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"
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The Night We Met
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Magical
Ed Sheeran
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How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
This is one of those timeless songs that hits one deeply emotionally. It's all about how the past seems to always be better in retrospect than the present. In the end, it's only your memories that define who you were and who you are.
I find it absolutely amazing that so much can be said in only 4 lines.
I think the last line is interesting
"Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you"
What does "they're all that's left you" mean? It's not "they're all that's left OF you" or "they're all that's left, you see". What has left you? I've always wondered this.
@archard "They're all that's left you" means pretty much the same thing as "They're all that's left to you." That is, they're all you have left. (A hardcore grammar geek would go on to explain exactly why "all that's left you" either is or isn't grammatically correct, and if it is, what the grammatical function of "left" is in the lyric. Alas, I am only a softcore grammar geek. I think it's grammatically correct, but I have no clue what part of speech "left" is.)
@archard ie, "They're all you have left."
archard: I've always heard this song conjoined with Old Friends and so I think when they say "preserve your memories, they're all that's left you" it means your memories may have been forgotten in old age, but your friends are still there for you.
They're both very sweet songs, I like to imagine myself listening to this in 50 years' time and feeling the full effect, but the bewilderment I feel when I hear it is similar to how Paul Simon felt when writing it, and that's also a beautifully serene feeling.
From working in an assisted living home I see what this song represents every day. Paul Simon, in his own words, describes what it is to become old. Memories leave you at your old age, what we call dimentia, and it affects a lot of older people. That's why you must preserve your memories. While the actual experiences of you living those memories will never die, your remembering of those memories unfortunately will.
@bwisner33 As our population ages, more and more people will have to deal with parents (and other loved ones) who are losing their memories. I've always loved this song and found it incredibly simple yet profound .... only more so as time goes on.<br /> <br /> The title of the song (and album) "Bookends" (play on words: book ends) is brilliant. As another poster mentioned, there is so much conveyed in very few lines.
My absolute favorite. Short and absolutely beautiful. All of Simon and Garfunkel's lyrics are just... jaw-dropping. I'm a young Simon and Garfunkel song, I'm only 15, I became hooked when I was watching one of my favorite movies, Girl, Interrupted and this song was played. So, I found out who it was by and discovered my mom's Simon and Garfunkel album and I've been obsessive ever since.
Am I the only one who thinks they use this in any 60's movie whenever they convey a loss of innocence? Well anyways, it may be a short tune, but it's pretty damn good. :)
I love the beginning of Girl, Interrupted when they play this song. For me, this song sums up everything about being innocent and not wanting to lose it. Great song.
yeah i agree. Girl, Interrupted is how i know of this song. and i just feel like it completely describes how you feel when you grow up and know things are changing. the mood is amazing and i wish it was longer :(
amazing, i've always been a huge paul simon fan since i was a kid, i grew up listening to him from my mom, and i always liked this song, then i had a death of a good friend recently and this song along with the lyrics from the other bookends song really hit me, "can you imagine us years from today, sharing a park bench quietly", and he was my best friend and i could imagine that, then when this part of the song starts its like the feeling of the harsh reality that its not going to happen now, because memories are all that i have of them now. very moving song for me
This song was the first song I learned to play on the guitar, heh. Anyway, listening to the lyrics, they remind me of my nephew who passed away not even a year ago. It's one of my favourite songs.