Love won't see my coming
On a Sunday noon today
Still don't believe we're fading
But now the world should wait

And now you're finally listening
To what I have to say
Well, the time is right
And it is today

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Maybe we could talk about it
And try to get it straight
After all these years, baby,
Maybe it's too late

But I really need to
Have you by my side
And that's the only feeling
Baby, I can't hide

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Well you aren't listening
I ain't talking
We ain't getting nowhere

I keep trying to get
Through to you baby
All you do is stare

I don't want to see that
I need you by my side
Well, I don't want to be your lover
Babe, I want to be your man

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Well, now my story's over, baby
And I ain't gonna tell it twice
Well, you better start listening
Or get out of my life

Or you're gonna be left out
I said left out in the cold
Yeah, before you get my loving, babe
You'll be too old

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Well, I'm talking to you baby
Well, I said
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah


Lyrics submitted by shed27

Before and After Lyrics as written by Alex Zivojinovich Gary Lee Weinrib

Lyrics © Anthem Entertainment

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Before And After song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

8 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +2
    General Comment

    This seems to be about two lovers who clearly are not good for each other, but the guy wants to still have sex, or at least foreplay stuff.

    Thank God for Neil Peart, because Rush's lyrics before him were often terrible.

    One thing I can't deny though, I find this song extremely catchy, with Alex's guitar, and Geddy's parts with "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah".

    TrooperSevenon August 15, 2021   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This is an early classic. It has always been my top song from this album.raw and real, love early rush,one of the few times they talked about lust, Well we were all young once.

    bigrushheadon September 07, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    overall i dont like the song very much but the 2 minute super mellow intro is 1 of my favorite parts of any rush song...its just so soothing

    Dustpanon May 10, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    this is one of rush's earliest works. their lyrical progression and style doesn't hit until neil peart joined the band, (sometime after 1974) after the record was released. you can tell by the simplicity of the lyrics and the heavy zeppelin like influence on this song.

    utensil_on July 25, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "the heavy zeppelin like influence on this song."

    I noticed that also. It's like Jimmy Page grabbed Alex's guitar and took over. I love this song though. It's probably my favorite of the first album.

    MrsMiltonBananaon March 14, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I really liked Rush's first album. Sure it draws from zeppelin, but it shows you how they evoloved

    spooner113on June 10, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    this is prob my favorite song! i love the beging ad then bam! hard kick ass rock song! xD i love it

    geddyleerocksmysockson July 31, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "Well, you better start list'nin', or get out of my life."

    It is, rather "well you better start list'nin', yeah, to my advice"... love the intro, second best song after Finding my Way...

    godesteemon March 21, 2013   Link

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

Album art
Fortnight
Taylor Swift
The song 'Fortnight' by Taylor Swift and Post Malone tells a story about strong feelings, complicated relationships, and secret wishes. It talks about love, betrayal, and wanting someone who doesn't feel the same. The word 'fortnight' shows short-lived happiness and guilty pleasures, leading to sadness. It shows how messy relationships can be and the results of hiding emotions. “I was supposed to be sent away / But they forgot to come and get me,” she kickstarts the song in the first verse with lines suggesting an admission to a hospital for people with mental illnesses. She goes in the verse admitting her lover is the reason why she is like this. In the chorus, she sings about their time in love and reflects on how he has now settled with someone else. “I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary / And I love you, it’s ruining my life,” on the second verse she details her struggles to forget about him and the negative effects of her failure. “Thought of callin’ ya, but you won’t pick up / ‘Nother fortnight lost in America,” Post Malone sings in the outro.
Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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"
Album art
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve. The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future. Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere" The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Album art
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Album art
Punchline
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.