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"
Take us down and all apart
Cherry Tree
Lay us out on the table
Your sharp alright
But no one is asking so leave it alone
Leave it alone
Can we
No one is asking so leave it alone
Leave it alone
Can we
Loose lips sink ships
Don't Look at me
I'm only breathing
Don't look at me I'm indiscreet
Don't look at me
I'm only breathing
Don't look at me I'm indiscreet
Your sharp alright
But no one is asking so leave it alone
Leave it alone
Can we
No one is asking so leave it alone
Leave it alone
Can we
Loose lips sink ships
Can we show
A little discipline
Can we show
A little discipline
Can we
Can we
Loose lips sink ships
Can we show
A little discipline
Can we show
A little discipline
Can we
Can we
Loose lips sink ships
Cherry Tree
Lay us out on the table
Your sharp alright
But no one is asking so leave it alone
Leave it alone
Can we
No one is asking so leave it alone
Leave it alone
Can we
Loose lips sink ships
Don't Look at me
I'm only breathing
Don't look at me I'm indiscreet
Don't look at me
I'm only breathing
Don't look at me I'm indiscreet
Your sharp alright
But no one is asking so leave it alone
Leave it alone
Can we
No one is asking so leave it alone
Leave it alone
Can we
Loose lips sink ships
Can we show
A little discipline
Can we show
A little discipline
Can we
Can we
Loose lips sink ships
Can we show
A little discipline
Can we show
A little discipline
Can we
Can we
Loose lips sink ships
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The thoughts of everyone about the meaning of this song are very good. More disjointed thoughts . . .
Part of the identity of Matt Berninger, judging only by the songs he's written, seems to be that he's an American who has lived or spent time in Britain. That makes a person very aware of their own heritage in contrast with the heritage of another country. That might be irrelevent but to me it is seems important to understanding his lyrics.
The lyric "Loose lips [might] sinks ships" is a reference to an American WW2 poster; akin to the British WW2 poster "Keep Mum, she's not so dumb. Careless talk costs lives".
Cherry tree title might be a reference to America's founding father and first president George Washington cutting down the cherry tree myth, as well as the Japanese significance of springtime cherry trees. Another WW2 reference to America dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
So this song seems to be using the metaphor of wartime interrogation of political prisoners as the visual for the story.
"Take US down . . . cherry tree . . . lay US out on a table"
-Is the lyric referring to US the couple, or has the person being laid out on the table for dissection by the person who is sharp, had a schizophrenic personality split?
-Who or what is the cherry tree? Is cherry tree a person leading the interrogation?
Cherry sounds a lot like "cherie" the French word for love.
Allies in WW2 (Britain, France, US) versus enemy allies (Germany and Japan).
The writer has written a song about a dissection-like interrogation that has been recorded and anyone who wishes to can listen to the song and make their own judgements. The writer of the song has not kept this interrogation secret, he is indiscrete.
By repeating "Loose lips sink ships" he's warning the interrogator that he is going to write about this encounter, and he has.