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 was twenty one years when I wrote this song
I'm twenty two now, but I won't be for long
People ask me when will I grow up to understand
Why all the girls I knew at school
Are already pushing prams
I loved you then as I love you still
Though I put you on a pedestal,
You put me on the pill
I don't feel bad about letting you go
I just feel sad about letting you know
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl
I loved the words you wrote to me
But that was bloody yesterday
I can't survive on what you send
Every time you need a friend
I saw two shooting stars last night
I wished on them but they were only satellites
Is it wrong to wish on space hardware
I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl
My dreams were full of strange ideas
My mind was set despite the fears
But other things got in the way
I never asked that boy to stay
Once upon a time at home
I sat beside the telephone
Waiting for someone to pull me through
When at last it didn’t ring, I knew it wasn’t you
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl
I'm twenty two now, but I won't be for long
People ask me when will I grow up to understand
Why all the girls I knew at school
Are already pushing prams
I loved you then as I love you still
Though I put you on a pedestal,
You put me on the pill
I don't feel bad about letting you go
I just feel sad about letting you know
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl
I loved the words you wrote to me
But that was bloody yesterday
I can't survive on what you send
Every time you need a friend
I saw two shooting stars last night
I wished on them but they were only satellites
Is it wrong to wish on space hardware
I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl
My dreams were full of strange ideas
My mind was set despite the fears
But other things got in the way
I never asked that boy to stay
Once upon a time at home
I sat beside the telephone
Waiting for someone to pull me through
When at last it didn’t ring, I knew it wasn’t you
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar, edited by vaguely
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The Night We Met
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Midnight
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Ed Sheeran
“Midnight” is a song about finding a love that is so true that it provides a calming feeling through every storm. Ed Sheeran reflects on his good fortunes in landing someone with such peace and support and speaks of not fearing the dark days because he knows they’ll all end in the safety nets of her arms.
“Well, good morning there / What a way to start the day / With everything laid bare,” Ed Sheeran sings in the first verse, enthusiastic to be waking up beside his woman. He apologizes for missing her calls in the second verse and promises to return them because for him, speaking to her is the most important thing. “Well, I get lost inside my head / In this chaos, you’re my calm / And I will find my feet again / ‘Cause еven the worst days of my life will always еnd / At midnight in your arms,” sings Ed Sheeran in the chorus, revelling in his good luck.
Billy Bragg wrote the extra lyrics for Kirsty. He spoke about this on a TV programme about Kirsty following her death.
@quester You are right and I didn't realise he helped her change the gender of the song and re-wrote the lyrics including adding a new verse<br /> <br /> youtu.be/KyaIp2Gmgac<br />
I don't normally like it when cover versions change the lyrics of the original version, but I make an exception for this one just because of the new part at the end. Does anyone know if Kirsty wrote the following lyrics herself or did Billy Bragg supply them?
"Once upon a time at home I sat beside the telephone Waiting for someone to pull me through When at last it didn’t ring, I knew it wasn’t you"
Of course before the phone didn't just suddenly stop ringing since it was never ringing all night. It's a great analogy for how she finally comes to the sudden realization that the man she thought was hers was not, as she had thought before. He was just space junk that she was wishing was a shooting star.
I love Kirsty.
"Once upon a time at home I sat beside the telephone Waiting for someone to pull me through When at last it didn’t ring, I knew it wasn’t you"
I always took this verse to be about the moment where you eventually realise that someone really isn't there for you and knowing that they never will be.
billy bragg is a legend - i prefer his version but this definitely has a nice sound to it
A fabulous song, sung fabulously! Kirsty was vastly underrated. Her untimely death was such a tragedy.
This site becomes a farce when the lyrics are totally wrong because they have to use "official" lyrics. In this case Billy Bragg's version sung from the perspective of a man, not Kirsty's sung from a woman's.
It's a great song still...
@matthewsheffield Now fixed! Woo hoo.
"When at last it didn't ring I knew it wasn't you"
One of the best lyrics ever.