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"
It's quiet now and what it brings is everything
Comes calling back a brilliant night
I'm still awake
I looked ahead
I'm sure I saw you there
You don't need me to tell you now
That nothing can compare
You might've laughed if I told you
You might have hidden your frown
You might've succeeded in changing me
I might've been turned around
It's easier to leave than to be left behind
Leaving was never my proud
Leaving New York never easy
I saw the light fading out
Now life is sweet and what it brings
I tried to take
The loneliness it wears me out
It lies in wait
And on a loss still in my eyes
Shatter a necklace across your thigh
I might've lived my life in a dream
But I swear this is real
Memory fuses, and shatters like glass
Mercurial future forget the past
But it's you, it's what I feel
You might've laughed if I told you
(It's pulling me apart)
You might have hidden your frown (change)
You might've succeeded in changing me
(It's pulling me apart)
I might've been turned around (change)
It's easier to leave than to be left behind
(It's pulling me apart)
Leaving was never my proud (change)
Leaving New York never easy
(It's pulling me apart)
I saw the light fading out
You find it in your heart, it's pulling me apart
You find it in your heart (change)
I told you forever, I love you it's forever
I told you if I love you, I love you forever
I told you forever, I love you it's forever
I told you if I love you, I love you forever
You never
You might've laughed if I told you
(It's pulling me apart)
You might have hidden your frown (change)
You might've succeeded in changing me
(It's pulling me apart)
I might've been turned around (change)
It's easier to leave than to be left behind
(It's pulling me apart)
Leaving was never my proud (change)
Leaving New York never easy
(It's pulling me apart)
I saw the light fading out (change)
Leaving New York never easy
(It's pulling me apart)
I saw the light fading out (change)
Leaving New York never easy
(It's pulling me apart)
I saw the light fading out (change)
Comes calling back a brilliant night
I'm still awake
I looked ahead
I'm sure I saw you there
You don't need me to tell you now
That nothing can compare
You might've laughed if I told you
You might have hidden your frown
You might've succeeded in changing me
I might've been turned around
It's easier to leave than to be left behind
Leaving was never my proud
Leaving New York never easy
I saw the light fading out
Now life is sweet and what it brings
I tried to take
The loneliness it wears me out
It lies in wait
And on a loss still in my eyes
Shatter a necklace across your thigh
I might've lived my life in a dream
But I swear this is real
Memory fuses, and shatters like glass
Mercurial future forget the past
But it's you, it's what I feel
You might've laughed if I told you
(It's pulling me apart)
You might have hidden your frown (change)
You might've succeeded in changing me
(It's pulling me apart)
I might've been turned around (change)
It's easier to leave than to be left behind
(It's pulling me apart)
Leaving was never my proud (change)
Leaving New York never easy
(It's pulling me apart)
I saw the light fading out
You find it in your heart, it's pulling me apart
You find it in your heart (change)
I told you forever, I love you it's forever
I told you if I love you, I love you forever
I told you forever, I love you it's forever
I told you if I love you, I love you forever
You never
You might've laughed if I told you
(It's pulling me apart)
You might have hidden your frown (change)
You might've succeeded in changing me
(It's pulling me apart)
I might've been turned around (change)
It's easier to leave than to be left behind
(It's pulling me apart)
Leaving was never my proud (change)
Leaving New York never easy
(It's pulling me apart)
I saw the light fading out (change)
Leaving New York never easy
(It's pulling me apart)
I saw the light fading out (change)
Leaving New York never easy
(It's pulling me apart)
I saw the light fading out (change)
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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It's about realising that things are over. To the extent that you think you need to leave a place in order to get away from your history, and sacrificing important things in order to escape. Kinda how I feel today
I can't believe no one else has commented on this song, it is brilliant.
I think it is about being in a relationship and coming to the realisation that the best is behind you and that if one of you doesn't leave now, the other one eventually will and that, regardless of the fact that it is inevitable, it is still less painful to be the one who does the leaving.
The chorus is about how, he is leaving her without saying goodbye and is thinking about how the conversation could have played out, had he told her.
Great song, probably my favourite from Around the Sun.
Perfect... just perfect. I first heard this song a couple of days too late though; I had been trying so hard to say the same things to someone, without any success. I wish I'd heard it earlier. I can understand why other people may not like the album, but for very personal reasons, I love it completely.
I imagine Stipey has some good friends or loved ones in NYC. Anyway, great song.
People, this song is about New York. Hence the name.
In this song, Michael is obviously in love with New Yorks beauty and the attatchment he has with it.
I doubt that there is a woman involved, simply because Michael is gay.
He is expressing his love for such a beautiful city. This is a very simple version of what I think the song is about. R.E.M are much more straight forward as to what their music is about as opposed to their good friends Radiohead. Radiohead are awesome aswell.
GN
Although the song is written about New York, I think that it relates to others slightly differently. To me its about change and knowing that changes are happening all around you and you can't just stay in the same place all your life, hence "it's easier to leave than to be left behind". You have to go through many changes, some which are painful. Michael Stipe is using New York in this song because its something he loves dearly. Beautiful song, one of R.E.M's best.
A great song, I love how R.E.M. has a tune to fit any mood I'm in. Now, Micheal said in an interview I watched on launch.com that his songs are not biographical, which I like because it kind of opens them up for interpretation. I suppose you could take this song a few different ways, but when I listen to it I think of a relationship ending, with one of the parties involved running away from the other. The chorus makes me picture the person leaving staring out the window of an airplane, crying with regret wondering, "what if?" Maybe some things were left unsaid? I just saw the video the other day which takes place in an isolated airport, so that sort of helps with my personal take. I can't wait to see them live for the first time in 3 days!
I'm not so sure Stipe's lyrics are -never- autobiographical. He's had a friends-with-benefits thing going with Casey Spooner (of Fischerspooner)for quite some time. They hooked up while Casey was at the University of Georgia. He moved to New York shortly after UGA.<br /> The two of them have been seen together off and on for the last decade. <br />
A great song that grabbed my attention from the the first time I heard it - I agree the lyrics are deliberately open to interpretation and that a love for New York and/or ending of relationship are the two best explanations.<br /> <br /> Hovever I am surprised no one appears to have commented on the video which comes across as a subtle 9/11 tribute. After all, it features images of the NY skyline and of Stipe in airports. Watching it for the first time i found myself in tears. 'Light fading out' and ' love you forever' are the lines that hit me the most - unconsciously at first but basically every time I hear the song since, i had fused the words and the plane/skyline images for the song to come across as someone has being spoken to or by someone trapped in the Twin Towers.
I think it's about a change in heart. Leaving the past which you once thought was enjoyable but now you realize it was just a dream, an illusion... the life has faded out.
You find it in your heart It's pulling me apart Change...
This song seems to be about changes in life, leaving the life you've grown used to and life, perhaps maturing and growing up, and reflecting on lost oppertunities or past loved ones.