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"
It's my father's voice trailing off
Sailors sailing off in the morning
For the air-conditioned rooms
At the top of the stairs
His jaw's been broken
His bandage is wrapped too tight
His fangs have been pulled
And I really wanna see you tonight
There's bourbon on the breath
Of the singer you love so much
He takes all his words from the books
That you don't read anyway
His jaw's been broken
His bandage is wrapped too tight
His fangs have been pulled
And I really wanna see you tonight
Someone ties a bow
In my backyard to show me love
My voice is climbing walls
Smoking and I wanted love
My jaw's been broken
My heart is wrapped in ice
My fangs have been pulled
And I really wanna see you tonight
And it makes no difference to me
How they cried all over overseas
When it's hot in the poor places tonight
I'm not going outside
They cried all over overseas
It makes no difference to me
When it's hot in the poor places tonight
I'm not going outside
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
It's hot in the poor places tonight
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
I'm not going outside
(Yankee, Foxtrot)
I'm not going outside
(Yankee, Foxtrot)
I'm not going outside
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel)
Sailors sailing off in the morning
For the air-conditioned rooms
At the top of the stairs
His jaw's been broken
His bandage is wrapped too tight
His fangs have been pulled
And I really wanna see you tonight
There's bourbon on the breath
Of the singer you love so much
He takes all his words from the books
That you don't read anyway
His jaw's been broken
His bandage is wrapped too tight
His fangs have been pulled
And I really wanna see you tonight
Someone ties a bow
In my backyard to show me love
My voice is climbing walls
Smoking and I wanted love
My jaw's been broken
My heart is wrapped in ice
My fangs have been pulled
And I really wanna see you tonight
And it makes no difference to me
How they cried all over overseas
When it's hot in the poor places tonight
I'm not going outside
They cried all over overseas
It makes no difference to me
When it's hot in the poor places tonight
I'm not going outside
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
It's hot in the poor places tonight
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
I'm not going outside
(Yankee, Foxtrot)
I'm not going outside
(Yankee, Foxtrot)
I'm not going outside
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot)
(Yankee, Hotel)
Lyrics submitted by Yoshiidino, edited by cordoba
Poor Places Lyrics as written by Jay Bennett Jeff Tweedy
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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using the demo of this song as a basis, i think the main idea of this song is that there are a few people in power who are basically running the show. he refers to them as "air conditioned rooms at the top of the stairs". In the first verse they send people off two war.
in the demo, the verse:
"there's bourbon on the breath of the singer you love so much he takes all his words from the books you don't read anyway"
is followed by:
"for the air conditioned rooms at the stairs at he head of the table with a face that never smiles."
so the corrupt singer is doing it all for the person in power who sent everyone overseas.
then here:
"it makes no difference to me how they cried all over overseas when it's hot in the poor places tonight I'm not going outside"
i think he's saying that he's not too worried about the effects of the people in charge (the suffering overseas). he's more worried about the fact that it's hot in the poor places while the people in charge are in air conditioning.
in other words, he's mostly worried about the big problem, the separation between rich and poor and how the rich don't care.
finally, i think he says "i'm not, going outside" to give an example of what rich and middle class americans are thinking. sure, they're concerned with the poor people, but they're not going to sacrifice what they have and go outside in the heat (lower their standard of living).
i don't know what the verses mean where he says "i really want to see you tonight". they weren't in the demo and don't seem to fit with the theme, but it might have changed or i might just be plain wrong.