Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Why you turned out the way you did
That thunderstorm is still crashing in
your cranium
Find that all these funny faces look the same
I know who's to blame
But I swore I wouldn't say
Its time that I got moving on
As you're still burning the dress you wore to
senior prom - Try to forget how you've been touched
I loved you so I told you
But it didn't matter much
And I'm trying to figure out
What you're all about these days
I don't have much to say to you
And I've been drunker than a skunk
Ever since the day I left you
With your darkest secret safely packed away
Up in my steamer trunk
Why I turned out the way I did
Someone somewhere dropped me on my cranium
I'm sorry can you repeat what you just said
My short term memory is gone
But my long term's far from dead
I've been swearing like a sailor
Ever since the day I left her
That thunderstorm is still crashing in
your cranium
Find that all these funny faces look the same
I know who's to blame
But I swore I wouldn't say
Its time that I got moving on
As you're still burning the dress you wore to
senior prom - Try to forget how you've been touched
I loved you so I told you
But it didn't matter much
And I'm trying to figure out
What you're all about these days
I don't have much to say to you
And I've been drunker than a skunk
Ever since the day I left you
With your darkest secret safely packed away
Up in my steamer trunk
Why I turned out the way I did
Someone somewhere dropped me on my cranium
I'm sorry can you repeat what you just said
My short term memory is gone
But my long term's far from dead
I've been swearing like a sailor
Ever since the day I left her
Lyrics submitted by oofus
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American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran

Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.

Trouble Breathing
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
While the obvious connections with suicide or alcoholism could be drawn easily, more subtly this song could be about someone who views the world through a negative lens constantly and how as much as the writer tries to show the beauty in the world, this person refuses to see it. It's one or another between the rope and the bottle. There is no good option for this person. They can't see it. Skiba sings it in a kind of exasperated way like He's tired of hearing this negative view constantly and just allowing that person to continue feeling the way they feel knowing he can't do anything about it. You can hear it when he says maybe you're a vampire.

Another Love
Tom Odell
Tom Odell
I think the meaning is pretty clear. This person got really burned in a previous relationship, and because of this is unable to love and show care in his present one, even though he so badly wants to. It's lovely song, and very sad. You can really feel how defeated and frustrated he is with himself.

Indigo
Of Mice & Men
Of Mice & Men
This track is about is about questioning why the sky would choose to be blue if it had the choice to be anything else, “blue also meaning sad,” states frontman Aaron Pauley. “It's about comforting a loved one in a time of loss by telling them you feel blue, too.”
I think this is about someone who has a friend or girlfriend or whatever who was assulted, or otherwise hurt physically at some point, and his leaving her because it damaged their relationship. It seems like he doesn't want to leave her, but he can't deal with it anymore and is trying to work through his own shit.
I got from the line "trying to forget how you've been touched" that she was raped or something at her prom. but maybe he means something different.....
i take it as he left her because she can't let go of the past. she keeps bringing it up, and he wants to her realize what they have together is right now, not back in high school. and she keeps bringing up past lovers and how they've "touched" her, and he finally has enough and breaks it off. it's also self-deprecating, saying on how he wasn't that good for her anyway. he wants to make it mutual (the breakup), so maybe it won't cause as much pain, but ultimetly he just gets drunk more, and goes back to his "wilder" ways.
it's about a girl who (apparently) had a fucked up life (ie "thunderstorms crashing in your cranium") and told him all of her deepest secrets. her life was too fucked up, and he couldn't take it anymore, but he still has to deal with hiding her secrets away and it drives him mad.
something bad happened to her at prom, and he was sort of her person to confide in (I think). She's still trying to confide in it, and he got tired of it or something and left her, but he's realizing he really loved her and misses her. It's a great song
"Find that all these funny faces look the same I know who's to blame" Alk's songs are usually about this guy and his girl.. so i'd guess one or the other is to blame. usually he feels it's her fault.. so she has all these thunderstorms in her head.. her confusion.. and he's tried to help her out over and over again. "trying to figure out what you're all about these days" and "I loved you, so I told you. But it didn't matter much" no matter what he does for her she won't be with him. so he's dealing with his own long-term memories of how much he loved her, knowing he can never be with her. but at the same time he realizes "I don't have much to say to you" "And I've been drunker than a skunk, Ever since the day I left you". depressed and understanding his depression "But I swore I wouldn't say" with all her baggage "With your darkest secret safely packed away" that he can never tell anyone else. but i think he knows that he won't get over her "Why I turned out the way I did" he's probably feels she wasted his time... but regardless, he still can't get over her and just drinks her into his long term memory, forgetting his short-term memories..
I think you guys got it pretty much down, not really a lot I can add, except that I love this song. One of my faves.
I think the rape thing might be valid... But I think it might have something to do with high school sweethearts who have sex, and the girl gets pregnant... And either has an abortion or puts the baby up for adoption... And he, of course, knows about her "darkest secret"... And the turmoil having to do with a young pregnancy has shown that he doesn't have what it takes to stay with her and help her through it... That's just my 2 cents, though...
Probably the overall best song on FHTI if you ask me, it's an amazing song when the chorus kicks in, it amazes you and leaves your jaw on the floor. Awesome.
i just love the line 'i loved you so i told you, but it didn't matter much'... its about someone who's in love with a really messed up person, and they've realised that simply being in love isn't enough anymore. and so they've walked away, but they can't change how they feel