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 is for the people, they want you
This is for the people, they want you
This is for the people, they want you
Getting high on violence, baby
President Dead is clueless and he's
Caught in a headlight police state
God, and his skull is stained glass
Incubated and jet set the bitter
Thinkers buy their tickets to go find
God, like a piggy in a fair
And we don't want to live forever
And we know that suffering is so much better
This is for the people, they want you
This is for the people, they want you
This is for the people, they want you
Getting high on violence, baby
Give the pills time to work, we
All can't be martyred in the
Winter of our discontent (getting high on violence, baby)
Every night we are nailed into place and
Every night we just can't seem to
Ever remember the reason why (getting high on violence, baby)
And we don't want to live forever
And we know that suffering is so much better
(This is for the people, they want to)
(This is for the people, they want to)
(This is for the people, they want to)
(Getting high on violence, baby)
And we don't want to live forever
And we know that suffering is so much better
And we don't want to live forever
And we know that suffering is so much better
And we don't want to live forever
And we know that suffering is so much better
This is for the people, they want you
This is for the people, they want you
Getting high on violence, baby
President Dead is clueless and he's
Caught in a headlight police state
God, and his skull is stained glass
Incubated and jet set the bitter
Thinkers buy their tickets to go find
God, like a piggy in a fair
And we don't want to live forever
And we know that suffering is so much better
This is for the people, they want you
This is for the people, they want you
This is for the people, they want you
Getting high on violence, baby
Give the pills time to work, we
All can't be martyred in the
Winter of our discontent (getting high on violence, baby)
Every night we are nailed into place and
Every night we just can't seem to
Ever remember the reason why (getting high on violence, baby)
And we don't want to live forever
And we know that suffering is so much better
(This is for the people, they want to)
(This is for the people, they want to)
(This is for the people, they want to)
(Getting high on violence, baby)
And we don't want to live forever
And we know that suffering is so much better
And we don't want to live forever
And we know that suffering is so much better
And we don't want to live forever
And we know that suffering is so much better
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
I Can't Go To Sleep
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Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
A lot of MM's lyrics mention the theme of people gaining celebrity after they die. Someone above got it right when they said the president is a controlled, useless figurehead rather than a true leader- a celebrity, if you like. IMO this song is about JFK in particular (see Lamb of God) and how after he died, he was idolised by the American people, as he had been assassinated at the height of his fame- kind of in the same way Jesus Christ became a celebrated figure because of his death rather than what he did in life. "Give the bills time to work" and the idea that "martyrs" don't know why they are considered so great might be a reference to the fact that JFK didn't have much time to carry out real change during his presidency, despite his aspirations- who knows, he could have turned out to be a terrible president, but he died before he cold become unpopular in the mainstream. I see the reference to a "stained glass skull" as more evidence of this.
People buying tickets in order to find God sounds like a criticism of the commercialised form of religion that is promoted in some countries, as well as noting that people tend to worship pop culture figures, politicians and embodiments of patriotism as gods. I would argue that JFK himself was all three of these things- a martyr for American values, an idealist politician and a popular figure all at the same time. It's drawing parallels between religion, celebrity and death like so many of MM's lyrics do, in order to further criticise religion and the seedy underbelly/hypocrisy of American society.
I know this is long, sorry :P I just wanted to share my thoughts.