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"
Pass me that lovely little gun
My dear, my darling one
The cleaners are coming, one by one
You don't even want to let them start
They're knocking now upon your door
They measure the room, they know the score
They're mopping up the butcher's floor
Of your broken little hearts
(Oh, children)
Forgive us now for what we've done
It started out as a bit of fun
Here, take these before we run away
The keys to the gulag
(Oh, children)
(Lift up your voice, lift up your voice)
(Children)
(Rejoice, rejoice)
Come on
Come on
Come on
Come on
Here comes Frank and poor old Jim
They're gathering round with all my friends
We're older now, and the light is dim
And you are only just beginning
Oh, children
We have the answer to all your fears
It's short, it's simple, it's crystal-clear
It's roundabout and it's somewhere here
Lost amongst our winnings
(Oh, children)
(Lift up your voice, lift up your voice)
(Children)
(Rejoice, rejoice)
The cleaners have done their job on you
They're hip to it, man, they're in the groove
They've hosed you down, you're good as new
And they're lining up to inspect you
Oh children
Poor old Jim's white as a ghost
He's found the answer that we lost
We're all weeping now, weeping because
There ain't nothing we can do to protect you
(Oh, children)
(Lift up your voice, lift up your voice)
(Children)
(Rejoice, rejoice)
(Hey little train, we're jumping on)
(The train that goes to the Kingdom)
We're happy, Ma, we're having fun
And the train ain't even left the station
(Hey, little train, wait for me)
(I once was blind but now I see)
And have you left a seat for me?
Is that such a stretch of the imagination?
(Hey little train, wait for me)
(I was held in chains but now I'm free)
I'm hanging in there, don't you see?
In this process of elimination
(Hey little train, we're jumping on)
(The train that goes to the Kingdom)
We're happy, Ma, we're having fun (children)
It's beyond my wildest expectation (oh, children)
(Hey little train, we're jumping on)
(The train that goes to the Kingdom)
We're happy, Ma, we're having fun
The train ain't even left the station (oh, children)
(Hey, little train, wait for me)
(I once was blind but now I see)
My dear, my darling one
The cleaners are coming, one by one
You don't even want to let them start
They're knocking now upon your door
They measure the room, they know the score
They're mopping up the butcher's floor
Of your broken little hearts
(Oh, children)
Forgive us now for what we've done
It started out as a bit of fun
Here, take these before we run away
The keys to the gulag
(Oh, children)
(Lift up your voice, lift up your voice)
(Children)
(Rejoice, rejoice)
Come on
Come on
Come on
Come on
Here comes Frank and poor old Jim
They're gathering round with all my friends
We're older now, and the light is dim
And you are only just beginning
Oh, children
We have the answer to all your fears
It's short, it's simple, it's crystal-clear
It's roundabout and it's somewhere here
Lost amongst our winnings
(Oh, children)
(Lift up your voice, lift up your voice)
(Children)
(Rejoice, rejoice)
The cleaners have done their job on you
They're hip to it, man, they're in the groove
They've hosed you down, you're good as new
And they're lining up to inspect you
Oh children
Poor old Jim's white as a ghost
He's found the answer that we lost
We're all weeping now, weeping because
There ain't nothing we can do to protect you
(Oh, children)
(Lift up your voice, lift up your voice)
(Children)
(Rejoice, rejoice)
(Hey little train, we're jumping on)
(The train that goes to the Kingdom)
We're happy, Ma, we're having fun
And the train ain't even left the station
(Hey, little train, wait for me)
(I once was blind but now I see)
And have you left a seat for me?
Is that such a stretch of the imagination?
(Hey little train, wait for me)
(I was held in chains but now I'm free)
I'm hanging in there, don't you see?
In this process of elimination
(Hey little train, we're jumping on)
(The train that goes to the Kingdom)
We're happy, Ma, we're having fun (children)
It's beyond my wildest expectation (oh, children)
(Hey little train, we're jumping on)
(The train that goes to the Kingdom)
We're happy, Ma, we're having fun
The train ain't even left the station (oh, children)
(Hey, little train, wait for me)
(I once was blind but now I see)
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The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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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.
No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Interesting. He does mention the Kingdom, which would be out of place in a Greek myth, so perhaps he's 'Christianizing' the Greek myth. Can you elaborate a bit on how some of the lines of the songs match the elements of the myth?