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"
What this night wants is what it gets,
Strung in silken knots,
Lit by cigarettes
Flaring side by side,
With the streets all wet,
As the only thing that's bright.
And I don't need to cross that bridge.
I find I'm swinging
Or sailing over the pit tonight.
I'm hanging from a hit
Tonight was wild enough
To order up and toss across my lips.
What's making all my tears
Is taking all my fears away.
But I don't need to cry,
'Cause now I'm clear.
A moth that's swerving through the sage.
A creature crashing from a cage.
A shadow vaporized by a new sun ray.
A day she spends the night, and I can hear her sighing
As she's almost asleep on one side,
And I lie back on my pillow and ask what her husband is like.
And she says, "I smile polite,
And I tip and tithe,
And I see the sights with a well-trained eye.
But I softly sigh,
Because I'm too much mine without him.
And I lie, reclined where the room is quiet,
And it's quiet at night.
The soft silk is fine
And the waves are white,
But the wind has died without him.
And I scream my smiles,
And I want my wires and I need my stripes.
And I read the lines until I lid my eyes,
And I'm losing time without him.
And I ignite inside
And I flash with fire
And I limp from life
And I'm blazing blind
And I'm surging live
And give up my mind
When with him.
And then every dream inside turns to flames,
Fades to grey, and is dying.
And the smoke rises
Into a white, blank, bare, broke-open sky."
Strung in silken knots,
Lit by cigarettes
Flaring side by side,
With the streets all wet,
As the only thing that's bright.
And I don't need to cross that bridge.
I find I'm swinging
Or sailing over the pit tonight.
I'm hanging from a hit
Tonight was wild enough
To order up and toss across my lips.
What's making all my tears
Is taking all my fears away.
But I don't need to cry,
'Cause now I'm clear.
A moth that's swerving through the sage.
A creature crashing from a cage.
A shadow vaporized by a new sun ray.
A day she spends the night, and I can hear her sighing
As she's almost asleep on one side,
And I lie back on my pillow and ask what her husband is like.
And she says, "I smile polite,
And I tip and tithe,
And I see the sights with a well-trained eye.
But I softly sigh,
Because I'm too much mine without him.
And I lie, reclined where the room is quiet,
And it's quiet at night.
The soft silk is fine
And the waves are white,
But the wind has died without him.
And I scream my smiles,
And I want my wires and I need my stripes.
And I read the lines until I lid my eyes,
And I'm losing time without him.
And I ignite inside
And I flash with fire
And I limp from life
And I'm blazing blind
And I'm surging live
And give up my mind
When with him.
And then every dream inside turns to flames,
Fades to grey, and is dying.
And the smoke rises
Into a white, blank, bare, broke-open sky."
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Great version of a great song,
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It's "but I calmly cry", not softly sigh.
i think this is about a woman he is with. and he asks what her husband is like. I feel like the husband might either be dead, or she has a husband who belittles her and she doesnt really have a life because of him.
In the first stanza he goes to a bar, and just lets what happen happens (What this night wants its what it gets). They go outside to smoke (Lit by cigarettes) and he tries to convince himself that its enough to just kiss her (Tonight was wild enough to order up and toss across my lips). They continue talking and she ends up spending the night with him - they have sex (she spends the night and I can hear her sighing). But when its over and she tries to roll over and go to sleep he asks about her husband - its a desperate move but he wants her to tell him that he treats her horribly and that what he did wasn't really that big of a deal.
The second stanza she tells him that she plays the roll of the perfect housewife very well (I smile polite,and I tip and tithe,and I see the sights with a well-trained eye) but she's faking it because when she isn't with him she gets to be herself (I'm too much mine without him). She tells him that she loves her husband and that he takes care of her - she's (losing time without him) meaning that she isn't doing anything productive alone. Theres conflict between how she feels because she isn't sure if she loves him or loves the lifestyle - she feels like the relationship is destroying the part of her that is truly her.
thank you.