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 just have to be sure you're doing the right thing
I mean it's very easy to forget
She's just sitting there in the pub with her new friends
And her new life and her new hair
And it's been five years but you'd know just to look at her
I wasn't even sure it were her at first
I was ready to walk away but she smiled
And called me over and we said hello for a bit
When we back to our tables
We were trying not to look over at each other
And told our friends to stop staring
I didn't see her for the rest of the night
But by closing time the beer's kicked in
So I go up and speak to her
And we end up talking about our new homes
Our new jobs and our new birds
She says she's been going out with him now
For about two and a half years
But they don't live together so he'd never find out
And you think about chasing her about school
When you were wee and lying in your bed
And listening to love songs
And pretending they were about you
And the first time you asked her out
She said no but one night you went to a wedding
And when you came back to the pub
She's changed her mind and you went out
You remember the way she swung her arms
When she held your hand
But you can't remember how she kissed
And now you've got the chance to find out
But you have to remember there's this other kiss
She's at home, wondering where you are and what you're doing
And you work hard on this kiss and you know it inside out
It's as much yours as it is hers
And it took a long time to get right
It took months of practice
And months of embarrassment but now you've got it perfected
And you've been looking forward to that kiss all week
You can see her breath in the air
Between your faces as you stand in the leaves
And she just asks you straight out
If you want to come and stay at her flat
But you make sure you get separate taxis
And you go home and there might be a slight regret
And you might wonder what you missed
But you have to remember the kiss you worked so hard on
And you'll know you've done the right thing
I mean it's very easy to forget
She's just sitting there in the pub with her new friends
And her new life and her new hair
And it's been five years but you'd know just to look at her
I wasn't even sure it were her at first
I was ready to walk away but she smiled
And called me over and we said hello for a bit
When we back to our tables
We were trying not to look over at each other
And told our friends to stop staring
I didn't see her for the rest of the night
But by closing time the beer's kicked in
So I go up and speak to her
And we end up talking about our new homes
Our new jobs and our new birds
She says she's been going out with him now
For about two and a half years
But they don't live together so he'd never find out
And you think about chasing her about school
When you were wee and lying in your bed
And listening to love songs
And pretending they were about you
And the first time you asked her out
She said no but one night you went to a wedding
And when you came back to the pub
She's changed her mind and you went out
You remember the way she swung her arms
When she held your hand
But you can't remember how she kissed
And now you've got the chance to find out
But you have to remember there's this other kiss
She's at home, wondering where you are and what you're doing
And you work hard on this kiss and you know it inside out
It's as much yours as it is hers
And it took a long time to get right
It took months of practice
And months of embarrassment but now you've got it perfected
And you've been looking forward to that kiss all week
You can see her breath in the air
Between your faces as you stand in the leaves
And she just asks you straight out
If you want to come and stay at her flat
But you make sure you get separate taxis
And you go home and there might be a slight regret
And you might wonder what you missed
But you have to remember the kiss you worked so hard on
And you'll know you've done the right thing
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But how do you know when you're doing the right thing?