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"
You can walk, or you can run
You don't have to be someone
I went on a summer cruise
Upon an ocean born to lose
My brother said that he was dead
I saw his face and shook my head
Can you see where we can't be
We're losing our blood in the sea
'Cause it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's holding our salvation
Yes, it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's holding our salvation
Oh, the state of the nation (state on the nation)
Is causing deprivation
Oh, the state of the nation (state of the nation)
Is causing deprivation
From my home I traveled far
I drove in my stolen car
When it broke down, I kissed the ground
'Cause I don't kiss when you're around
I don't find that I have been
The portrait of an only son
If that's the case, then who could tell
Where my story had begun?
'Cause it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's holding our salvation
Yes, it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's holding our salvation
It's the state of the nation (state on the nation)
That's causing deprivation
Oh, it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's causing deprivation
State of the nation (state of the station)
State of the nation (state of the station)
State of the nation (state of the station)
State of the nation (state of the station)
Even now, I'm all alone
Behind a wall that's made of stone
I think about where we have been
And all the sights that could be seen
I know it all could be worthwhile
If only I could force a smile
Now we turn our backs to the sea
The shame of a nation we'll never be
'Cause it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's holding our salvation
Yes, it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's holding our salvation
It's the state of the nation (state on the nation)
It's causing deprivation
Oh, yes it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
It's causing deprivation
You don't have to be someone
I went on a summer cruise
Upon an ocean born to lose
My brother said that he was dead
I saw his face and shook my head
Can you see where we can't be
We're losing our blood in the sea
'Cause it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's holding our salvation
Yes, it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's holding our salvation
Oh, the state of the nation (state on the nation)
Is causing deprivation
Oh, the state of the nation (state of the nation)
Is causing deprivation
From my home I traveled far
I drove in my stolen car
When it broke down, I kissed the ground
'Cause I don't kiss when you're around
I don't find that I have been
The portrait of an only son
If that's the case, then who could tell
Where my story had begun?
'Cause it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's holding our salvation
Yes, it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's holding our salvation
It's the state of the nation (state on the nation)
That's causing deprivation
Oh, it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's causing deprivation
State of the nation (state of the station)
State of the nation (state of the station)
State of the nation (state of the station)
State of the nation (state of the station)
Even now, I'm all alone
Behind a wall that's made of stone
I think about where we have been
And all the sights that could be seen
I know it all could be worthwhile
If only I could force a smile
Now we turn our backs to the sea
The shame of a nation we'll never be
'Cause it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's holding our salvation
Yes, it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
That's holding our salvation
It's the state of the nation (state on the nation)
It's causing deprivation
Oh, yes it's the state of the nation (state of the nation)
It's causing deprivation
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Very good song, with a haunting melody. It seems some kind of denounce song, criticizing the state of politics in the UK, perhaps?
I don't know what it's about - like so many NO songs! Am I the only one who prefers the Shame Of The Nation version - the one with the lower-pitched vocal and those damnably memorable backing vocals?