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"
(Let's get it while it's hot)
How to stay paralyzed by fear of abandonment
How to defer to men in solvable predicaments
How to control someone to be a carbon copy of you
How to have that not work and have them run away from you
How to keep people at arms-length and never get too close
How to mistrust the ones you supposedly love the most
How to pretend you're fine and don't need help from anyone
How to feel worthless unless you're serving or helping someone
I'll teach you all this in eight easy steps
The course of a lifetime, you'll never forget
I'll show you how to in eight easy steps
I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best
How to hate women when you're supposed to be a feminist
How to play all-pious when you're really a hypocrite
How to hate God when you're a prayer and a spiritualist
How to sabotage your fantasies by fear of success
I'll teach you all this in eight easy steps
The course of a lifetime, you'll never forget
I'll show you how to in eight easy steps
I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best
I've been doing research for years
I've been practicing my ass off
I've been training my whole life for this moment, I swear to you
Culminating just to be this well-versed leader before you
I'll teach you all this in eight easy steps
The course of a lifetime, you'll never forget
I'll show you how to in eight easy steps
I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best
How to lie to yourself and thereby to everyone else
How to keep smiling when you're thinking of killing yourself
How to numb a la 'holic to avoid going within
How to stay stuck in blue by blaming them for everything
I'll teach you all this in eight easy steps
The course of a lifetime, you'll never forget
I'll show you how to in eight easy steps
I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best
I'll teach you all this in eight easy steps
The course of a lifetime, you'll never forget
I'll show you how to in eight easy steps
I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best
How to stay paralyzed by fear of abandonment
How to defer to men in solvable predicaments
How to control someone to be a carbon copy of you
How to have that not work and have them run away from you
How to keep people at arms-length and never get too close
How to mistrust the ones you supposedly love the most
How to pretend you're fine and don't need help from anyone
How to feel worthless unless you're serving or helping someone
I'll teach you all this in eight easy steps
The course of a lifetime, you'll never forget
I'll show you how to in eight easy steps
I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best
How to hate women when you're supposed to be a feminist
How to play all-pious when you're really a hypocrite
How to hate God when you're a prayer and a spiritualist
How to sabotage your fantasies by fear of success
I'll teach you all this in eight easy steps
The course of a lifetime, you'll never forget
I'll show you how to in eight easy steps
I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best
I've been doing research for years
I've been practicing my ass off
I've been training my whole life for this moment, I swear to you
Culminating just to be this well-versed leader before you
I'll teach you all this in eight easy steps
The course of a lifetime, you'll never forget
I'll show you how to in eight easy steps
I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best
How to lie to yourself and thereby to everyone else
How to keep smiling when you're thinking of killing yourself
How to numb a la 'holic to avoid going within
How to stay stuck in blue by blaming them for everything
I'll teach you all this in eight easy steps
The course of a lifetime, you'll never forget
I'll show you how to in eight easy steps
I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best
I'll teach you all this in eight easy steps
The course of a lifetime, you'll never forget
I'll show you how to in eight easy steps
I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best
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This is my favorite track off of "So-Called Chaos." It flows really well and contains one of my favorite lyrics: "How to lie to yourself and thereby to everyone else/How to keep smiling when you're thinking of killing yourself"
Definitely agreeing with... uh... manspretty panties... heh, well anyway. She's conveying that these are all things that she's done/is doing. She's admitting that she's not totally perfect, despite what we may think.
I know this is an old comment, but.. yes. I think that's it in a nutshell. Unfortunately, this song could be my theme song.. With the exception of the feminist part. LOL
of course it is a self portrait! Alanis is I think one of the most self-critical persons in the world. Here she explains it in a very ironic way once again. as if it was cool for everyone to learn all these character trades, she has. but the message she is conveying is: I can be an asshole of the grandest kind! That is how Alanis manages to build up a close connection between almost all of her songs. Amazing.
Hm... "How to numb a la holic to avoid going within"?
Can someone help me out, please? --Hopeh.
@misshapen chaos<br /> It means to occupy yourself with all sorts of addictions or busy activity so that you don't have the time or desire to 'go within' and do a painful self examination of your life.
@misshapen_chaos <br /> <br /> People with Borderline Personality Disorder start to feel numb when their disorder is triggered. Becoming numb removes them from their painful emotions within.
This song is about living with Borderline Personality Disorder. Not sure if Alanis has it or not.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ One of Alanis's better songs! To me this song sounds like a doctor or guru of some sort that can help you to be something your not, or help you to act phony. And, obviously, the teacher can teach you all this in "eight easy steps" this course that will transform you and change your life +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Jaydee
to me its how "carbon copy" the world has become. Everyone is trying to fit this specific mold and this is how to do it.
I think its just a self portrait, so to speak. She's just naming off the things she's done in the past, or maybe just things that she currently does and wants to defer other people from doing. The line, "I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best ," is supposed to signify that she's the master of all of these things. It is put into the form of a speech.
This song is such a reminder to be true to yourself. Otherwise you find yourselt in all these contradictory thoughts. Has anyone heard the thick filter mix? What are they saying? Is it "can't trust these perky people?" let me know if you can..
I think she is incapable of writing a bad song simply because she is writing about life experiences, and who cant relate to that? I also love the line "How to lie to yourself and thereby to everyone else/How to keep smiling when youre thinking of killing yourself."