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"
Open up a window
All the air, all the air is falling out
Eyes vacuum up light
Sound gets trapped by the mouth
What to do with the remainder
When the dents, the dents get hammered out
Then we'll travel through time
The world's an inventor
With its work crawling, running, squirming 'round
Trees drop colorful fruits
Directly into our mouths
The world's an inventor
We're the dirtiest thing it's thought about
And we really don't mind
We'll probably never get there
Bring your sightseers, schoolteachers down
It's a watercolor weekend
All the trees are turning colors now
We'll probably never get there
Bring your candy taster time wasters around
And we'll fuck with their minds
The world composes
With his shirttails wrinkled, hanging out
Bang us together
See what sort of sounds we make right now
The world plays music
Playing skin on teeth inside of the mouth
What sort of sounds?
What lovely sounds come about?
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna move in time
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna travel time
We're gonna throw a party
All the ghosts of trees are coming out
Don't move in any direction
Wait until the light's inside of the cloud
You're gonna wanna see this
Don't bring your camera around
Watch sun and sawdust align
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna pulse in time
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna travel time
Hold up a window
All the air, all the air is falling out
Eyes vacuum up light
Sound gets trapped by the mouth
Our predecessor left this box
And something's clawing around
I think it really wants out
All the air, all the air is falling out
Eyes vacuum up light
Sound gets trapped by the mouth
What to do with the remainder
When the dents, the dents get hammered out
Then we'll travel through time
The world's an inventor
With its work crawling, running, squirming 'round
Trees drop colorful fruits
Directly into our mouths
The world's an inventor
We're the dirtiest thing it's thought about
And we really don't mind
We'll probably never get there
Bring your sightseers, schoolteachers down
It's a watercolor weekend
All the trees are turning colors now
We'll probably never get there
Bring your candy taster time wasters around
And we'll fuck with their minds
The world composes
With his shirttails wrinkled, hanging out
Bang us together
See what sort of sounds we make right now
The world plays music
Playing skin on teeth inside of the mouth
What sort of sounds?
What lovely sounds come about?
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna move in time
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna travel time
We're gonna throw a party
All the ghosts of trees are coming out
Don't move in any direction
Wait until the light's inside of the cloud
You're gonna wanna see this
Don't bring your camera around
Watch sun and sawdust align
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna pulse in time
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna travel time
Hold up a window
All the air, all the air is falling out
Eyes vacuum up light
Sound gets trapped by the mouth
Our predecessor left this box
And something's clawing around
I think it really wants out
Lyrics submitted by timelyvoices, edited by rkpetersen, AmanO, SephNite
The Ground Walks, With Time In A Box Lyrics as written by Jeremiah Green Isaac Brock
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
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,
No Surprises
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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.
Blue
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“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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
@grungybeatle, you made me get an account. It's so amazing that Isaac can provoke so many interesting and awesome interpretations of his jams. Yours is wonderful! My take is, it's a ballad with a message on how this planet we live on is self sustaining and nurturing. It provided everything for every living thing, and we, as people take advantage, destroy, and hurt the world during our existence (or travel through time)!