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"
There was a lot of rocking going on that night
Cruising time for the young bright lights
Just down past the gasworks, by the meat factory door
The five lamp boys were coming on strong
The Saturday night city beat had already started
And the, the pulse of the corner boys just sprang into action
And young Billy watched it all under the yellow street light
And said "tonight of all nights, there's gonna be a fight"
Billy don't like it living here in this town
He says the traps have been sprung long before he was born
He says "hope bites the dust behind all the closed doors"
And pus and grime ooze from its scab crusted sores
There's screaming and crying in the high-rise blocks"
It's a rat trap Billy, but you're already caught
And you can make it if you wanna or you need it bad enough
You're young and good-looking and you're acting kind of tough
Anyway it's Saturday night time to see what's going down
Put on the bright suit Billy, head for the right side of town
It's only 8 o'clock but you're already bored
You don't know what it is but, there's got to be more
You'd better find a way out, hey kick down that door
It's a rat trap and you've been caught
In this town Billy says "everybody's trying to tell you what to do"
In this town Billy says "everybody says you gotta follow rules"
You walk up to those traffic lights
You switch from your left to right
You push in that button and that button comes alight
And hits you
"Walk, don't walk
Walk, don't walk
Talk, don't talk
Talk, don't talk"
"Walk, don't walk
Walk, don't walk
Talk, don't talk
Talk, don't talk"
Hey Billy take a walk, take a walk, take a walk
Billy take a walk, take a walk, take a walk
Billy take a walk, take a walk, take a walk
Hey Billy, take a walk with me
Take a walk that leads to me
Sweet high school blues
Oh little Judy's trying to watch "top of the pops"
But mum and dad are fighting don't they ever stop
She takes off her coat and walks down into the street
It's cold on that road, but it's got that home beat
Deep down in her pockets she finds 50p
Hey is that any way for a young girl to be?
I'm gonna get out of school work in some factory
Work all the hours God gave me get myself a little easy money
Now, now, now na na
Her mind's made up, she walks down the road
Her hands in her pockets, coat buttoned 'gainst the cold
She finds Billy down at the Italian cafe
And when he's drunk it's hard to understand what Billy says
But then he mumbles in his coffee and he suddenly roars
"It's a rat trap Judy; and we've been caught"
Rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught (the boys are 'round and they're lookin' for a mate)
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
Cruising time for the young bright lights
Just down past the gasworks, by the meat factory door
The five lamp boys were coming on strong
The Saturday night city beat had already started
And the, the pulse of the corner boys just sprang into action
And young Billy watched it all under the yellow street light
And said "tonight of all nights, there's gonna be a fight"
Billy don't like it living here in this town
He says the traps have been sprung long before he was born
He says "hope bites the dust behind all the closed doors"
And pus and grime ooze from its scab crusted sores
There's screaming and crying in the high-rise blocks"
It's a rat trap Billy, but you're already caught
And you can make it if you wanna or you need it bad enough
You're young and good-looking and you're acting kind of tough
Anyway it's Saturday night time to see what's going down
Put on the bright suit Billy, head for the right side of town
It's only 8 o'clock but you're already bored
You don't know what it is but, there's got to be more
You'd better find a way out, hey kick down that door
It's a rat trap and you've been caught
In this town Billy says "everybody's trying to tell you what to do"
In this town Billy says "everybody says you gotta follow rules"
You walk up to those traffic lights
You switch from your left to right
You push in that button and that button comes alight
And hits you
"Walk, don't walk
Walk, don't walk
Talk, don't talk
Talk, don't talk"
"Walk, don't walk
Walk, don't walk
Talk, don't talk
Talk, don't talk"
Hey Billy take a walk, take a walk, take a walk
Billy take a walk, take a walk, take a walk
Billy take a walk, take a walk, take a walk
Hey Billy, take a walk with me
Take a walk that leads to me
Sweet high school blues
Oh little Judy's trying to watch "top of the pops"
But mum and dad are fighting don't they ever stop
She takes off her coat and walks down into the street
It's cold on that road, but it's got that home beat
Deep down in her pockets she finds 50p
Hey is that any way for a young girl to be?
I'm gonna get out of school work in some factory
Work all the hours God gave me get myself a little easy money
Now, now, now na na
Her mind's made up, she walks down the road
Her hands in her pockets, coat buttoned 'gainst the cold
She finds Billy down at the Italian cafe
And when he's drunk it's hard to understand what Billy says
But then he mumbles in his coffee and he suddenly roars
"It's a rat trap Judy; and we've been caught"
Rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught (the boys are 'round and they're lookin' for a mate)
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
In a rat trap, you've been caught
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Rat trap