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"
There's a port on a western bay
And it serves a hundred ships a day
Lonely sailors pass the time away
And talk about their homes
And there's a girl in this harbor town
And she works layin' whiskey down
They say. "Brandy, fetch another round"
She serves them whiskey and wine
The sailors say, "Brandy, you're a fine girl
(You're a fine girl)
What a good wife you would be
(Such a fine girl)
Yeah, your eyes
Could steal a sailor from the sea"
Brandy wears a braided chain
Made of finest silver from the north of Spain
A locket that bears the name
Of a man that Brandy loved
He came on a summer's day
Bringing gifts from far away
But he made it clear he couldn't stay
No harbor was his home
The sailor said, "Brandy, you're a fine girl
(You're a fine girl)
What a good wife you would be
(Such a fine girl)
But my life, my love and my lady is the sea"
Yeah, Brandy used to watch his eyes
When he told his sailor's story
She could feel the ocean fall and rise
She saw its raging glory
But he had always told the truth
Lord, he was an honest man
And Brandy does her best to understand
At night when the bars close down
Brandy walks through a silent town
And loves a man who's not around
She still can hear him say
She hears him say, "Brandy, you're a fine girl
(You're a fine girl)
What a good wife you would be
(Such a fine girl)
But my life, my love and my lady is the sea
It is, yes, it is"
He said, "Brandy, you're a fine girl
(You're a fine girl)
What a good wife you would be
(Such a fine girl)
But my life, my love and my lady is the sea
It is, it is, yes, it is"
And it serves a hundred ships a day
Lonely sailors pass the time away
And talk about their homes
And there's a girl in this harbor town
And she works layin' whiskey down
They say. "Brandy, fetch another round"
She serves them whiskey and wine
The sailors say, "Brandy, you're a fine girl
(You're a fine girl)
What a good wife you would be
(Such a fine girl)
Yeah, your eyes
Could steal a sailor from the sea"
Brandy wears a braided chain
Made of finest silver from the north of Spain
A locket that bears the name
Of a man that Brandy loved
He came on a summer's day
Bringing gifts from far away
But he made it clear he couldn't stay
No harbor was his home
The sailor said, "Brandy, you're a fine girl
(You're a fine girl)
What a good wife you would be
(Such a fine girl)
But my life, my love and my lady is the sea"
Yeah, Brandy used to watch his eyes
When he told his sailor's story
She could feel the ocean fall and rise
She saw its raging glory
But he had always told the truth
Lord, he was an honest man
And Brandy does her best to understand
At night when the bars close down
Brandy walks through a silent town
And loves a man who's not around
She still can hear him say
She hears him say, "Brandy, you're a fine girl
(You're a fine girl)
What a good wife you would be
(Such a fine girl)
But my life, my love and my lady is the sea
It is, yes, it is"
He said, "Brandy, you're a fine girl
(You're a fine girl)
What a good wife you would be
(Such a fine girl)
But my life, my love and my lady is the sea
It is, it is, yes, it is"
Lyrics submitted by dsfire, edited by janeaparis1
Brandy Lyrics as written by Elliot Lurie
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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first of all, I agree with rockenpnay's comment so much it's kind of scary, because uh, that comment was posted on my birthday, not to mention when the song and the first comment were posted, too.
as for this song and what it means to me, well...a friend of mine introduced me to it about 7 years ago. for a few years afterwards, this song just pissed me off. really. I got pissed off everytime I would listen to it, because it made me mad that the guy goes on saying how great brandy is, and how she could steal a sailor away from the sea, and yet here he is, a sailor she is in love with(and he is in love with her), and yet he abandons her at the end! he gives her a locket, she wanders around alone after dark crying over the fact he just left her all alone...and for what? the damn sea? why couldn't she go with him?!
...yeah, I'm apparently still annoyed with the character in the song. however, my feelings towards this song changed a bit after it was sung to me...and i guess i feel a little softer where it's concerned now because i can see it as a lot more real. it's very bittersweet to me, for the reasons rockenpnay stated above, basically.
the friend who shared this with me used to say i'm pretty much brandy from the song...i could never see the similarities until he sang this to me once, afterwards i thought about it, and i guess he was right all along. "brandy tries her best to understand," indeed. i still say the ending to this song is a big rip-off.
@delial You’re annoyed by the sailor in the story? Are you kidding me? Listen to his words. “Brandy, you’re a fine girl. What a good wife you would be. BUT MY LUFE, MY LOVE, AND MY LADY IS THE SEA.” Also, he said this “HE MADE IT CLEAR, HE COULDN'T STAY. NO HARBOR WAS HIS HOME.” Just because she fell in love with him, it wasn’t his fault.