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"
I watched you fall
I think I pushed
Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe diminished
Maybe I'm innocent
Maybe I'm finished
Maybe I blacked out
How do I play this?
I will give my best today
I will give myself away
I have never hurt anything
Is the jury wavering?
Do they know I sing?
Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe diminished
How do I
How do I play this?
Jealous lover, self defense
Protective brother, chemical
Dependence
I'll consult the i-ching
I'll consult the TV
Ouija, oblique strategies
I'll consult the law books for
Precedents
Can I charm the jury?
I will give my best today
I will give myself away
I have never hurt anything
Is the justice wavering?
Does she know I sing
That song?
Sing along (I will never hurt anything)
Sing along (I will never hurt anything)
Sing along (I will never hurt anything)
I watched you fall
I think I pushed
Maybe they'll see me
Maybe they'll say
"I can see the truth in his statement
Smallpox blanket? No way."
Can I charm the jury, my defense?
Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe diminished
Maybe I loved you
Baby, I loved you
Baby, I loved you
Baby, I loved you
Baby, I'm finished
I will give my best today
I will give myself away
I have never hurt anything
Is the justice wavering?
Does she know I sing
That song?
Sing along (I will never hurt anything)
Sing along (I will never hurt anything)
Sing along (I will never hurt anything)
I have given myself away
I have given my best today
I have never hurt anything
Is the justice wavering?
Does she know I loved you?
Does she know I loved you?
Does she know I sing?
I feel great, I lied to save your feelings
Truth convened, my head smashed through the ceiling
I lost an arm, no one harmed, you
Diplomatically alarmed
I sulked away to lick my thin skin
And I'm not over you
I'm not over you
I'm not over you
I think I pushed
Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe diminished
Maybe I'm innocent
Maybe I'm finished
Maybe I blacked out
How do I play this?
I will give my best today
I will give myself away
I have never hurt anything
Is the jury wavering?
Do they know I sing?
Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe diminished
How do I
How do I play this?
Jealous lover, self defense
Protective brother, chemical
Dependence
I'll consult the i-ching
I'll consult the TV
Ouija, oblique strategies
I'll consult the law books for
Precedents
Can I charm the jury?
I will give my best today
I will give myself away
I have never hurt anything
Is the justice wavering?
Does she know I sing
That song?
Sing along (I will never hurt anything)
Sing along (I will never hurt anything)
Sing along (I will never hurt anything)
I watched you fall
I think I pushed
Maybe they'll see me
Maybe they'll say
"I can see the truth in his statement
Smallpox blanket? No way."
Can I charm the jury, my defense?
Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe diminished
Maybe I loved you
Baby, I loved you
Baby, I loved you
Baby, I loved you
Baby, I'm finished
I will give my best today
I will give myself away
I have never hurt anything
Is the justice wavering?
Does she know I sing
That song?
Sing along (I will never hurt anything)
Sing along (I will never hurt anything)
Sing along (I will never hurt anything)
I have given myself away
I have given my best today
I have never hurt anything
Is the justice wavering?
Does she know I loved you?
Does she know I loved you?
Does she know I sing?
I feel great, I lied to save your feelings
Truth convened, my head smashed through the ceiling
I lost an arm, no one harmed, you
Diplomatically alarmed
I sulked away to lick my thin skin
And I'm not over you
I'm not over you
I'm not over you
Lyrics submitted by xpankfrisst
Diminished Lyrics as written by Michael Mills Peter Buck
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Okaaay, no-one has bothered to comment on one of Stipe's finest lyrical achievements! Nevermind, I will give it a go.
The song is very ominous and foreboding.
The main storyline is how he has killed his lover/girl "i watched you fall, i think i pushed" and his following descent into a spiral of guilt and madness. "maybe I'm crazy" The song tremendously describes his downfall, along with his feelings.
The most amazing impact is belted towards the listener as in the verse whereby he relives the killing, he claims "baby i loved you" several times. He then changes his line after realising his punishment "Baby I'm finished". Here he knows how the jury will not believe his crazed self. His insanity causes him to sing, which is his the main evidence of his descent into madness. He sits in a bubble of denial as he consults his conscience "I have never hurt anything". The sad ending to this song is how we don't hear how the trial ends -because it is so obvious. But seen from the viewpoint of the man, I can sympathise so much, as it has destroyed his own life enough - without the added punishment of a prison sentence.
As a listener, I can't put my interpretation fully into words but this song brings my sympathy levels to their highest, because, after all that has happened - he has lost his love and therefore his life.
The lyrics for this song go on into a sequel on my version, the mood is calmer and only a faint guitar can be heard strumming away. I beleive this part is where he has been sentenced to a mental institution, as the vicious contrasting lyrics juxtapose themselves against the padded walls of the cell. The main focus of his lyrics are "I'm not over you" - how moving.