Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
You see this time it goes by fast
The best things in life can't always last
So spend it right it might be your last time
To think to see what's wrong and right
To live to find what's deep inside
It's all apart of your sad lost life
This world isn't good enough for me
Got better things to do
This world isn't good enough for me
Got better things to do
So time is up everyone has had enough
You lost your world, someday you'll lose the girl
It's time to think life isn't something free
You made your bed you better lie in it
This world isn't good enough for me
Got better things to do
This world isn't good enough for me
Got better things to do
And everything you wanted
And everything you know
And everything you wanted
You just let go
You just let go
Everything you need
You just let go
An unfinished dream
Everything you need
It's not what it seems
You just let go
And everything you wanted
And everything you know
And everything you wanted
You just let go
You just let go
An unfinished dream
Everything you need
It's not what it seems
The best things in life can't always last
So spend it right it might be your last time
To think to see what's wrong and right
To live to find what's deep inside
It's all apart of your sad lost life
This world isn't good enough for me
Got better things to do
This world isn't good enough for me
Got better things to do
So time is up everyone has had enough
You lost your world, someday you'll lose the girl
It's time to think life isn't something free
You made your bed you better lie in it
This world isn't good enough for me
Got better things to do
This world isn't good enough for me
Got better things to do
And everything you wanted
And everything you know
And everything you wanted
You just let go
You just let go
Everything you need
You just let go
An unfinished dream
Everything you need
It's not what it seems
You just let go
And everything you wanted
And everything you know
And everything you wanted
You just let go
You just let go
An unfinished dream
Everything you need
It's not what it seems
Lyrics submitted by Alucard
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings

Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran

Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.

Somewhere Only We Know
Keane
Keane
Per the FAQ on Keane's website, Keane's drummer Richard Hughes, stated the following:
"We've been asked whether "Somewhere Only We Know" is about a specific place, and Tim has been saying that, for him, or us as individuals, it might be about a geographical space, or a feeling; it can mean something individual to each person, and they can interpret it to a memory of theirs... It's perhaps more of a theme rather than a specific message... Feelings that may be universal, without necessarily being totally specific to us, or a place, or a time..."
With the nostalgic sentiment and the overall tone of the song, I think Keane is attempting to express a Portuguese term known as 'saudade', which does not have a direct English translation but roughly means "that which we remember because it is gone."

Zombie
Cranberries, The
Cranberries, The
"Zombie" is about the ethno-political conflict in Ireland. This is obvious if you know anything of the singer (Dolores O'Riordan)'s Irish heritage and understood the "1916" Easter Rising reference.
"Another head hangs lowly
Child is slowly taken
And the violence caused such silence
Who are we mistaken
-
Another mother's breaking
Heart is taking over"
Laments the Warrington bomb attacks in which two children were fatally injured on March 23rd, 1993. Twelve year old Tim Parry was taken off life support with permission from his mother after five days in the hospital, virtually braindead.
"But you see it's not me
It's not my family"
References how people who are not directly involved with the violence feel about it. They are "zombies" without sympathy who refuse to take action while others suffer.

System
Mel And Kim
Mel And Kim
Just listening for the 784,654th time....and it's just perfect in every way. Just incredible. The only reason it was remade was to scoop up a boatload of money from a more modern and accepting audience. But it is a completely different song than the other one that sounds slapped together in a few takes without a thought for the meaning.
This song captivates me still, after 50+ years. Takes me to the deep South and the poverty of some who lived thru truly hard times. And the powerful spirit of a poor young girl being abandoned to her future with only a red dress and her wits to keep her alive.
She not only stayed alive, she turned her hard beginnings around, became self sufficient, successful and someone with respect for herself. She didn't let the naysayers and judgers stop her. She's the one sitting in the drivers seat at the end.
So, not a song about a poor girl, but a song of hope and how you can rise up no matter how far down you started.
There is a huge difference between a singer who simply belts out a song that is on a page in front of them, and someone who can convey an entire experience with their voice. Telling not just a story with words, but taking you inside it and making you feel like you are there, with their interpretation.