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"
hey, hey, check it out homie
Man, you need to get up out of this spot man
And get a job man before you get smoked man
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah son)
I know you don't want to hear it man
But, hey, man, wait, hold up loc you got company man
(where's my guns?)
When I'm ridin' on the street I hear gunshots (rare shots)
Crack niggas cause they moms missed flips
So black man really care about politics
In the ninety's, our governments so slick
I watch CNN sometimes and I realize
They're playin' tricks on my mind
They want a man to work with his hands
Too young to die, and they don't give a damn
Rare-momma got down on her knees
But not no more, god damn it, I make cheese
I'm on the move and I'ma show and prove
You might cry to my political groove
Rest in peace,
Sauce Brothers underneath
I love you to death while my beats' like a reef
In the middle of the night on the city streets
The only thing we got left is the beat
[Chorus]
All we got left is the beat, is the beat, yo
All we got left is the beat, huh, give it to me
All we got left is the beat, the beat, yo
All we got left is the beat, uh
Who brings guns into the USA?
And then makes sure that they come around the way
Gain the points until the whole race traps
And teach up my woman that she should call up the cops
The projects are hell, wait a, minute
There's nothin' we do but ride on top of an elevator
Say the clubs, I can't get a job
Mouth to feed, somebody's gettin' robbed
I ain't worked, but I ain't workin' for crumbs
You ever seen a man-shelter?
Check out the bombs!!!
Brother of pain, their whole lives are over
They spent every dime tryin' not to be sober
And all the ladies got bags of clothes
They'll be your long lost momma, one never knows
The streets are like a nightmare
While the presidents secretary is chillin' in his leather chair
[Chorus]
Lemon to a lime, lime to a lemon
When you need a toga-black, hire black linen
Your rippers' man applause when he can't get a job
He gets up all of his family and feels like a slob
The black women don't understand
Cause they don't realize what it is to be a black man
In the mornin', a brother feels like a jerk
Seein' black women and white men go to work
So all women fear, the brothers ain't real
Cause they won't give us no jobs, that's the real deal
Hold my hand while I get it all together
They don't deserve me at times of bad weather
Cause I'ma make it out the concrete walls
And there's another way besides basketball
Let me go, let me do what I do
I'm red, black and green, then red, white and blue
[Chorus]
Ridin' in the street you can feel the city heat
A little bit of grass and a whole lot of concrete
Creepin', I'm standin' on the corner
And you can get robbed if you want to
Paybacks a mother on the street
You're seein' gold teeth, ya hearin' funky beats
Brothers ride by real slow
You get leary when they got tinted windows
Sittin' on the steps with a blunt
I'm drinkin' Valentine, I wasn't raised up front
My Aunt Ellie always talked about God
Tell me you never cried cause its so hard
Government got a hell of a plan
But word is born they ain't destroyin' this black man
[Chorus: x2]
Man, you need to get up out of this spot man
And get a job man before you get smoked man
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah son)
I know you don't want to hear it man
But, hey, man, wait, hold up loc you got company man
(where's my guns?)
When I'm ridin' on the street I hear gunshots (rare shots)
Crack niggas cause they moms missed flips
So black man really care about politics
In the ninety's, our governments so slick
I watch CNN sometimes and I realize
They're playin' tricks on my mind
They want a man to work with his hands
Too young to die, and they don't give a damn
Rare-momma got down on her knees
But not no more, god damn it, I make cheese
I'm on the move and I'ma show and prove
You might cry to my political groove
Rest in peace,
Sauce Brothers underneath
I love you to death while my beats' like a reef
In the middle of the night on the city streets
The only thing we got left is the beat
[Chorus]
All we got left is the beat, is the beat, yo
All we got left is the beat, huh, give it to me
All we got left is the beat, the beat, yo
All we got left is the beat, uh
Who brings guns into the USA?
And then makes sure that they come around the way
Gain the points until the whole race traps
And teach up my woman that she should call up the cops
The projects are hell, wait a, minute
There's nothin' we do but ride on top of an elevator
Say the clubs, I can't get a job
Mouth to feed, somebody's gettin' robbed
I ain't worked, but I ain't workin' for crumbs
You ever seen a man-shelter?
Check out the bombs!!!
Brother of pain, their whole lives are over
They spent every dime tryin' not to be sober
And all the ladies got bags of clothes
They'll be your long lost momma, one never knows
The streets are like a nightmare
While the presidents secretary is chillin' in his leather chair
[Chorus]
Lemon to a lime, lime to a lemon
When you need a toga-black, hire black linen
Your rippers' man applause when he can't get a job
He gets up all of his family and feels like a slob
The black women don't understand
Cause they don't realize what it is to be a black man
In the mornin', a brother feels like a jerk
Seein' black women and white men go to work
So all women fear, the brothers ain't real
Cause they won't give us no jobs, that's the real deal
Hold my hand while I get it all together
They don't deserve me at times of bad weather
Cause I'ma make it out the concrete walls
And there's another way besides basketball
Let me go, let me do what I do
I'm red, black and green, then red, white and blue
[Chorus]
Ridin' in the street you can feel the city heat
A little bit of grass and a whole lot of concrete
Creepin', I'm standin' on the corner
And you can get robbed if you want to
Paybacks a mother on the street
You're seein' gold teeth, ya hearin' funky beats
Brothers ride by real slow
You get leary when they got tinted windows
Sittin' on the steps with a blunt
I'm drinkin' Valentine, I wasn't raised up front
My Aunt Ellie always talked about God
Tell me you never cried cause its so hard
Government got a hell of a plan
But word is born they ain't destroyin' this black man
[Chorus: x2]
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
All We Got Left Is the Beat Lyrics as written by Frank Waddy Bobby Ervin
Lyrics © Word Collections Publishing, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.