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"
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Some things were perfectly clear, seen with the vision of youth
No doubts and nothing to fear, I claimed the corner on truth
These days it's harder to say I know what I'm fighting for
My faith is falling away
I'm not that sure anymore
Shades of grey wherever I go
The more I find out the less that I know
Black and white is how it should be
But shades of grey are the colors I see
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Once there were trenches and walls and one point of every view
Fight 'til the other man falls
Kill him before he kills you
These days the edges are blurred, I'm old and tired of war
I hear the other man's words
I'm not that sure anymore
Shades of grey are all that I find
When I look to the enemy line
Black and white was so easy for me
But shades of grey are the colors I see
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Now with the wisdom of years I try to reason things out
And the only people I fear are those who never have doubts
Save us all from arrogant men, and all the causes they're for
I won't be righteous again
I'm not that sure anymore
Shades of grey are all that I find
When I look to the enemy line
There ain't no rainbows shining on me
Shades of grey are the colors I see
Shades of grey wherever I go
The more I find out the less that I know
There ain't no rainbows shining on me
Shades of grey are the colors I see
(guitar solo)
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Some things were perfectly clear, seen with the vision of youth
No doubts and nothing to fear, I claimed the corner on truth
These days it's harder to say I know what I'm fighting for
My faith is falling away
I'm not that sure anymore
Shades of grey wherever I go
The more I find out the less that I know
Black and white is how it should be
But shades of grey are the colors I see
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Once there were trenches and walls and one point of every view
Fight 'til the other man falls
Kill him before he kills you
These days the edges are blurred, I'm old and tired of war
I hear the other man's words
I'm not that sure anymore
Shades of grey are all that I find
When I look to the enemy line
Black and white was so easy for me
But shades of grey are the colors I see
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Now with the wisdom of years I try to reason things out
And the only people I fear are those who never have doubts
Save us all from arrogant men, and all the causes they're for
I won't be righteous again
I'm not that sure anymore
Shades of grey are all that I find
When I look to the enemy line
There ain't no rainbows shining on me
Shades of grey are the colors I see
Shades of grey wherever I go
The more I find out the less that I know
There ain't no rainbows shining on me
Shades of grey are the colors I see
(guitar solo)
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
Ba ba baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Ba ba Baduwa Taa!
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This is so meaningful. OK. Through the years you live your life thinking you've had it figured out. And somewhere along the line you lose it. And just as your eye sight blurrs with age, sometimes you lose clear sight of why you're still here. He's beginning a second sort of "soul searching stage" in his life, one you usually have in your early adult years. I think he's questioning, is my life really all about my music career, what other stuff could i have been...and he's become sort of humble through his experiences and wisdom, so he sees young arrogance and is intimidated by its confidence...he starts to doubt himself...and what he's always been told (kill the competition) doesn't really seem to apply anymore. I like this song.