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"
They’re wakin up Maria
Cause everybody else has got some place to go
She makes a little motion with her head, rolls over, and says she’s gonna sleep for
A couple minutes more
I said I’m sorry to Maria
For all the cold-hearted things that I have done
I said I’m sorry by now, at least once
To just about everyone
She says I’ve forgotten what I’m supposed to do today
And it slips my mind what I’m supposed to say
We’re getting older and older and older
and always a little further out of the way
You look into her eyes
And it’s more than your heart will allow
And August and everything after
You get a little less than you expected somehow
Well I stumbled into Washington Square
Just as the sun began to rise
And I laid down on the lawn of the cathedral
And laid down and the shadow of St. Mary’s in the sky
And I’m just one of these late model children
Waiting for the king
But there ain’t no sign of Elvis in San Francisco
It’s just me and I’m playin’ this rock and roll thing
She wants to be just like me
And I want every damn thing I can see
You know one day you’re Daddy’s little angel
The next day you’re everything he wanted you to be
They dress you up in white satin
And they give you your very own pair of wings
In August and everything after
I’m after everything
I said yeah yeah yeah yeah - lalala
Well you got your reservations
And you got your seven-million dollar home
You got the number of some girl in New York City
Who’s always wide awake
So you never spend the night alone
You got a nasty little habit
Of peekin down the shirts of all the little girls
As they pass you by
And I wonder when it all catches up to you
And they finally take you down–
Are you gonna cry?
Well I already got my disease
So take your fuckin filthy hands off of me
Yeah well I hope you weren’t expecting to be crucified–
The best that they can do
Is to hang you from the nearest tree
It’s midnight in San Francisco
And I’m waiting here for Jesus on my knees
And August and everything after
I want somebody else to bleed for me
I said yeah yeah yeah lalala...
They came down from North Dakota
With confidence in the military mind
And now everyone I know is turning showgirl
And dancing with their shirt off
In some Las Vegas hotel line
So I’m going down to Los Angeles
To plead for my immediate release
And the lawyer says, yeah we’ll let you go
But you gotta give us a better reason
than "please, please, please"
But I no longer know how to pray
I live in dog town and it’s a Dalmatian parade
And I, I change my spots over and over
But they never seem to fade away
I am the last remaining Indian
Looking for the place where the buffalo roam
In August and everything after
Man them buffalo ain’t never comin home
And I said in August and everything after
Man them buffalo ain’t never comin home
I said oh yeah yeah yeah lalala
Cause everybody else has got some place to go
She makes a little motion with her head, rolls over, and says she’s gonna sleep for
A couple minutes more
I said I’m sorry to Maria
For all the cold-hearted things that I have done
I said I’m sorry by now, at least once
To just about everyone
She says I’ve forgotten what I’m supposed to do today
And it slips my mind what I’m supposed to say
We’re getting older and older and older
and always a little further out of the way
You look into her eyes
And it’s more than your heart will allow
And August and everything after
You get a little less than you expected somehow
Well I stumbled into Washington Square
Just as the sun began to rise
And I laid down on the lawn of the cathedral
And laid down and the shadow of St. Mary’s in the sky
And I’m just one of these late model children
Waiting for the king
But there ain’t no sign of Elvis in San Francisco
It’s just me and I’m playin’ this rock and roll thing
She wants to be just like me
And I want every damn thing I can see
You know one day you’re Daddy’s little angel
The next day you’re everything he wanted you to be
They dress you up in white satin
And they give you your very own pair of wings
In August and everything after
I’m after everything
I said yeah yeah yeah yeah - lalala
Well you got your reservations
And you got your seven-million dollar home
You got the number of some girl in New York City
Who’s always wide awake
So you never spend the night alone
You got a nasty little habit
Of peekin down the shirts of all the little girls
As they pass you by
And I wonder when it all catches up to you
And they finally take you down–
Are you gonna cry?
Well I already got my disease
So take your fuckin filthy hands off of me
Yeah well I hope you weren’t expecting to be crucified–
The best that they can do
Is to hang you from the nearest tree
It’s midnight in San Francisco
And I’m waiting here for Jesus on my knees
And August and everything after
I want somebody else to bleed for me
I said yeah yeah yeah lalala...
They came down from North Dakota
With confidence in the military mind
And now everyone I know is turning showgirl
And dancing with their shirt off
In some Las Vegas hotel line
So I’m going down to Los Angeles
To plead for my immediate release
And the lawyer says, yeah we’ll let you go
But you gotta give us a better reason
than "please, please, please"
But I no longer know how to pray
I live in dog town and it’s a Dalmatian parade
And I, I change my spots over and over
But they never seem to fade away
I am the last remaining Indian
Looking for the place where the buffalo roam
In August and everything after
Man them buffalo ain’t never comin home
And I said in August and everything after
Man them buffalo ain’t never comin home
I said oh yeah yeah yeah lalala
Lyrics submitted by indefeat
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The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
Radiohead
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Just an amazing song that I wish he would play more often. One of my favourites.