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"
The weary world is waiting
For ambition to be played
Now young and not afraid
I've got to challenge every challenge that I know
For I am just a sailor
On a ship across the land
Let me hold your hand
To bid farewell
So I can knuckle to my knees
But I'll be back again
No matter where I go
For it's only love
That frees the fire for burning
And I'll take you in my arms
And tell you all I know
As I sing the changing songs
Of my returning
My drifting days prepare me
To do battle with the night
Phantom of the fight
I've got to conquer
All the courage of my fears
The answer lies in limbo
And the harvest will be hard
But sacred are the stars
That leave their mark upon
The fast dissolving years
Yes I'll be back again
No matter where I go
For it's only love
That frees the fire for burning
And I'll take you in my arms
And tell you all I know
As I sing the growing songs of my returning
Time must have her victory
It's that I've always known
But I've won or lost alone
And when a voice calls out,
"There's someone you should meet"
With every strength remaining
I will suffer one more scene
I'll gather all my dreams
And with my final breath
I'll lay them at your feet
Yes I'll be back again
No matter where I go
For it's only love
That frees the fire for burning
And I'll take you in my arms
And tell you all I know
As I sing the final song
Of my returning
For ambition to be played
Now young and not afraid
I've got to challenge every challenge that I know
For I am just a sailor
On a ship across the land
Let me hold your hand
To bid farewell
So I can knuckle to my knees
But I'll be back again
No matter where I go
For it's only love
That frees the fire for burning
And I'll take you in my arms
And tell you all I know
As I sing the changing songs
Of my returning
My drifting days prepare me
To do battle with the night
Phantom of the fight
I've got to conquer
All the courage of my fears
The answer lies in limbo
And the harvest will be hard
But sacred are the stars
That leave their mark upon
The fast dissolving years
Yes I'll be back again
No matter where I go
For it's only love
That frees the fire for burning
And I'll take you in my arms
And tell you all I know
As I sing the growing songs of my returning
Time must have her victory
It's that I've always known
But I've won or lost alone
And when a voice calls out,
"There's someone you should meet"
With every strength remaining
I will suffer one more scene
I'll gather all my dreams
And with my final breath
I'll lay them at your feet
Yes I'll be back again
No matter where I go
For it's only love
That frees the fire for burning
And I'll take you in my arms
And tell you all I know
As I sing the final song
Of my returning
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Yeah, I think this is definitely about touring or something like that, where you have to be away for long time. This is their best song, I've heard. And I don't think this song is depressing at all. I think it's sweet. I really love BJ's voice... it's so familiar and comforting.