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"
You tell me that there's love here, but, to me, it's blatant
That with all the blood here, I'm dealing with Satan
Plus with all the hating, it's hard to keep peace (uh huh)
Thou shall not steal, but I will to eat
I tried doing good, but good's not too good for me
Misunderstood, why you chose the hood for me
Me? I'm aight I just had to work hard at it
Went to grandma for the answer and she told me that God had it
So now here I am, confused and full of questions
Am I born to lose or is this just a lesson?
And who is going choose when it gets turned around
And will it be laying in my own blood and on the ground?
My child
I've watched you grow up and I've been there
Even at those times you least suspected it, I was there
And look at what I've given you a talent to rhyme
I may not come when you call, but I'm always on time
Somebody's knocking
Should I let 'em in?
Lord, we're just starting
But where will it end
Somebody's knocking
Should I let 'em in?
Lord, we're just starting
But where will it end
But when the funds are low, the guns'll blow
Looking for that one that owe, make 'em run that dough
No! Put down the guns and write a new rhyme
You'll get it all in due time, you'll do fine, just have faith cause you mine
And when you shine, it's gon' be a sight to behold
So don't fight to be old or lose sight when it's cold
See that light down the road? It's going to guide you there
Two sets of footprints I was right beside you there
But what about them times I only saw one?
Those were the times when I was under the gun
It was then I carried you my son
Led you to safety
It just wasn't your time to face me (uh-huh)
Ayo a few of them times I thought you would erase me
But all you did was embrace me, prepared me for the worst
Offered me eternal life and scared me with the hearse
And the curse turned to grace when the hurt turned to faith
No more running or sliding in the dirt cause I'm safe
Somebody's knocking
Should I let 'em in?
Lord, we're just starting
But where will it end
Somebody's knocking
Should I let 'em in?
So if I'm your man, I'm in your hands, what's your plan
Never had a friend cause you couldn't trust your man
Learned to stand before I crawled, things were twisted
And if you showed me anything at all, then I missed it
Looked the wrong way, I've done some wrong things
Kept a bad attitude, but that's what wrong brings
And now you mean to tell me that, after all this time
It was you that kept the dog from going out of my mind?
It was you that breathed life into my lungs when I was born?
And it was you that let me know what was right from what was wrong?
And it was you that let me do, what I knew what could be done?
And it was you that gave me a good wife and a beautiful son?
And it's been you speaking to me inside my mind?
And it's been you who has forgiven time after time?
It was you who opened my eyes so I could see?
And it was you that shined your light on me?
That with all the blood here, I'm dealing with Satan
Plus with all the hating, it's hard to keep peace (uh huh)
Thou shall not steal, but I will to eat
I tried doing good, but good's not too good for me
Misunderstood, why you chose the hood for me
Me? I'm aight I just had to work hard at it
Went to grandma for the answer and she told me that God had it
So now here I am, confused and full of questions
Am I born to lose or is this just a lesson?
And who is going choose when it gets turned around
And will it be laying in my own blood and on the ground?
My child
I've watched you grow up and I've been there
Even at those times you least suspected it, I was there
And look at what I've given you a talent to rhyme
I may not come when you call, but I'm always on time
Somebody's knocking
Should I let 'em in?
Lord, we're just starting
But where will it end
Somebody's knocking
Should I let 'em in?
Lord, we're just starting
But where will it end
But when the funds are low, the guns'll blow
Looking for that one that owe, make 'em run that dough
No! Put down the guns and write a new rhyme
You'll get it all in due time, you'll do fine, just have faith cause you mine
And when you shine, it's gon' be a sight to behold
So don't fight to be old or lose sight when it's cold
See that light down the road? It's going to guide you there
Two sets of footprints I was right beside you there
But what about them times I only saw one?
Those were the times when I was under the gun
It was then I carried you my son
Led you to safety
It just wasn't your time to face me (uh-huh)
Ayo a few of them times I thought you would erase me
But all you did was embrace me, prepared me for the worst
Offered me eternal life and scared me with the hearse
And the curse turned to grace when the hurt turned to faith
No more running or sliding in the dirt cause I'm safe
Somebody's knocking
Should I let 'em in?
Lord, we're just starting
But where will it end
Somebody's knocking
Should I let 'em in?
So if I'm your man, I'm in your hands, what's your plan
Never had a friend cause you couldn't trust your man
Learned to stand before I crawled, things were twisted
And if you showed me anything at all, then I missed it
Looked the wrong way, I've done some wrong things
Kept a bad attitude, but that's what wrong brings
And now you mean to tell me that, after all this time
It was you that kept the dog from going out of my mind?
It was you that breathed life into my lungs when I was born?
And it was you that let me know what was right from what was wrong?
And it was you that let me do, what I knew what could be done?
And it was you that gave me a good wife and a beautiful son?
And it's been you speaking to me inside my mind?
And it's been you who has forgiven time after time?
It was you who opened my eyes so I could see?
And it was you that shined your light on me?
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