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, place your hands on my hope,
Run your fingers through my soul.
And the way that I feel right now
Oh lord it may go
So place your hands on my hope,
Run your fingers through my soul.
And the way that I feel right now
Oh lord it may go.
Put your hands on, put your hands on.
Put your hands on, put your hands on.
You know you cannot hide, from what's inside.
You know you cannot hide, from what's inside.
So I ask of you, to help me through,
I ask of you, this thing to do
Put your hands on, put your hands on.
Put your hands on, put your hands on.
So lay me down, for a while.
Join my body, with my mind.
Oh, I cried at the common one
4 weeks aft' he died.
Put your hands on, put your hands on.
Run your fingers through my soul.
And the way that I feel right now
Oh lord it may go
So place your hands on my hope,
Run your fingers through my soul.
And the way that I feel right now
Oh lord it may go.
Put your hands on, put your hands on.
Put your hands on, put your hands on.
You know you cannot hide, from what's inside.
You know you cannot hide, from what's inside.
So I ask of you, to help me through,
I ask of you, this thing to do
Put your hands on, put your hands on.
Put your hands on, put your hands on.
So lay me down, for a while.
Join my body, with my mind.
Oh, I cried at the common one
4 weeks aft' he died.
Put your hands on, put your hands on.
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Why havent more people posted on this?!!! This a an AWESOME song man! Reminds me of loads of nights out in 1st yr of uni, everyone would go CRAZY when this song came on as soon as they heard the riff intro, pure class, Reef are so underrated!
this song is actually about the death of Gary Stringers grandfather, or so i heard. i think he's asking God or maybe even his grandfather to help him through his grief, etc. i think he just wants to be released from his grief, or 'the way that [he] feels right now'.
Gary Stringer was dealing with a loved one slowly dying. Having been there myself, the lyrics become more poignant...
"Oh place your hands, on my whole, Run your fingers through my soul"
Cancer can take a hold and travel (metastasis) across the body, nasty stuff, so the request is out there for God's healing hands to reach across his entire existence, including his soul, to heal -
He's pleading for the Common one, God, to reach down and "Oh Lord may it go" -
Two meaning here I interpret as "may it go" refers to the the sickness eroding his Grandfather, and the pain Stringer felt during and since. He himself has referred to the pain as "devastation" in interviews about this song.
Great song with huge depth, delivered successfully into the mainstream. Thanks Reef, and RIP to all this dreaded disease has taken.
@cosmango the common one is a reference to the Van morrison album of the same name released in 1980
@cosmango the common one is a reference to the Van morrison album of the same name released in 1980
Hand up....who thought this was "put your hands on my hole"...I betcha like 99% of the population :) It actually kinda turned me off the song because of the visual imagery.... love, elisa
i agree. why havn't more people posted on this song? Its one of them feel good anthems i reckon that even if you dont hear it for ten years youll still remember it.
yeah great upbeat feel-good song. gr8 singin voice
yeah i thought it was whole, not quite hole! hahaha, but still i was wrong! i'm glad i wasnt the only one thinking that for the last ten years!
I too thought it was "hole" and it made me really hate this song, the dirty bastards. I hope they washed it thoroughly. Not a big Reef fan I have to say, but at least I know it isnt hole anymore. Thank fuck for that.
I think this song is written for a new love. It's about letting go of the fear of failing that a new relationship brings. When you find someone, you just have to let yourself go. You have to tell your lover that you want them to feel the hope that you feel and to understand your soul, your feelings and emotion. Maybe this wont work out but we are not going to hold back from each other. I just want you know know exactly who I am and it will be beautiful. We can't fight our feelings, so let's just make a go of it. I dont know what the Common One is though,,, It was a Van Morrison record, but that doesn't make sense to me.
The common one is a chav called Scott that the singer (Stringer) was very fond of when he was at school in Glastonbury. (I was in the year below). When Scott joined the army, Gary became very dispondent. The "place your hands" bit is a reference to the way a policeman ask you to place your hands on the roof of the car when he needs to search your pockets. Here, Stringer is asking Scott to place his hands on his soul, so that he can trust him.
@shed8 the common one is a reference to the Van Morrison album of the same name released in 1980.