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 don't know where the years have gone
Memories can only last so long
Like faded photographs, forgotten songs
And the things I never knew
When the skin is thin, the heart shows through
Please believe me what I tell you is true
Where's the light, turn then on again
One more night to believe and then
Another note for my requiem
A memory to carry on
The story's over when the crowds are gone
All my friends have been crucified
They made life a long suicide true
Guess we never figured out the rules
But I'm still alive and my fingers feel
I'm gonna play on till the final reel's through
And read the credits from a different view
Where's the lights, turn them on again
One more night to believe and then
Another note for my requiem
A memory to carry on
The story's over when the crowds are gone
When the crowds are gone
And I'm all alone
Playing a final song
Now that the lights are gone
Turn them on again
One more time for me my friend
Turn them on again
I never wanted to know
Never wanted to see
I wasted my time till time wasted me
Never wanted to go
Always wanted to stay
Cause the person I am are the parts that I play
So I play and I plan
And hope and I scheme
To the lure of a night
Filled with unfinished dreams
And I'm holding on tight
To a world gone astray
As they charge me for years
I can no longer pay
And the lights
Turn them off my friend
And the ghosts
Well just let them in
Cause in the dark
It's easier to see
Memories can only last so long
Like faded photographs, forgotten songs
And the things I never knew
When the skin is thin, the heart shows through
Please believe me what I tell you is true
Where's the light, turn then on again
One more night to believe and then
Another note for my requiem
A memory to carry on
The story's over when the crowds are gone
All my friends have been crucified
They made life a long suicide true
Guess we never figured out the rules
But I'm still alive and my fingers feel
I'm gonna play on till the final reel's through
And read the credits from a different view
Where's the lights, turn them on again
One more night to believe and then
Another note for my requiem
A memory to carry on
The story's over when the crowds are gone
When the crowds are gone
And I'm all alone
Playing a final song
Now that the lights are gone
Turn them on again
One more time for me my friend
Turn them on again
I never wanted to know
Never wanted to see
I wasted my time till time wasted me
Never wanted to go
Always wanted to stay
Cause the person I am are the parts that I play
So I play and I plan
And hope and I scheme
To the lure of a night
Filled with unfinished dreams
And I'm holding on tight
To a world gone astray
As they charge me for years
I can no longer pay
And the lights
Turn them off my friend
And the ghosts
Well just let them in
Cause in the dark
It's easier to see
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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Excellent song by an excellent band.. I agree with Dylan on the meanning of the song. In fact, Savatage was supposed to release a double album "Ghost In The Ruins: a Rock Opera" but their label didnt support them and rejected the idea... "When the Crowds are Gone" and other songs were actually written for that album but after the idea was rejected they decided to do a non-conceptual album called "Gutter Ballet", its so clear that the song is about DT.Jesus the charecter that would later appear in "Streets: A Rock Opera". Theres some similarities in the lyrics with "I Believe" from "Streets" album...
anyway.. Brilliant song. The best on the album next to "Gutter Ballet" & "Hounds".