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"
My baby lives in shades of blue
Blue eyes and jazz and attitude
He lives in California too
He drives a Chevy Malibu
And when he calls
He calls for me, not for you
He lives for love, he loves his drugs
He loves his baby too
But I can't fix him, can't make him better
And I can't do nothing about his strange weather
But you are unfixable
I can't break through your world
'Cause you live in shades of cool
Your heart is unbreakable
My baby lives in shades of cool
Blue heart and hands and aptitude
He lives for love, for women, too
I'm one of many, one is blue
And when he calls
He calls for me, not for you
He prays for love, he prays for peace
And maybe someone new
But I can't help him, can't make him better
And I can't do nothing about his strange weather
'Cause you are unfixable
I can't break through your world
'Cause you live in shades of cool
Your heart is unbreakable
You are unfixable
I can't break through your world
'Cause you live in shades of cool
Your heart is unbreakable
Blue eyes and jazz and attitude
He lives in California too
He drives a Chevy Malibu
And when he calls
He calls for me, not for you
He lives for love, he loves his drugs
He loves his baby too
But I can't fix him, can't make him better
And I can't do nothing about his strange weather
But you are unfixable
I can't break through your world
'Cause you live in shades of cool
Your heart is unbreakable
My baby lives in shades of cool
Blue heart and hands and aptitude
He lives for love, for women, too
I'm one of many, one is blue
And when he calls
He calls for me, not for you
He prays for love, he prays for peace
And maybe someone new
But I can't help him, can't make him better
And I can't do nothing about his strange weather
'Cause you are unfixable
I can't break through your world
'Cause you live in shades of cool
Your heart is unbreakable
You are unfixable
I can't break through your world
'Cause you live in shades of cool
Your heart is unbreakable
Lyrics submitted by almacasea, edited by toadling17, behata
Shades of Cool Lyrics as written by Rick Nowels Elizabeth Grant
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I do not think this song is about Lana and her fascination with older men; it is about an older man thinking about a past love, who died. In the beginning of the video, the man is driving on a lonely road and then Lana starts to appear, in holographic form and seemingly human form. This man sees her on the side walk, and his gaze lingers a little longer before he gets in the car, not sure if she's there or not, or like someone haunting his memories. Lana appears singing: "I can't fix him." "I can't break through your world" she cannot do anything about it to help this man. Later in the video, we see her swimming and the man sees her too. He makes the sign of the cross as she swims by: "he prays for love, he prays for peace, and maybe someone new" the man wants someone new and to be at peace with himself. When the guitar solo is occurring, we see the holographic Lana get shot,and die. At the end of the solo, she pushes herself out of the water to see the man. The man's eyes widen, unsure of what to make. He also seems unsure when dancing with her, especially when he observes her in the mirror prior. When he lets Lana go and fall to the floor after dancing, we see his face and the empty road again, making the whole video seem dreamlike. This man is reminiscing and imagining what things could have been like, if his love hadn't died so young. Lana is the interest of course, and she's telling us about this man, and she can't help him or do anything about his sadness. The man is haunted with what might have been.
My friend believes this theory, and that it's basically a follow up to the "Born to Die" video.