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"
It was a windless night
When you left the ship
You never were
A steady bold one
I gave my hand
Ah but you did slip
I’m a living man
And you're a cold one
Haul away
Haul away for home
My love’s as fair
As a girl can be
My wedding ring's
A heavy gold one
Now you lie alone
In the deep dark sea
I’m a living man
And you're a cold one
So haul away
Haul away for home
The morning brings
Lord a fresh young breeze
To fill our sails
And end the doldrums
Our lucky ship
Speeds across the sea
I’m a living man
And you're a cold one
So haul away
Haul away for home
When you left the ship
You never were
A steady bold one
I gave my hand
Ah but you did slip
I’m a living man
And you're a cold one
Haul away
Haul away for home
My love’s as fair
As a girl can be
My wedding ring's
A heavy gold one
Now you lie alone
In the deep dark sea
I’m a living man
And you're a cold one
So haul away
Haul away for home
The morning brings
Lord a fresh young breeze
To fill our sails
And end the doldrums
Our lucky ship
Speeds across the sea
I’m a living man
And you're a cold one
So haul away
Haul away for home
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More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
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This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
The story told in Haul Away is not immediately apparent as (like in other MK songs) it is masked a bit by the lovely music and clever writing.
The story begins clearly enough with the falling overboard of a sailor but the first clue that this may be no ordinary accident is the opening line that it was a windless night. You might expect such a fall to occur in a storm but not in calm seas.
The next clue is the narrator's comment "You never were a steady bold one" which reveals a bit of his feelings toward the unfortunate victim. Another clue is the use of "ah" in the line "I gave my hand, Ah but you did slip." This indicates a certain degree of resignation over the incident - as if the narrator doesn't feel quite so bad about the event. He certainly never expresses any sadness about it.
Why would he feel that way?
The answer is in the next verse which turns, rather abruptly, from talk of the accident to the narrator's wife. He speaks of her beauty and says his wedding ring is a heavy gold one - an interesting way of stating how strongly he feels about his commitment to her - particularly so with the use of "heavy."
The very next line takes us back to the drowned sailor. On the album Mark sings: "Now you lie alone" (not "lay" as shown in the lyrics above) as if to indicate the other fellow may have once laid next to the narrator's wife (or at least tried to) and has now paid for his indiscretion with his life. There's also the double meaning of "lie" in this case - a comment on the deceitful actions of the victim - just as the line "...and you're a cold one" may well be commentary on the actions of the dead man.
The closing verse and the lines about how the morning brings a new start and ends the doldrums (an end to both windless weather and to the narrator's depression) indicates he's putting things behind him and ready for a fresh start with his wife upon his return home.
So with all that, and getting back to that first verse, the question becomes did the fellow really fall? Or did he have a little help on the night he "left the ship?"
Very well thought out interpretation. But I disagree with it based on your assumption that a "sailor" has fallen overboard and I think you have over-complicated the song. I would bet you've studied deconstruction or other theories of criticism, but that's another story. <br /> <br /> It is not "clear" that the "you" the narrator refers to is a sailor at all. <br /> <br /> I think you are right that someone has fallen overboard, but I think the lyrics make it pretty clear that the person who has fallen overboard is the narrator's wife. Based on that, the song is a lament of love truly lost, and about moving on. <br /> <br /> The narrator's obligation to his dead wife is strong, which is illustrated in the line: My wedding ring is a heavy gold one. The ring represents obligation, the gold represents the virtue of dedication, and its heaviness reiterates the man's strong feeling of obligation. <br /> <br /> By the end of the song, the narrator has caught a fresh young wind (possibly a new love interest, or just a new perspective that challenges him to live again), and he is moved to live again, because his wife is dead and he is still living. <br /> <br /> That's about it. Take care.
I agree with Anson12's interpretation. I wonder if the ship is a metaphor for Mark's band, or some other organization that he was part of. He does love those ship metaphors. Maybe "I gave my hand" refers to Mark offering friendship to this shy, socially awkward person ("you never were a steady bold one"), with the friendship (and the unnamed person's membership in the organization) ending as a result of the ensuing affair ("but you did slip" [up]).<br /> <br /> The ship speeding across the sea may refer to something that actually occurred, too, like a trip together to Barbados...lucky because that is where they were married. Or perhaps they are going back to England and there is some other reason that the ship is lucky.
To add some fuel to the fire: no one said that his 'love as fair as a girl can be' is the same person as the wife, which has so sadly slipped on a windless night ;) It seems the weight of his marriage (maybe to a 'cold' but wealthy wife whom he never loved), perhaps coupled with a superstition of a woman on-board (probably during a prolonged period of windless weather) incited him to help her leave the ship. Regret, if there ever was any, does not seem to occupy his mind; in fact, he seems relieved to sail back home instead of starving to death due to windless weather and rejoices in his freedom found anew. Those privateers maybe weren't pirates, but they ain't the nicest kind either ;)