Once there was a day
We were together all the way
An endless path unbroken
But now there is a time
A torture less sublime
Our souls are locked and frozen
Once we were years ahead but now those thoughts are dead
Let me go (let me go)
All hopeless fantasies are making fools of me
Let me go
I walk alone and yet I never say goodbye
Let me go (let me go)
A change of heart a change of mind and heaven fell that night
Let me go
I tried but could not bring
The best of everything
Too breathless then to wonder
I died a thousand times
Found guilty of no crime
Now everything is plundered
Daytime all I want is nighttime
I don't need the daytime
All I want is nighttime
I don't need the daytime
All I want is nighttime
I don't need the daytime
All I want is nighttime
I don't need the
Got to, got to, got to, got to
Let me go
Once we were years ahead but now those thoughts are dead
Let me go (let me go)
All hopeless fantasies are making fools of me
Let me go
I walk alone and yet I never say goodbye
Let me go (let me go)
A change of heart a change of mind and heaven fell that night
Let me go
The best years of our lives
The hope of it survives
The facts of life unspoken
The only game in town
I'll turn the last card down
And now the bank is broken
Broken
Found guilty of no crime (broken)
They were the best years of our lives
Broken, broken
I'll turn the last card down
This is an all time favorite of mine. The lyrics are so cool and insightful. I guess it can be read many ways. I took it to mean two buddies who had everything when they were young, the world by the tail, but now there is a time a torture less sublime, our souls are locked and frozen. I believe it is about the potential, the beauty, the energy, the fearless and cocksure omnipotence of youth and it should last forever, yet it passes so quickly and you didn't find what you wanted for your life and now in your 30s (lol) or perhaps just say "older" our souls are locked and frozen, meaning that freespirited spontaniety has mileage and fear sets in due to the mistakes of youth when you dive into love and hit your head on concrete, or whatever the dreams and disappointments are, make you wary and nothing ventured nothing gained and so you become frozen. Getting older feels like being punished for a crime as you see the next generation take its reign of power and beauty, and so you look back and say it was the best years of our lives, and you still hope somehow you'll find "it" - my favorite lyric "the only game in town I'll turn the last card down and now the bank is broken" always gives me goosebumps because I think it is about that last grasp for real happiness be it true love, fame, power, etc., and now the bank is broken. Amazing and very overlooked song -
Not sure if I agree. I think it may be a lover from the past. Things were good then, but now they are not. The torture is in the lost love. Let me go is just that, move on, let me go.
Not sure if I agree. I think it may be a lover from the past. Things were good then, but now they are not. The torture is in the lost love. Let me go is just that, move on, let me go.
I've always seen this track as being about a couple who's relationship has obviously run it's course, but the protagonist in the song isn't strong enough to let go - even though they want to - and the other party won't let go.
I've always seen this track as being about a couple who's relationship has obviously run it's course, but the protagonist in the song isn't strong enough to let go - even though they want to - and the other party won't let go.
I have to agree with electra2700. It is a relationship that started off great, but somehow has lost what they had.
I have to agree with electra2700. It is a relationship that started off great, but somehow has lost what they had.
"The only game in town I'll turn the last card down And now the bank is broken"
"The only game in town I'll turn the last card down And now the bank is broken"
That tells me he is saying that there is nothing left in this relationship.
That tells me he is saying that there is nothing left in this relationship.
"Found guilty of no crime They were the best years of our lives"
"Found guilty of no crime They were the best years of our lives"
That tells me there are no regrets and those were good years...but nothing is left.
That tells me there are no regrets and those were good years...but nothing is left.
Just my thoughts. :)
Just my thoughts. :)
It's not letting me fix it, but the last line of the third verse is actually: "Now everything is plundered" Not thunder.
And I have the feeling this isn't about lost youth or a relationship, but about some idealistic people whose progress was crushed by the powers that be, and one of whom took the blame and was punished despite having committed no crime (I died a thousand times/ found guilty of no crime/ now everything is plundered.)
I've recently noticed that a lot of cryptic songs from that time period seem to refer to some mysterious lost time of idealism and social progress that was clamped down by the powers that be (maybe in a collective past life?). Songs like this one, the Icicle Works' Whisper to a Scream, the Pretenders' Back on the Chain Gang, the Alarm's Blaze of Glory, the Waterboys' A Girl Called Johnny and Whole of the Moon, and I'm sure there are countless others I can't think of at the moment. But I've realized that all of these cryptic lyrics suddenly make some sense I see them in the context of this mythical time of crushed progress. I have the feeling that I'll finally know what this mythical time was all about when I die, and I can't wait to find out.
@epiwoosh Actually, it\'s really "everything is thunder". It is printed in the CD booklet. And right now I\'m listening to the "exclusive acoustic version" on their homepage where this is clearly audible. ;-)
@epiwoosh Actually, it\'s really "everything is thunder". It is printed in the CD booklet. And right now I\'m listening to the "exclusive acoustic version" on their homepage where this is clearly audible. ;-)
@epiwoosh I don't disagree in general, but "Back on the Chain Gang" IMO is about Chrissy missing the late Jimmy Scott and Pete Farndon, who made up half the original Pretenders lineup and both died far too young. In other words, it's not a mythical time, but a real time when they were making excellent music together, and knew it. Also, reaction to the Thatcher government in Britain might explain some of the rest - disillusionment, disappointment, feeling betrayed...
@epiwoosh I don't disagree in general, but "Back on the Chain Gang" IMO is about Chrissy missing the late Jimmy Scott and Pete Farndon, who made up half the original Pretenders lineup and both died far too young. In other words, it's not a mythical time, but a real time when they were making excellent music together, and knew it. Also, reaction to the Thatcher government in Britain might explain some of the rest - disillusionment, disappointment, feeling betrayed...