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"
Another perfect day
They keep piling up
I got happiness
That I can't maintain so beginner's luck
I had shoes to fill
Walkin' barefoot now
Can't tell north from south
But no split hairs gonna get me down
I'm stayin' above the flat line
I'm ahead of the curve
Take a piece of the sunshine with me
On a red eye flight to another world
It isn't any trouble
If you wanna come with me
I know it's out of the question, honey
But I sure could use the company
And a place to be
Now the sky is pink
Rooftop swimmin' pool
I'm not carefree, no
I'm free to care, I just never do
All the bags are checked
And the reasons why
Yesterday lingers on
That's the peace you keep when you say goodbye
You can get what you want now
Knock it out of the park
Bury it by the river
Easy, there's a search party but it's gettin' dark
I won't hold you to nothin'
I wanna make that plane
Probably end up a stranger, crazy
But I'm still hoping there's another way
And a place to stay
What a scene has got you sentimental
When the night comes, when the night comes loose
All the things you've put up on the mantle
What a shame, what a shame it's old news
I'm stayin' above the flat line
I'm ahead of the curve
Take a piece of the sunshine with me
On an all night drive to another world
You can get what you want now
Knock it out of the park
Probably end up a drifter, lonely
But I'm still hoping for a change of heart
And a place, a place, a place to start
They keep piling up
I got happiness
That I can't maintain so beginner's luck
I had shoes to fill
Walkin' barefoot now
Can't tell north from south
But no split hairs gonna get me down
I'm stayin' above the flat line
I'm ahead of the curve
Take a piece of the sunshine with me
On a red eye flight to another world
It isn't any trouble
If you wanna come with me
I know it's out of the question, honey
But I sure could use the company
And a place to be
Now the sky is pink
Rooftop swimmin' pool
I'm not carefree, no
I'm free to care, I just never do
All the bags are checked
And the reasons why
Yesterday lingers on
That's the peace you keep when you say goodbye
You can get what you want now
Knock it out of the park
Bury it by the river
Easy, there's a search party but it's gettin' dark
I won't hold you to nothin'
I wanna make that plane
Probably end up a stranger, crazy
But I'm still hoping there's another way
And a place to stay
What a scene has got you sentimental
When the night comes, when the night comes loose
All the things you've put up on the mantle
What a shame, what a shame it's old news
I'm stayin' above the flat line
I'm ahead of the curve
Take a piece of the sunshine with me
On an all night drive to another world
You can get what you want now
Knock it out of the park
Probably end up a drifter, lonely
But I'm still hoping for a change of heart
And a place, a place, a place to start
Lyrics submitted by colin06, edited by paxtonsmith, JaimieMurdock, kb217
Ahead of the Curve Lyrics as written by Conor M Oberst
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"I'm not carefree, no I'm free to care I just never do."
mmmmmm. <3 this whole album :]
i don't understand these lyrics... doesn't carefree mean you don't care about anything? it seems contradictory...
probably my favorite on this record. its about parting with someone and something, a life gets left behind and starting somewhere new, how its sad and you get nostalgic of course and wish it could be different but its not, and its not so bad, its something you have to do...
fantastic. just fantastic.
Beginner's luck :)
Definitely my second favorite from the album. I love the guitar on this.
hooray for conor and mike reunitingg, along with m. ward and jim james (yim yames?.. i don't know)
The lyrics is , 'got happiness that I CAN maintain, some beginners luck'. Seem to be the first song Conor has written about his new found content with his life, and for the first time he is happy, hence the beginners luck.
ok this song was definitely conors new anthem i think. i read the lyrics before i heard the song and knew immediately that he wrote it. this is the most personalized, beautiful song on the record. his new found happiness is clearly defiant and is a far cry from bright eyes and i love it.
Pretty sure he's actually saying 'some beginners luck' in the first verse.
The lyrics are "when the night comes, when the KNOT comes loose..." Conor's magical word play here referring to the equally beautiful "Knot Come Loose" song by Jim James and My Morning Jacket.