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"
He was a very special, warm and gentle person
Who put music in the world and spoken in rhyme
And it hurts me that I never really knew him
'Cause all it would have taken was some time
You know he always seemed to be there when I stumbled
And when mountains got too steep for me to climb
And it tears me up to think I never touched him
'Cause all it would have taken was some time
Ain't that just the way that life goes
Down, down, down, down
Movin' way too fast or much too slow
I'm gettin' up, gettin' high, gettin' down
Gettin' no, no, nowhere
But not getting into someone I should know
Ain't that just the way that life goes
Down, down, down, down
Movin' way too fast or much too slow
I'm gettin' up, gettin' high, gettin' down
Gettin' no, no, nowhere
But not getting into someone I should know
Ain't that just, ain't that just
Ain't that just, ain't that just
Ain't that just, ain't that just
But not getting into someone I should know
Now he's in another place and I can't reach him
And I feel as though I'm guilty of a crime
I took all he had to give and gave him nothing
And all it would have taken was some time
Ain't that just the way
Ain't that just the way
Ain't that just the way
Ain't that just the way
Ain't that just the way that life goes
Down, down, down, down
Movin' way too fast or much too slow
I'm gettin' up, gettin' high, gettin' down
Gettin' no, no, nowhere
But not getting into someone I should know
Ain't that just the way that life goes
Down, down, down, down
Movin' way too fast or much too slow
I'm gettin' up, gettin' high, gettin' down
Gettin' no, no, nowhere
But not getting into someone I should know
Ain't that just, ain't that just
Ain't that just, ain't that just
Ain't that just, ain't that just
But not getting into someone I should know
Who put music in the world and spoken in rhyme
And it hurts me that I never really knew him
'Cause all it would have taken was some time
You know he always seemed to be there when I stumbled
And when mountains got too steep for me to climb
And it tears me up to think I never touched him
'Cause all it would have taken was some time
Ain't that just the way that life goes
Down, down, down, down
Movin' way too fast or much too slow
I'm gettin' up, gettin' high, gettin' down
Gettin' no, no, nowhere
But not getting into someone I should know
Ain't that just the way that life goes
Down, down, down, down
Movin' way too fast or much too slow
I'm gettin' up, gettin' high, gettin' down
Gettin' no, no, nowhere
But not getting into someone I should know
Ain't that just, ain't that just
Ain't that just, ain't that just
Ain't that just, ain't that just
But not getting into someone I should know
Now he's in another place and I can't reach him
And I feel as though I'm guilty of a crime
I took all he had to give and gave him nothing
And all it would have taken was some time
Ain't that just the way
Ain't that just the way
Ain't that just the way
Ain't that just the way
Ain't that just the way that life goes
Down, down, down, down
Movin' way too fast or much too slow
I'm gettin' up, gettin' high, gettin' down
Gettin' no, no, nowhere
But not getting into someone I should know
Ain't that just the way that life goes
Down, down, down, down
Movin' way too fast or much too slow
I'm gettin' up, gettin' high, gettin' down
Gettin' no, no, nowhere
But not getting into someone I should know
Ain't that just, ain't that just
Ain't that just, ain't that just
Ain't that just, ain't that just
But not getting into someone I should know
Lyrics submitted by Petaphysika
Ain't That Just The Way Lyrics as written by Stuart Phillips Glen Larson
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I feel like this song is about someone you took for granted committing suicide and feeling somewhat responsible. The first paragraph describes a kind, caring and affectionate man and the singer regrets “not touching him”, possibly meaning being affectionate back. When she says “Now he’s in another place and I can’t reach him” she means heaven or the after life and “I feel guilty of a crime” is her blaming herself. The chorus talking about life moving too fast and too slow shows she took him for granted and now he’s not around the days are long and empty and the repeated line of “all it would have taken was some time” refers to how she could have helped save his life if she just spent a few minutes asking how he’s feeling. Thank you for reading all of my words and please remember, if someone is reaching out to you please reach back because you may be the hand that pulls someone from their last walk into the abyss.