Lookin' back on my life
You know that all I see
Are things I could've changed
I should have done
Where did the good times go?
Good times so hard to hold
This time this time
This time I'm gonna find
Lookin' back on my life
You know that all I see
Are things I could've changed
I could have done
No time for sad lament
A wasted life is bitter spent

So rise into the light
In or out of time
Gonna rise straight through the light
In or out of time

Woke up one other day
The pain won't go away
I am growing
In peculiar ways
Into a light I pass
Another dream, another trance
This time, this time
This time I'm gonna rise into the light
In or out of time

Gonna find my way in life
In or out of sight
I'm still seeing things in black and white
Gonna rise straight into the light
In or out of sight

I'm gonna see the light
I'm gonna see the light
I'm gonna see the light

'Cause I know there is time
There is time
There is time
There is time
There is time
There is time
There is time
There is time
This time, this time
This time, this time
This time, this time
This time, this time


Lyrics submitted by JON, edited by Sanctions

This Time Lyrics as written by Richard Ashcroft

Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC

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This Time song meanings
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10 Comments

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  • +3
    General Comment

    I think is about regret of the bad things did in the past now he want to fix all the damage done and find his redemption (The light)

    gto0410100on February 17, 2016   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    surely one of the best alternative songs ever.

    doqtoron November 06, 2006   Link
  • +2
    My Interpretation

    For me, this song means nothing more than the sad turn of the head towards the past itself, and realizing that one always believed that there was time to do things one would have liked to do and yet never did. And here one finds oneself, in the present, in the bitter present, looking at one's whole life with a sad lament and with a feeling of having wasted a lifetime. That pathetic belief that there is always time ... no, time is extremely limited when it is interpreted on human capabilities. The worst enemy of the human being is neither good nor evil, it is time.

    Greetings! JV

    pacquiaojalaoon May 03, 2020   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I love this song since high school. But now I just begin to understand it a little. For some reason, this song comforts me after I was damaged again.

    erikhertzon February 15, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    To me, this song is of one who has come to the crossroads of his/her. He sees things he should have done to fulfill him, but knows that there is 'no time for sad lament as a wasted life is bitter spent'. He knows that there is still time for him to do what he wants to fulfill himself "rising into the light" and he is going to do it anyway despite him being too old or whatever saying that "he'll do it in or out of time"

    kevin_kyleon February 26, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    i think this is about a person who is struggling to see the beauty in life cause they're damaged goods. But they are trying hard to see the good, and i believe they eventually do shift their life view.

    big timmyon February 21, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    The music alone floors me like a Sunday morning in Spring, but doesn't the beauty of his words move you? "Looking back on my life, you know that all I see are things I could have changed, I should have done."

    I have felt that way my entire life.

    boboonon March 19, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    It's like a knife piercing through me whenever he says 'The pain won't go away, I am growing..in peculiar ways'...such a lovely song and it reminds me of someone I just met who feels the same.

    [btw, one of the times at the end he switches and says: 'I'm going to be the light.' And when I listen close I think he says, 'no time for sad dement' which is basically the same meaning as sad lament but he can make it sound like 'no time for sentiment' also which adds a different layer to it.]

    Commagene12on July 29, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Great song!! The lyrics are just amazing. This is the kind of song that makes me feel alive

    fonzon August 04, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Time is passing but this time I am gonna rise ...I am gonna find my way in life...Its about finding your path..Hopeful..Im gonna see the light, I kmow there is time. very hopeful and uplifting...theres time....repeated 10 times, go to the light the positivity, away from darkness.

    dianap4eon August 19, 2015   Link

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