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"
All the leaves are green
All my friends are gone
I'm livin' in my hometown
I can barely get along
I feel sorry for myself
That's an easy thing to do
I feel sorry for the world
I feel sorry for you
Yes I am a pitiful sight
I can't even get one thing right
I know just what it's like
To be ridin' in the rumbleseat
Yes I know just what it's like
To be a big time rider in the rumbleseat
Well I could have a nervous breakdown
But I don't believe in shrinks
I should be drunker than a monkey
But I don't like to drink
Call up some girls
But I'm afraid of the phone
I'm always talkin' to myself
I guess I'm never alone
Am I the only one that feels this way
I'd buy myself some stylish clothes
But I sure hate to pay
I know just what it's like
To be ridin' in the rumbleseat
Yes I know just what it's like
To be a big time rider in the rumbleseat
The sun is coming up
Just goin' to bed
I combed my hair with my pillow
Still got some dreams left
Tomorrow is a new day
Gonna make these dreams come true
I'm gonna believe in myself
I'll tell you what I'm gonna do
I'm gonna stop puttin' myself down
I'm gonna turn my life around
I'll be ridin' high
With my feet kicked up in the rumbleseat
Yeah we'll go for a drive
And we'll be singin' shotgun from that rumbleseat
Yes I'll blow you a kiss
And we'll be ridin' big time in my rumbleseat
All my friends are gone
I'm livin' in my hometown
I can barely get along
I feel sorry for myself
That's an easy thing to do
I feel sorry for the world
I feel sorry for you
Yes I am a pitiful sight
I can't even get one thing right
I know just what it's like
To be ridin' in the rumbleseat
Yes I know just what it's like
To be a big time rider in the rumbleseat
Well I could have a nervous breakdown
But I don't believe in shrinks
I should be drunker than a monkey
But I don't like to drink
Call up some girls
But I'm afraid of the phone
I'm always talkin' to myself
I guess I'm never alone
Am I the only one that feels this way
I'd buy myself some stylish clothes
But I sure hate to pay
I know just what it's like
To be ridin' in the rumbleseat
Yes I know just what it's like
To be a big time rider in the rumbleseat
The sun is coming up
Just goin' to bed
I combed my hair with my pillow
Still got some dreams left
Tomorrow is a new day
Gonna make these dreams come true
I'm gonna believe in myself
I'll tell you what I'm gonna do
I'm gonna stop puttin' myself down
I'm gonna turn my life around
I'll be ridin' high
With my feet kicked up in the rumbleseat
Yeah we'll go for a drive
And we'll be singin' shotgun from that rumbleseat
Yes I'll blow you a kiss
And we'll be ridin' big time in my rumbleseat
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
I love this song. The "rumble seat" ceased to exist in cars back in the mid-30's. It was located where the trunk sits nowadays and could be flipped up to accommodate extra passengers. Very uncomfortable and unstable. In a traffic accident anyone in the rumble seat was as good as dead.