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"
Does he kiss your eyelids in the morning when you start to raise your head?
And does he sing to you incessantly from the space between your bed and wall?
Does he walk around all day at school with his feet inside your shoes?
Looking down every few steps to pretend he walks with you
Oh, does he know that place below your neck that is your favorite to be touched?
And does he cry through broken sentences like I love you far too much?
Does he lay awake listening to your breath?
Worried that you smoke too many cigarettes
Is he coughing now on a bathroom floor?
For every speck of tile there's a thousand more
That you won't ever see but most hold inside yourself eternally.
Well, I drug your ghost across the country and we plotted out my death
In every city, memories would whisper, "Here is where you rest"
I was determined in Chicago but I dug my teeth into my knees
And I settled for a telephone and sang into your machine
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
And I kissed a girl with a broken jaw that her father gave to her
She had eyes bright enough to burn me, they reminded me of yours
And in a story told she was a little girl in a red-rouge sun-bruised field
And there were rows of ripe tomatoes where a secret was concealed
And it rose like thunder, clapped under our hands
And it stretched for centuries to a diary entry's end where I wrote
"You make me happy" (whoa) oh, when the skies are gray
"You make me happy" (whoa) The skies are gray and gray and gray
Well the clock's heart it hangs inside its open chest with its hands
Stretched towards the calendar hanging itself
But I will not weep for those dying days
For all the ones who have left there are a few that stayed
And they found me here and pulled me from the grass where I was laid
And does he sing to you incessantly from the space between your bed and wall?
Does he walk around all day at school with his feet inside your shoes?
Looking down every few steps to pretend he walks with you
Oh, does he know that place below your neck that is your favorite to be touched?
And does he cry through broken sentences like I love you far too much?
Does he lay awake listening to your breath?
Worried that you smoke too many cigarettes
Is he coughing now on a bathroom floor?
For every speck of tile there's a thousand more
That you won't ever see but most hold inside yourself eternally.
Well, I drug your ghost across the country and we plotted out my death
In every city, memories would whisper, "Here is where you rest"
I was determined in Chicago but I dug my teeth into my knees
And I settled for a telephone and sang into your machine
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
And I kissed a girl with a broken jaw that her father gave to her
She had eyes bright enough to burn me, they reminded me of yours
And in a story told she was a little girl in a red-rouge sun-bruised field
And there were rows of ripe tomatoes where a secret was concealed
And it rose like thunder, clapped under our hands
And it stretched for centuries to a diary entry's end where I wrote
"You make me happy" (whoa) oh, when the skies are gray
"You make me happy" (whoa) The skies are gray and gray and gray
Well the clock's heart it hangs inside its open chest with its hands
Stretched towards the calendar hanging itself
But I will not weep for those dying days
For all the ones who have left there are a few that stayed
And they found me here and pulled me from the grass where I was laid
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
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
Is he coughing now on a bathroom floor?
All the ways that he asks before the bathroom floor thing..are like..real meanings. Conor is trying to ask her if he does those things for her, but then he gets to the bathroom floor. It kinda throws it off, him being almost sarcastic, because when I hear that, I can imagine conor laying on a tiled bathroom floor, coughing from hurting himself/process of suicide/drugs/drunkeness..etc..