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"
The wind is in from Africa
Last night I couldn't sleep
Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here, Carey
But it's really not my home
My fingernails are filthy
I've got beach tar on my feet
And I miss my clean white linen and my fancy French cologne
Oh Carey, get out your cane (Carey, get out your cane)
And I'll put on some silver (I'll put on some silver)
Oh, you're a mean old Daddy, but I like you fine
Come on down to the Mermaid Cafe
And I will buy you a bottle of wine
And we'll laugh and toast to nothing and
Smash our empty glasses down
Let's have a round for these freaks and these soldiers
A round for these friends of mine
Let's have another round for the bright red devil, who
Keeps me in this tourist town
Come on, Carey, get out your cane (Carey, get out your cane)
And I'll put on some silver (I'll put on some silver)
Oh, you're a mean old Daddy, but I like you
I like you, I like you, I like you
Maybe I'll go to Amsterdam
Or maybe I'll go to Rome
And rent me a grand piano and put some flowers 'round my room
But let's not talk about fare-thee-wells now
The night is a starry dome
And they're playin' that scratchy rock and roll
Beneath the Matala Moon
Come on, Carey, get out your cane (Carey, get out your cane)
And I'll put on some silver (I'll put on some silver)
You're a mean old Daddy, but I like you
The wind is in from Africa
Last night I couldn't sleep
Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here, but it's
Really not my home
Maybe it's been too long a time since I was
Scramblin' down in the street
Now they got me used to that clean white linen and that
Fancy French cologne
Oh Carey, get out your cane (Carey, get out your cane)
I'll put on my finest silver (I'll put on some silver)
We'll go to the Mermaid Cafe, have fun tonight
I said, oh, you're a mean old Daddy, but you're out of sight
Last night I couldn't sleep
Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here, Carey
But it's really not my home
My fingernails are filthy
I've got beach tar on my feet
And I miss my clean white linen and my fancy French cologne
Oh Carey, get out your cane (Carey, get out your cane)
And I'll put on some silver (I'll put on some silver)
Oh, you're a mean old Daddy, but I like you fine
Come on down to the Mermaid Cafe
And I will buy you a bottle of wine
And we'll laugh and toast to nothing and
Smash our empty glasses down
Let's have a round for these freaks and these soldiers
A round for these friends of mine
Let's have another round for the bright red devil, who
Keeps me in this tourist town
Come on, Carey, get out your cane (Carey, get out your cane)
And I'll put on some silver (I'll put on some silver)
Oh, you're a mean old Daddy, but I like you
I like you, I like you, I like you
Maybe I'll go to Amsterdam
Or maybe I'll go to Rome
And rent me a grand piano and put some flowers 'round my room
But let's not talk about fare-thee-wells now
The night is a starry dome
And they're playin' that scratchy rock and roll
Beneath the Matala Moon
Come on, Carey, get out your cane (Carey, get out your cane)
And I'll put on some silver (I'll put on some silver)
You're a mean old Daddy, but I like you
The wind is in from Africa
Last night I couldn't sleep
Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here, but it's
Really not my home
Maybe it's been too long a time since I was
Scramblin' down in the street
Now they got me used to that clean white linen and that
Fancy French cologne
Oh Carey, get out your cane (Carey, get out your cane)
I'll put on my finest silver (I'll put on some silver)
We'll go to the Mermaid Cafe, have fun tonight
I said, oh, you're a mean old Daddy, but you're out of sight
Lyrics submitted by wingedsorceress
Carey Lyrics as written by Joni Mitchell
Lyrics © Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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could carey possibly be the "redneck on a grecian isle who did the goat dance very well"?
see I never thought about the red hair with bright red devil, but I always have with the line "Oh the Rogue, the red, red rogue" in "California." Based on the rest of the comments around here, it sounds like it's most likely the same person
@sploogerella YES!
@sploogerella YES!