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"
How long before I get in?
Before it starts, before I begin?
How long before you decide?
Before I know what it feels like?
Where to, where do I go?
If you never try, then you'll never know
How long do I have to climb
Up on the side of this mountain of mine?
Look up, I look up at night
Planets are moving at the speed of light
Climb up, up in the trees
Every chance that you get
Is a chance you seize
How long am I gonna stand
With my head stuck under the sand?
I'll start before I can stop
Before I see things the right way up
All that noise, and all that sound
All those places I got found
And birds go flying at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flying from the underground
If you could see it then you'd understand
Ideas that you'll never find
All the inventors could never design
The buildings that you put up
Japan and China all lit up
The sign that I couldn't read
Or a light that I couldn't see
Some things you have to believe
But others are puzzles, puzzling me
All that noise, and all that sound
All those places I got found
And birds go flying at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flying from the underground
If you could see it then you'd understand
Ah, when you see it then you'll understand
All those signs, I knew what they meant
Some things you can invent
And some get made, and some get sent
Ooh
Birds go flying at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flying from the underground
If you could see it then you'd understand
Ah, when you see it then you'll understand
Before it starts, before I begin?
How long before you decide?
Before I know what it feels like?
Where to, where do I go?
If you never try, then you'll never know
How long do I have to climb
Up on the side of this mountain of mine?
Look up, I look up at night
Planets are moving at the speed of light
Climb up, up in the trees
Every chance that you get
Is a chance you seize
How long am I gonna stand
With my head stuck under the sand?
I'll start before I can stop
Before I see things the right way up
All that noise, and all that sound
All those places I got found
And birds go flying at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flying from the underground
If you could see it then you'd understand
Ideas that you'll never find
All the inventors could never design
The buildings that you put up
Japan and China all lit up
The sign that I couldn't read
Or a light that I couldn't see
Some things you have to believe
But others are puzzles, puzzling me
All that noise, and all that sound
All those places I got found
And birds go flying at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flying from the underground
If you could see it then you'd understand
Ah, when you see it then you'll understand
All those signs, I knew what they meant
Some things you can invent
And some get made, and some get sent
Ooh
Birds go flying at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flying from the underground
If you could see it then you'd understand
Ah, when you see it then you'll understand
Lyrics submitted by jommaz, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Speed of Sound Lyrics as written by William Champion Guy Rupert Berryman
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Anthem Entertainment, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I take this to be about war, and the governments not telling their citizens what's going on.
Birds go flying at the speed of sound - Bombers and other fighting planes going so fast.
Birds came flying from the underground - Nukes coming from underground bunkers.
All that noise, all that sound - Explosions, gunfire, etc.
All those places that I have found - They're being destroyed.
How long am I gonna can stand with my head stuck under the sand - Ignoring what's going on in the world, not being told what's going on at least.
Ideas that you'll never find or the inventors could never design - Everything that can be cut off by war, or maybe the just incomprehensible idea that people would hurt each other.
The buildings that you put up - The institutions, systems, etc, being destroyed.
All lit up - Obvious explosives imagery.
All those signs I knew what they meant - We can all see war and such coming, just by what's going on in the world.
yeah.. a fantastic explanation
@StellaSymphony old post I know..... just read today that rusia tested december 2018 a nuklear misle that goes 27x the speed of sound and boasted it therefore cannot be detected.<br /> <br /> I tend to think of birds flying at the speed of sound, is how it all began with the Wright Bros. using the flight of birds as inspiration to invent airplanes, and much of scientific endeavor mushroomed from then on.... quantifying(analysing and measuring and copying) the speed of sound, light, planetary motion, etc....in such a short timespan, when considering the time span humanity has existed on the earth. <br /> <br /> Birds come flying from the underground....perhaps imagery of the underworld, the less than "noble" motivations taking flight from dark places(the underworld), that determine actions of mankind that manifest themselves in action and what is created in the world material-wise....including buildings....the material manifestations arising from nefarious schemes...the "ideas that you'll never find all the inventors could never design" these nefarious motivations as birds flying from the underground are that which the inventors could never design....<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> A story as old as time; the book "Heart of Darkness" is an enlightening (short) read, about what lenghts noble Englishmen took and what places they were led to, to generate income so as to maintain their manor houses(as the industrial revolution took away the body of servants that previously maintained the properties cheaply), to maintain their reputation back home, to keep their wives and children living in the manner to which they were accustomed....the families partying, blissfully unaware of what was being done to keep them living the good life.<br /> <br /> The example of the manor house maintenance, started out as a good thing centuries ago with the fair exchange of lords and ladies setting up properties to care for and protect their workers, then became a burden that needed to be maintained... nowadays some manifestations of the material world seems to arise from less than noble motivations....<br /> <br /> My 2 cents...