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"
Hear the sirens, hear the sirens
Hear the sirens, hear the circus so profound
I hear the sirens more and more in this here town
Let me catch my breath to breathe then reach across the bend
Just to know we're safe, I am a grateful man
The slightest bit of light and I can see you clear
Oh, had to take your hand, and feel your breath
For fear this someday will be over
I pull you close, so much to lose
Knowing that, nothing lasts forever
I didn't care, before you were here
I danced in laughter, with the ever after
But all things change, let this remain
Hear the sirens covering distance in the night
The sound echoing closer, will they come for me next time?
For every choice, mistake I made, is not my plan
To send you in the arms of another man
And if you choose to stay, I'll wait, I'll understand
Oh, it's a fragile thing, this life we lead
If I think too much, I can get over-
Whelmed by the grace, by which we live our lives
With death over our shoulders
Want you to know, that should I go
I always loved you, held you high above too
I studied your face, the fear goes away
It's a fragile thing, this life we lead
If I think too much, I can get over-
Whelmed by the grace, by which we live our lives
With death over our shoulders
Want you to know, that should I go
I always loved you, held you high above too
I studied your face, the fear goes away
The fear goes away, the fear goes away
The fear goes away
Hear the sirens, hear the circus so profound
I hear the sirens more and more in this here town
Let me catch my breath to breathe then reach across the bend
Just to know we're safe, I am a grateful man
The slightest bit of light and I can see you clear
Oh, had to take your hand, and feel your breath
For fear this someday will be over
I pull you close, so much to lose
Knowing that, nothing lasts forever
I didn't care, before you were here
I danced in laughter, with the ever after
But all things change, let this remain
Hear the sirens covering distance in the night
The sound echoing closer, will they come for me next time?
For every choice, mistake I made, is not my plan
To send you in the arms of another man
And if you choose to stay, I'll wait, I'll understand
Oh, it's a fragile thing, this life we lead
If I think too much, I can get over-
Whelmed by the grace, by which we live our lives
With death over our shoulders
Want you to know, that should I go
I always loved you, held you high above too
I studied your face, the fear goes away
It's a fragile thing, this life we lead
If I think too much, I can get over-
Whelmed by the grace, by which we live our lives
With death over our shoulders
Want you to know, that should I go
I always loved you, held you high above too
I studied your face, the fear goes away
The fear goes away, the fear goes away
The fear goes away
Lyrics submitted by fluorine, edited by Romanza, jholguin79, cylam, speeb, RedMosquito75, cjk22
Sirens Lyrics as written by Michael David Mccready Eddie Jerome Vedder
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The Night We Met
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
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Beautiful song. I married my gf recently, and it was the final song of the night. I'm always wary of Pearl Jam for romantic settings, as some songs that sound pretty can be very dark, but I think this song was perfect. To me, it's about holding our loved ones close in this terrifying world, and gaining strength and grace from the love that you both share. On top of that, I absolutely LOVE the line, "I study your face, the fear goes away..." because my wife gives me courage to do things I didn't think I could do. Sometimes that is simply going on living.