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"
Yow, yow
Yow
Mm-huh
Mm-uh
Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and faith
And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the Czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank, held a general's rank
When the Blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Oh, yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Oh, yeah
I watched with glee while your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades for the gods they made
I shouted out, "Who killed the Kennedys?"
Well, after all, it was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reach Bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Oh, yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Oh, yeah
A-get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Oh, yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Mm, yeah
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint
So if you meet me, have some courtesy
Have some sympathy and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, mm, yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Mm, yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Mean it
Get down
Woo-hoo
Ah, yeah
Get on down
Oh, yeah
Mm
Bum, ba-bum, bum, bum, ba-bum
Ba-bum, bum, bum, ba-bum
Bum, ba-bum, bum, bum, ba-bum
Bum, dum, bum, bum, ba-dum, da
Yeah
Ah, yeah
Tell me, baby, what's my name?
Tell me, honey, can you guess my name?
Tell me, baby, what's my name?
I'll tell you one time, you're to blame
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
Ooh-hoo, alright
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ooh-hoo-hoo
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ah, yeah
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ooh-hoo-hoo
Ah yes, what's my name?
Tell me, baby, what's my name?
Tell me, sweetie, what's my name?
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ooh-hoo-hoo
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ooh-hoo-hoo
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ooh-hoo-hoo
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ah, yeah
Yow
Mm-huh
Mm-uh
Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and faith
And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the Czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank, held a general's rank
When the Blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Oh, yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Oh, yeah
I watched with glee while your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades for the gods they made
I shouted out, "Who killed the Kennedys?"
Well, after all, it was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reach Bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Oh, yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Oh, yeah
A-get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Oh, yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Mm, yeah
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint
So if you meet me, have some courtesy
Have some sympathy and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, mm, yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Mm, yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Mean it
Get down
Woo-hoo
Ah, yeah
Get on down
Oh, yeah
Mm
Bum, ba-bum, bum, bum, ba-bum
Ba-bum, bum, bum, ba-bum
Bum, ba-bum, bum, bum, ba-bum
Bum, dum, bum, bum, ba-dum, da
Yeah
Ah, yeah
Tell me, baby, what's my name?
Tell me, honey, can you guess my name?
Tell me, baby, what's my name?
I'll tell you one time, you're to blame
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
Ooh-hoo, alright
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ooh-hoo-hoo
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ah, yeah
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ooh-hoo-hoo
Ah yes, what's my name?
Tell me, baby, what's my name?
Tell me, sweetie, what's my name?
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ooh-hoo-hoo
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ooh-hoo-hoo
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ooh-hoo-hoo
Ooh-hoo-hoo, ah, yeah
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The Night We Met
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Great version of a great song,
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The song taunts us over and over with "What's my name?" even after the narrator tell us to just call him Lucifer.
His name is God. Not Lucifer, not Satan, but God. I used to think this verse was just bad grammar:
But the anwer is right there--cop is to criminal as God is to Lucifer.
God in a bad mood is Satan. God in a bad mood lays our souls to waste:
God in a good mood plays games with us:
What a masterful song!
I always took the song at face value, but I think you just nailed it.
that is a fascinating take on it
I like this interpretation best.<br /> <br /> Also other things that suggest it is God and not Satan:<br /> <br /> What's puzzling you<br /> is the nature of my game.<br /> When bad things appear to happen to religious people, they say God "moves in mysterious ways" or that "we cannot understand his reasons".<br /> <br /> And all the sinner saints,<br /> The Bible often shows a lot of sympathy for sinners, even seeming to encourage sin sometimes, check out Luke 7: 36-50.<br /> Also the Bible is often known for speaking in contradictory terms.<br /> <br /> Also, the first verse,<br /> "And I was 'round when Jesus Christ<br /> Had his moment of doubt and pain<br /> Made damn sure that Pilate<br /> Washed his hands and sealed his fate"<br /> is more reminiscent of God than Satan.
I freakin love that interpretation. Well done.
@DorianMode Love this interpretation!! I think you're right and can't even believe I have a higher respect for how this song was even written! Masterful is rgt!!!!
@DorianMode It is a Satanic mockery of the Christian God to call him Satan's other half. God is not evil and does not lay souls to waste. If the songwriter is referring to God here it's NOT with any understanding of the Christian religion.
@DorianMode Yep, and we should have sympathy for the devil because he and God are one and the same. God created the world, including war and injustice.
@DorianMode I agree the 1st verse.... I'm a MAN of wealth and taste. GOD created man in his image.
@DorianMode So... You don't think the whole opposite thing could be because his name "Lucifer" means "light bringer"? And he's the Prince of Darkness?<br /> <br /> Lucifer is his birth name, it was changed to "Satan" (or "Shaitan") meaning "adversary", which is more suitable and less ironic than "Lucifer".<br /> <br /> Rather than all this clueless theology?<br /> <br /> The name of the Christian god btw is either "Yahweh" / "Jehovah" or "El" / "Elohim". <br />
@DorianMode Yes!! I GET it now! I always liked this song better than "Gimme Shelter" which was dated, and referenced mostly Vietnam (although the soul singer doing the backing vocals was Astounding.) "...fought for ten decades over the Gods they made" gives it all away. Even Catholics and Protestants were burning each other at the stake in the Middle Ages and beyond. Interesting factoid: they had to change the song from "Kennedy" to "Kennedys" after RFK was assassinated in 1968.
@DorianMode, You are lost in your understanding of God (love) and Satan (pride).
@ken1173066 you are so hung up on your religion you can’t even allow a song NOT in the Bible to be interpreted as written. In case you don’t know Mick isn’t one of the prophets