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"
A Salvation Army band played
And the children drunk lemonade
And the morning lasted all day
All day
And through an open window came
Like Sinatra in a younger day
Pushing the town away, ah
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
They sat on the stony ground
And he took out a cigarette out
And everyone else came down
To listen
He said, "In winter 1963
It felt like the world would freeze
With John F. Kennedy
And The Beatles" (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah
All the work shut down
The evening turned to rain
Watch the water roll down the drain
As we followed him down
To the station
And though he never would wave goodbye
You could see it written in his eyes
As the train pulled out of sight
Bye-bye
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah hey ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Make it easy on yourself
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya (society's so)
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah (so hard to desert, so hard that you know)
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Make it easy on yourself
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya (so hard to desert)
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah (so hard to desert)
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma
And the children drunk lemonade
And the morning lasted all day
All day
And through an open window came
Like Sinatra in a younger day
Pushing the town away, ah
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
They sat on the stony ground
And he took out a cigarette out
And everyone else came down
To listen
He said, "In winter 1963
It felt like the world would freeze
With John F. Kennedy
And The Beatles" (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah
All the work shut down
The evening turned to rain
Watch the water roll down the drain
As we followed him down
To the station
And though he never would wave goodbye
You could see it written in his eyes
As the train pulled out of sight
Bye-bye
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah hey ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Make it easy on yourself
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya (society's so)
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah (so hard to desert, so hard that you know)
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Make it easy on yourself
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya (so hard to desert)
Hey ma ma ma hey-yah (so hard to desert)
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma, ma-me doo-de din-day-ya
Hey ma ma ma
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More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
The Dream Academy wrote it with Drake in mind, no question, but it's resonance is far broader, isn't it?
What was Britain like in 1984/85 when it was recorded and released? Thatcher, miners' strike, and so on. It looked back on 1960's not so much nostalgically, as a time when something broke and nothing was ever the same again. Places once full of life and hope maybe, but now there's no more work. So what are you left with but "the stony ground". It could be about any working class, industrial town really.
Incidentally, I wish I could find find the 'hidden' lyrics; those Nick Laird-Clowes sings towards the end when the chanting and drums are in full swing... "Make it easy on yourself..." (Drake again)
It always hits me square in the heart this one.
@Kestrel1971 you are spot on. get's me too. thanks for the post.
@Kestrel1971
@Kestrel1971 yeah i can't listen to this song without a tear rolling down my cheek.
This song is - pure and simple - about Nick Drake, a songwriter who died in 1974 (possible suicide on anti-depressants of all things!)
If you haven't listened to Drake's work, and you like Dream Academy, you should give a listen. It may not be as polished, but it's got 'the stuff'. Other artists directly influenced and affected by Drake's work include, The Cure (their very name comes from a Drake song!), Duncan Sheik, Howard Jones, and American Music Club.
Nick had is own small following - and it was small enough that he would often play out in the open of his small Northern England town of Tanworth-in-Arden. Here, Nick Laid-Clowes of the Dream Academy imagines what it must have been like to have sat down and listened to him.
Nick Drake never 'waved goodbye', and he never knew how successful he'd be some 30 years later, but he influenced a LOT of musicians and here the Academy pays homage to his memory.
Although I'm well aware that the song was written as a tribute to Nick Drake, as someone who is a huge fan of both Nick and Dream Academy, I really can't see where Nick Drake is referenced in this song. Maybe the "he" was intended to be Nick in the eyes of Gilbert Gabriel and Nick Laird-Clowes but that's really as far as it goes in my opinion. <br /> Tanworth-in-Arden can by no stretch of the imagination be described as a northern town, either geographically (it's in the English Midlands) or in the context of the song. Tanworth in fact is a small village, not a town.<br /> While I wouldn't take issue with the artists you have listed as being influenced by Nick (so many have been), I cannot think for the life of me which song you are referring to in connection with The Cure. As far as I'm aware their name is a contraction of their earlier name Easy Cure, which was taken from the lyrics of a song written by drummer Lol Tolhurst.
I also grew up in NE Ohio in the 70s, like another contributor here, and this song always reminded me of home, and hauntingly, of my grandfather, who also grew up in NE Ohio in the 1920s and 30s. I was unaware of the reference to Nick Drake; I'll definitely check him out. I looked up the lyrics this evening, as we are expecting a winter storm to roll through Ohio this evening.
I often feel that songs like this that have melodies that affect people so profoundly must be very old. Perhaps the melody was around thousands of years ago and it resonates in our cells. Like so many others, I always think about the past when I hear it - perhaps because of the lyrics, but even without them, they create such a longing in my heart that I feel I've known this song in past lifetimes!
Fascinating it reminds you of home in NE Ohio, daris. This record is so English, you can almost see the backdrop of a smoking chimney against an overcast sky. Nice to see it works outside of these shores too.
Wow. That's two people from Ohio that struck a chord with this song before I even found this site. I'm from a small town in northwest Ohio, and this song specifically reminds me of the annual Memorial Day parade. <br /> <br /> When I was child in the mid 70s and early 80s, the Memorial Day parade was a big town event. The whole town would be there and you dare not miss it. The morning really would last all day. This was a time when the WWII veterans would talk about the war, about friends they had lost, and about how the town had changed throughout their lives. The children drunk lemonade and waited on the sidewalks for candy to be tossed from the floats. The parade would end at the cemetery with a 21 gun salute at the tomb of unknown soldier. The silence afterwards was profound. We would shake hands and head home. Take it easy on yourself. <br /> <br /> The world changed throughout the 80s and 90s as I was growing up. I wanted to get out of that town so bad. I was pushing the town away, and moving on.<br /> <br /> I went to the parade one last time when I was a senior in high school, and it had practically dwindled to nothing. It was so sad. The seniors that had made the parade what it was were almost all dead an no one was filling in the gaps. <br /> <br /> It's gone now. Just a faded memory in my head, but this song brings it back. It's like I can hear the ghosts from that parade as I left that town, asking " Where you going now? Away from this little town, huh? Well, take it easy on yourself. "
It's a good song. It's about Nick Drake.
One of my favs from the 80's. Simply amazing.
@ctlizyrd I lived (born and grew up) in Tanworth-in-Arden .... It is not a town ...it is a very affluent and sleepy little village about 15 miles South of the centre of Birmingham and not a Northern Town as the song suggests. (Unless you live in London and therefore anything North of Watford is considered The North..lol). I don't have any recollections of Nick Drake singing out in the open there, to small groups of followers (nor do others I know, living there). In fact by the time he was at boarding school and then University, he rarely visited or stayed home. The song (and the video) really belies the fact that he came from a privileged upbringing. "Far Leys" his parents home in Tanworth-in-Arden is a large country house, not your 2 up, 2 down terraced house that you find in most Northern Industrial towns.
I just posted something along these lines. Hardly a northern industrial town, in fact it only just about gets in the Midlands.
@SirMuttley Please note that the character in the song (presumably meant to represent Nick Drake) does not LIVE IN the northern industrial town--he arrives and leaves by train. This visitor, who has a fabulous voice like the early Sinatra, is heard singing from a window, presumably in the house he is visiting. He then goes out to reminisce with townspeople about the 60s. This is a bleak little town, where a Salvation Army band is the main attraction and the jobs are mostly gone. The visitor talks of the days of Kennedy and the Beatles--days of hope and excitement. The feelings he conveys temporarily lift the town's mood. They accompany him to the train station, even in the rain, and are sorry to see him go.<br /> <br /> The song could be based on an actual visit Drake made to a northern England town. <br /> <br /> Or it could be a metaphor about how small moments can light up people's lives. If so, that would fit well with Nick Drake's songs. I'm new to Drake and have only listened to a few of his songs, but titles like Pink Moon and Bryter Layter suggest that though things may look bleak now, they will get brighter and better. It's like he's trying to reassure himself, trying to make it through depression to the light he knows is at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, he never made it out.<br /> <br /> I've gone far afield from the main point I wanted to make, which is that Nick's family's prosperity does not make the song ironic or hypocritical. It is a song about bright spots in a gloomy world, whether the gloom surrounds a northern rust belt town or a mind clouded by depression.
The song is not about Drake, at all but is dedicated to him. The song is about one town and only 1 town in particular. Newcastle in the UK. He mentioned, in an interview with Mojo, it was about long unemployment lines and the poverty in that city due to that. Written in mid 1980s
Verse 1: A Salvation Army band played And the children drank lemonade And the morning lasted all day All day And through an open window came Like Sinatra in a younger day Pushing the town away Ah
Salvation Army band is to spread the gospel, spread hope during a time of crisis. The morning lasted all day, no one was working so the days seem to drag on. I'm assuming this (with no reference) that this is a local politician which will make sense later. The town is circling around this person for good news about theirs and the city's future.
Verse 2: They sat on the stoney ground And he took a cigarette out And everyone else came down To listen He said, "In winter 1963 It felt like the world would freeze With John F. Kennedy And The Beatles" Yeah, yeah, yeah
Everyone gathered around "HIM" to listen about their futures. He tried to provide hope to the town by describing they overcame the very harsh winter and as well the news about JFK and the Beatles
Verse 3: The evening turned to rain (The evening turned to rain) Watched the water roll down the drain As we followed him down To the station And though he never would wave goodbye You could see it written in his eyes As the train rolled out of sight Bye-bye
No news was guaranteed about their futures. (Newcastle Background: Unemployment was above 12% in the entire UK however in Newcastle alone it was above 24% in the 1980s)
So atmosphere went dark and rainy. The watched the water roll down the drain meaning they were looking at the ground and lost hope. He never waved goodbye, you can see it written in his eyes, means "HE" left them with no good news and couldn't bare looking back at them that their city was not going to make it anytime soon.
Then in the chorus they said in one version "All the work shut down" and another version "They shut the factories down". "Take it easy on yourselves" because this is a bad era.
So this song is solely about Newcastle with the long unemployment lines and all the ship building factories shutting down in the 1980s due to labor demands and other countries such as Japan making them faster and cheaper. Due to this reason, Newcastle was hit the hardest of all and had a high unemployment rate of 24+%.
@chevroletnavy <br /> Thanks for that great information ????
Just like the title says, it's a song describing what life was probably like in a rural northern town in the 1960s. In 1963 it seemed like the innocence was gone when JFK was killed and the "British Invasion" came. The singer is nostalgic for those days.
This is why I love this site. This has always been one of my favorite songs of all time and now I know why. Now I have some homework to do about Nick Drake.
As a person who returned home after 10 years to my snow NE Ohio town this song also hits me in the gut every time I heard it. It reminds me of my past and what this town used to be like when I was growing up in the 1970s. It's simply a beautiful song and now I know it's also a beautiful tribute.
Thank you folks. It seemed to me that the song has always had an eerie way of coming on the radio when I'm feeling low, and it has always lifted my spirits simply because it's a beautiful melody with beautiful harmonies. How much greater my appreciation for the song has grown now that I know its background.
I don't know why, but this song makes me tear up a bit. It's one of the "great" ones :)