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"
You're not who they say you are
They made you the enemy
(Christ-Jah flesh; Christ-Light within; Christ-Beginning and the end)
Taken something so beautiful
Painted a new picture that makes me sick
(Christ-Witness; Christ-Living one; Christ-First and the last)
Feed our minds confusion
Sweeten the taste of pollution
(Christ-Word life; Christ-Ressurect; Christ-Everlasting Jah)
[Chorus]
Some people call you Father
Maybe you should set me free
These people hate each other
But you've always been there for me
I refuse to be like you
Without life, caving in
(Christ-Jah flesh; Christ-Light within; Christ-Beginning and the end)
I surrender, giving up all that is me
Yielding to you
(Christ-Witness; Christ-Living one; Christ-First and the last)
Shape me in my brokeness
Empower me forever
(Christ-Word life; Christ-Ressurect; Christ-Everlasting Jah)
[Chorus]
I know you will complete this work started in me
I need you more than ever now that I know who you are
I know you will complete this work started in me
I need you more than ever now that I've come so far
They made you the enemy
(Christ-Jah flesh; Christ-Light within; Christ-Beginning and the end)
Taken something so beautiful
Painted a new picture that makes me sick
(Christ-Witness; Christ-Living one; Christ-First and the last)
Feed our minds confusion
Sweeten the taste of pollution
(Christ-Word life; Christ-Ressurect; Christ-Everlasting Jah)
[Chorus]
Some people call you Father
Maybe you should set me free
These people hate each other
But you've always been there for me
I refuse to be like you
Without life, caving in
(Christ-Jah flesh; Christ-Light within; Christ-Beginning and the end)
I surrender, giving up all that is me
Yielding to you
(Christ-Witness; Christ-Living one; Christ-First and the last)
Shape me in my brokeness
Empower me forever
(Christ-Word life; Christ-Ressurect; Christ-Everlasting Jah)
[Chorus]
I know you will complete this work started in me
I need you more than ever now that I know who you are
I know you will complete this work started in me
I need you more than ever now that I've come so far
Lyrics submitted by HoldURBreath
Portrait Lyrics as written by Michael Abel-larsen Andrew Davidson
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing, Peermusic Publishing, Cloud9
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
I think this is about how religious people have distorted what Spirit or Jesus is.
Yeh they have some distorted image of what it is. And people experiancing hate because god or jesus has done nothing for them. And at times of weakness, they being needed
Some people call you father Maybe you could set me free These people hate each other But you've always been there for me
this song is so beautiful
I didnt like this song at fist but i listened to the whole thing and looked up the lyrics and it is amazing. I agree with your interpretations.
I agree with the first 2 posters. I think that organized religion and all of the different denominations have altered other's perceptions of Christ and what he is really about.
Ditto. Not to take it beyond its scope, but I can definitely see this as a cry from a person giving their all to walk with Jesus while being faced with both persecution and the torturous messages of false teachers. We definitely live in a broken, post-modern country (and world for that matter) where people meet everything in life with an attitude of skepticism, including the love God has for us through Christ Jesus.
Though I'm not real into the punk sound, which the verses at times lend themselves to, I LOVE both the ferocity against the twisted image of Christ and the humility of the ending chorus! The lyrics are simple but amazing. I can almost see this point of view coming from a young teen with angst or even a kid whose walk in faith is so strong, clear and unconfused (why is it that things are always so simple to understand as kids?) that it doesn't waver by the hands of others. It's also cool to think of these words as being exclaimed by 1st century Christians, whose existence among zealous Jews (look at the first verse and think of the scene that unraveled before Pontious Pilate) must have been unbearable.
P.O.D. is and will likely remain my favorite band with a Christian message.