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"
Oh yeah yeah
Her voice is echoed in my mind
I count the days 'til she is mine
I can't tell my friends 'cause they will laugh
I love a member of the staff
And I fight my way to the front of class
To get the best view of her ass
I drop a pencil on the floor
She bends down and shows me more
That's what I go to school for
Even though it is a real bore
You can call me crazy
But I know that she craves me
That's what I go to school for
Even though it is a real bore
Girlfriends I've had plenty
None like Miss Mackenzie
That's what I go to school for
That's what I go to school for
So she may be thirty-three
But that doesn't bother me
Her boyfriend's working out of town
I find a reason to go 'round
I climb a tree outside her home
To make sure that she's alone
I see her in her underwear
I can't help but stop and stare
That's what I go to school for
Even though it is a real bore
You can call me crazy
But I know that she craves me
That's what I go to school for
Even though it is a real bore
Girlfriends I've had plenty
None like Miss Mackenzie
That's what I go to school for
That's what I go to school for
Everyone that you teach all day
Knows you're looking at me in a different way
I guess that's why my marks are getting so high
I can see those telltale signs
Telling me that I was on you're mind
I could see that you wanted more when you told me
That I'm what you go to school for
I'm what you go to school for
She's packed her bag, it's in the trunk
Looks like she's picked herself a hunk
We drive past school to say goodbye
My friends they can't believe their eyes
That's what I go to school for
Even though it is a real bore
You can call me crazy
But I know that she craves me
That's what I go to school for
Even though it is a real bore
Girlfriends I've had plenty
None like Miss Mackenzie
That's what I go to school for
That's what I go to school for
Her voice is echoed in my mind
I count the days 'til she is mine
I can't tell my friends 'cause they will laugh
I love a member of the staff
And I fight my way to the front of class
To get the best view of her ass
I drop a pencil on the floor
She bends down and shows me more
That's what I go to school for
Even though it is a real bore
You can call me crazy
But I know that she craves me
That's what I go to school for
Even though it is a real bore
Girlfriends I've had plenty
None like Miss Mackenzie
That's what I go to school for
That's what I go to school for
So she may be thirty-three
But that doesn't bother me
Her boyfriend's working out of town
I find a reason to go 'round
I climb a tree outside her home
To make sure that she's alone
I see her in her underwear
I can't help but stop and stare
That's what I go to school for
Even though it is a real bore
You can call me crazy
But I know that she craves me
That's what I go to school for
Even though it is a real bore
Girlfriends I've had plenty
None like Miss Mackenzie
That's what I go to school for
That's what I go to school for
Everyone that you teach all day
Knows you're looking at me in a different way
I guess that's why my marks are getting so high
I can see those telltale signs
Telling me that I was on you're mind
I could see that you wanted more when you told me
That I'm what you go to school for
I'm what you go to school for
She's packed her bag, it's in the trunk
Looks like she's picked herself a hunk
We drive past school to say goodbye
My friends they can't believe their eyes
That's what I go to school for
Even though it is a real bore
You can call me crazy
But I know that she craves me
That's what I go to school for
Even though it is a real bore
Girlfriends I've had plenty
None like Miss Mackenzie
That's what I go to school for
That's what I go to school for
Lyrics submitted by NihilisticFerret
What I Go to School For Lyrics as written by James Bourne Charles Simpson
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing, Kassner Associated Publishers Ltd, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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this song evolved from james having "can't tell my friends cause they will laugh, my life is going down the path" stuck in his head for some, strange reason. then he thought that staff would rythmn better and thats when he remembered something that matt had told him about liking his science teacher (miss mackenzie) and the song progressed from there. but none of the events in the song actually happened in real life- unless matt did actually climb a tree outside her home. but there is an actual miss mackenzie and matt did actually fancy her.