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"
Rudolph the red nosed reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
You might even say it glows
And all of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games
But then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa, he came to say
Rudolph with your nose so bright
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?
Then how the reindeers loved him
As they shouted out with glee
Rudolph the red nosed reindeer
You'll go down in history
But Rudolph, he didn't go for that
He said, I see through your silly games
How can you look me in the face
When only yesterday, you called me names?
And all of the other reindeers, man, well they sure did feel ashamed
Rudolph, you know we're sorry
We're truly gonna try to change
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
You might even say it glows
And all of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games
But then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa, he came to say
Rudolph with your nose so bright
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?
Then how the reindeers loved him
As they shouted out with glee
Rudolph the red nosed reindeer
You'll go down in history
But Rudolph, he didn't go for that
He said, I see through your silly games
How can you look me in the face
When only yesterday, you called me names?
And all of the other reindeers, man, well they sure did feel ashamed
Rudolph, you know we're sorry
We're truly gonna try to change
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Such a good message conveyed by this song. I think that Jack shows very well that Rudolf shouldn't have been happy with the other reindeer's acceptance, when they made fun of him his whole life. It also shows how in human nature people should actually change how they treat people, instead of just say they will.
how can you listen to this and not love jack johnson?
I am a teacher and I think this would be great to play in the classroom! I love his addition to the original lyrics! Any ideas on where I could get it? I've heard it on the radio, but have not seen it in the stores.
Jack's version of the song appears on the compilation "Maybe This Christmas" originally released in 2002. You can get it new or used at amazon.com.
jack has done it again, im buying this song now and it aint even christmas
The song was actually recorded in 1999 as a small gift for his family. The original recording can be found on the bootleg Lullabies.
i just love this song, jack johnson is so awesome.
To be honest, this is one of the very few Christmas songs I even like and it is because of the additional verse. This is the version I'll be teaching my kids (once I have some!).
The song may be about rewarding scholars and people who like learning. This is because the nose is the organ of inquisitiveness due to animals smelling things before they eat them and looking out for food and danger by smell. So Rudolph is basically a stereotypically unpopular nerd who gets socially ostracized due to his poor social skills. But when there\'s a fog symbolizing uncertain times ahead (also Carl von Clausewitz fog of war) so Santa chooses Rudolph as the leader because he is the most knowledgeable and will be able to safely guide them.\nThere is some support of this in Hinduism where the goddess of wisdom turns into a deer and why learned men wear deer skin as clothing and sit on deerskin mats. (what I read on wikipedia)