn't let your fear recede so I moved on.
And it's too late to change your mind now,
You got scared, boy, and I got gone.
Now you failed, and there's no way to turn back time.
You had your chance, boy, I tried."
"You tried?" I looked her in the eye and smiled,
"My girl, you must understand that fear is not some product that I made.
It crept unwelcome in my head the day they had her torn away.
It changed me.
Now at the end of everyday I lie awake at night and wait
To feel the wires of my brain get cut and quietly rearranged, and
Hear my beaten heart exclaim, 'Still, I refuse to let her go.'"
So we escape to our mistakes for they wait patiently for us.
Oh, how they always wait for me.
If my fear has kept me here only my fear can set me free.
And I'm sorry, dear, but don't you dare say another word.
How could I risk holding your heart in me while still in love with her?
You were wrong."
She forced a smile, said,
"Boy, come kiss my mouth?I'll set you free.
You know that hope you're holding to? It looks an awful lot like fear.
Now, you're so quick to fall on failure, and so quick to raise your voice, like,
'If I can't find a mistake to blame, we didn't have a choice.'
Oh, but you had option.
I was your chance to feel complete,
But when I leaned in close to you, you
Kissed your fear instead of me.
You had my hand in your hand,
You had my lip in your teeth,
You had my heart on your sleeve,
You had a chance to breathe.
But, boy, you wouldn't let your fear recede so I moved on.
And it's too late to change your mind now,
You got scared, boy, and I got gone.
Now you failed, and there's no way to turn back time.
You had your chance, boy, I tried."
"You tried?" I looked her in the eye and smiled,
"My girl, you must understand that fear is not some product that I made.
It crept unwelcome in my head the day they had her torn away.
It changed me.
Now at the end of everyday I lie awake at night and wait
To feel the wires of my brain get cut and quietly rearranged, and
Hear my beaten heart exclaim, 'Still, I refuse to let her go.'"
So we escape to our mistakes for they wait patiently for us.
Oh, how they always wait for me.
If my fear has kept me here only my fear can set me free.
And I'm sorry, dear, but don't you dare say another word.
How could I risk holding your heart in me while still in love with her?
You were wrong."
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It's about a girl trying to be with a guy who is still not over his past relationship. The beginning starts off more from the girl's point of view. She knows this guy isn't over his ex. And explains that this hope he's holding on to is really just fear of getting hurt again, and that he should let it go. She talks about him always looking for mistakes and failures in their relationship, even when there are none. She explains to him that she gave him his time to grieve and that she's his chance to start over and love again, but still this guy can't let the past go. So, she says she's moving on. Then, he replies. He tries to explain that it's not like he wants to feel this way, it's just something that happens. The break up messed him up bad. He goes into explaining his pain and how he can't let go of her. He tells her pretty much that it's not his fear of getting hurt again that's making their relationship fail, it's that he's still in love with his ex. Harsh.
I left out that he's not moving on from his ex because he doesn't want to.<br /> "If my fear has kept me here<br /> Only my fear can set me free"