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"
Woah, Jocko, don't expect me
To come out drinking, messing around.
Spending my time with a bunch of crazy people.
Yes, I been there before,
I don't need to go back no more.
I'm just a family man, like it or not,
I am a family man.
I'm a-holding onto what I've got.
I'm a family man,, right by damn.
Finally, find out what I am is a family man.
And don't expect me to hit the road
At a moment's notice without my suitcase
With some crazy bunch of strangers
In some unknown car,
Well, I'm just not willing to go that far.
The life I used to lead was a little too frantic. I guess I just got eyes to grow old and grey.
And if what I have in mind isn't super romantic,
I guess I always saw myself this way,
I'm just a family man, like it or not,
Said I'm a family man, holding onto what I've got,
I'm a family man, right by damn,
I finally, find out what I am is a family man.
Sears and Roebuck.
Howard Johnson.
Colonel Sanders.
Station wagon.
Briggs and Stratton.
Second mortgage.
If I can ever lose my blues.
Walk on over and turn on the TV.
What I'd like to do is
Lie down on the sofa later on.
I might walk my dog, baby.
Bo Diddley's a family man.
To come out drinking, messing around.
Spending my time with a bunch of crazy people.
Yes, I been there before,
I don't need to go back no more.
I'm just a family man, like it or not,
I am a family man.
I'm a-holding onto what I've got.
I'm a family man,, right by damn.
Finally, find out what I am is a family man.
And don't expect me to hit the road
At a moment's notice without my suitcase
With some crazy bunch of strangers
In some unknown car,
Well, I'm just not willing to go that far.
The life I used to lead was a little too frantic. I guess I just got eyes to grow old and grey.
And if what I have in mind isn't super romantic,
I guess I always saw myself this way,
I'm just a family man, like it or not,
Said I'm a family man, holding onto what I've got,
I'm a family man, right by damn,
I finally, find out what I am is a family man.
Sears and Roebuck.
Howard Johnson.
Colonel Sanders.
Station wagon.
Briggs and Stratton.
Second mortgage.
If I can ever lose my blues.
Walk on over and turn on the TV.
What I'd like to do is
Lie down on the sofa later on.
I might walk my dog, baby.
Bo Diddley's a family man.
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Nostalgia ain't what it used to be. This JTboppingblues song was more fun than Jocko, but now a kid might need wiki to look up the aging references within song! Things that aren't here anymore or are not doing well or mostly no longer create an image for the younger crowd: What Does it picture instantly to say "station wagon"(minivan or suv, etc now)? Besides Bo Diddley and Harlan Sanders being gone, and Raising Cane's & others are causing KFCs to Close round here, What is Howard Johnson's as a restaurant, Sears pretty much is Going Out of Business, Briggs & Stratton makes the engine, but another Brand is on the Mower for Sale, and a Dad uses the Remote or his Cell to mess with the tv. which is now just a Monitor for some other device/box or wifi or Bluetooth or ? Thank God as a Dad I still lie down on the sofa to gather the strength to get up 'Later on...' to walk my dog, baby... But if I ever lose my blues, I walk on over and look for the Remote.
'I'm a Man' is the Bo Diddley song originally the B-side of 'Bo Diddley' his 1st single release in 1955. Both huge hits, and both very new beats and of much impact on later rocknrollers & blues dudes. James Taylor ends his Family Man song with Bo Diddley, and JT also has Bo Diddley in these lyrics from 'RockNRoll is Music Now' "Mama knows and papa knows that rock 'n roll is music now. Baby's been cutting his teeth on Bo Diddley's, I'm a man, man, Listen to the Wolfman howl." Taylor was 7 years young in 1955, I was 2yo. All those references to station wagons and companies still made sense when Taylor released this song in 1976, our bicentennial and my wedding year. So I finally found out, I am a Family Man. Song's a great dogwalking beat to have banging round yo head, walking yo dog.