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"
She looks pretty good in blue she's worn it out alot you look good on paper too when actually you're not she's not looking anymore for someone to feel sorry for so don'cha come round no more she's got pretty fake eye-lashes slanted plastic glasses everyone who passes says she looks beautiful but don't even think about asking her to dance cause in your sackcloth and ashes you're never gonna have a chance sackcloth and ashes. She smeared you with her fingerprints just because she could she's not sorry for her sins as long as she looks good how can she have so much fun knowing all the things she's done she's bad, she's strong, or maybe she's stupid but she's got pretty party dresses manic-panic tresses she believes that less ls more where you're concerned and you can only dream about the places that she's been cause in your sackcloth and ashes they're never gonna let you in one day maybe you'll be way beyond this silly habit yo've put on tough and strong enough and wrong and wrong enough for long enough to belong there but till that day comes along you'll be sullen and regretful querulous and fretful carrying a head full of evil thoughts and there'll be lots of girls and people who want to know where you stand but in your sackcloth and ashes you'll never make them understand... sackcloth and ashes sackcloth and ashes sackcloth and ashes they're never gonna understand.
Lyrics submitted by alk3girl
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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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I think you guys are missing the point. It's not about materialism; it's about self-confidence. Sackcloth and ashes are traditional symbols of penance (in the past, monks would actually wear deliberately chafing garments to punish themselves for their worldly sins and prepare themselves for God). This is the joke of that line about "the silly habit you've put on" -- both a figurative monk's habit (clothes) and a behavioral/psychological habit (relentless self-accusation and despair). It's also the joke behind the line about "she's not sorry for her sins / as long as she looks good" -- the girl is not in the same self-punishing mindset as the boy here.
So here's the setup: boy, after a breakup, is going around feeling like he's totally worthless: "sullen and regretful, querulous and fretful, carrying a head full of evil thoughts." He meets a new girl, and it's the right girl, in the right place, and she's totally hot and fun, but he's too messed up to be able to go for it; he could only be "someone to feel sorry for," and she's not into that. So until he comes out of his depression, he's not getting any. (Corollary: it's easy to get another girlfriend when you already have one and you're feeling confident, but really hard when you're feeling lonely and rejected).
@kagi Not the hero we asked for, but the hero we needed!<br /> <br /> Great explanation.<br />
this is an awesome song. its obviously about how some people are very materialistic, which is no good. but its also about how some people who havent always had alot of material things in life want to be with the trendy materialistic people which is argualbly just as bad or worse. in the bridge when it says "...though and strong enough, and wrong and wrong enough for long enough to belong there." to me means that if he keeps acting the way he does the "silly habit [he] puts on" will become more than a habit and will become nature and he will be just as materialistic as the subject girl, and until then when he still has values that are more than material he will feel bad about the way he is acting but he will care less and less as time goes on. and in that time there will be girls and people who want to befriend him for what he is now but he will kinda shirk them off because he's got his eye on the prize.
But it says "in your sackcloth and ashes you'll never make them understand," he's still his old self. Either way, this song reminds me of "Vintage Queen" by Goldfinger. I dig the guitar in this song.
hmmm...good point
I think you guys are missing the point. It's not about materialism; it's about self-confidence. Sackcloth and ashes are traditional symbols of penance (in the past, monks would actually wear deliberately chafing garments to punish themselves for their worldly sins and prepare themselves for God). This is the joke of that line about "the silly habit you've put on" -- both a figurative monk's habit (clothes) and a behavioral/psychological habit (relentless self-accusation and despair). It's also the joke behind the line about "she's not sorry for her sins / as long as she looks good" -- the girl is not in the same self-punishing mindset as the boy here.
So here's the setup: boy, after a breakup, is going around feeling like he's totally worthless: "sullen and regretful, querulous and fretful, carrying a head full of evil thoughts." He meets a new girl, and it's the right girl, in the right place, and she's totally hot and fun, but he's too messed up to be able to go for it; he could only be "someone to feel sorry for," and she's not into that. So until he comes out of his depression, he's not getting any. (Corollary: it's easy to get another girlfriend when you already have one and you're feeling confident, but really hard when you're feeling lonely and rejected).