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"
This road leads to rome, that road leads to ruin.
I’m all up in the madding crowd, the general’s been screwin’ us around.
The land’s no longer arable (The farmhands all feel terrible)
A river red with rebel blood to sweep us off our feet, do you remember?
Humility on parade humility on parade
The welcome was overstayed humility on parade (let it run, let it run, let the river run).
The remnants of the leisure class will crumble! Smug bastards will be humbled! Forcible miscegenation! No bow ties, Bo invitations!
Goodbye to all of that...
You gotta look the prisoners in the eyes; a boldness in their stare you might not recognize
As you struggle to recall your names: family and christian family and christian
Family and christian! Untenable position!
Here comes the inquisition!
("yeah, it’ll come it’ll come it’ll surely come!")
I am the mustard on the wedding dress, the weevil in the watercress.
I lost the language, I confess.
Beyond the false horizon lies the rising up, the rising up.
I’m all up in the madding crowd, the general’s been screwin’ us around.
The land’s no longer arable (The farmhands all feel terrible)
A river red with rebel blood to sweep us off our feet, do you remember?
Humility on parade humility on parade
The welcome was overstayed humility on parade (let it run, let it run, let the river run).
The remnants of the leisure class will crumble! Smug bastards will be humbled! Forcible miscegenation! No bow ties, Bo invitations!
Goodbye to all of that...
You gotta look the prisoners in the eyes; a boldness in their stare you might not recognize
As you struggle to recall your names: family and christian family and christian
Family and christian! Untenable position!
Here comes the inquisition!
("yeah, it’ll come it’ll come it’ll surely come!")
I am the mustard on the wedding dress, the weevil in the watercress.
I lost the language, I confess.
Beyond the false horizon lies the rising up, the rising up.
Lyrics submitted by NeoNess
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Seems like it's a song about the American civil war and specifically general Sherman's march to the sea (Savannah). Sean eludes to it in this live performance at the 3:05 mark: youtube.com/watch
This road leads to rome: The sea (Savannah) or victory That road leads to ruin: Death or loss I’m all up in the madding crowd Frenzied crowd The general’s been screwin’ us around. Robert E. Lee's resistance. The land’s no longer arable: Sherman's scorched earth tactic. (The farmhands all feel terrible): Confederate soldiers... most of them were farmers before the war bgan A river red with rebel blood: Winning bloody battles against rebel (confederate) forces To sweep us off our feet: To give hope of victory all the way to Savannah.
Humility on parade humility on parade: Confederates loss and shame The welcome was overstayed: The South's unwillingness to abolish slavery amd to relinquish states rights.
The remnants of the leisure class will crumble!: The end of plantation (slave) owners. Smug bastards will be humbled!: Forced to surrender and give up their wealth for reperations of the war. No bow ties: No more southern aristocrats running the south Bo invitations! : No more offers of peace ..just miltary takeover. Goodbye to all of that: The old south will be gone forever.
You gotta look the prisoners in the eyes: Try to understand why the confederates feel the way they did. A boldness in their stare you might not recognize: Confederates desire to fight so hard even though they were overmatched As you struggle to recall your names: Americans (pre-civil war) and Americans again (post war). Family and christian family and christian: brother against brother, christian againt christian Untenable position!: End of the conferderacy Here comes the inquisition: Now the south must bear the consequences of their action. ("yeah, it’ll come it’ll come it’ll surely come!")
I am the mustard on the wedding dress. The weevil in the watercress: The big stain or negative conflict in American history I lost the language, I confess: Time heals (after end of war) Beyond the false horizon lies the rising up, the rising up: What could have been a confederate win, system of government and idealogy is replaced with hope for a stronger unified nation.