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"
Woke up this morning without a face
I've fooled myself again
I've sold myself again
Another wasted day counting shades
Of gray, another fool's attempt to fall from grace
A casual line.
A sip of wine to sympathize while you're laughing
But on the inside
I've lost the insight that just might be
The truth
Old man loneliness is a son of a bitch
Both hands bound, can't scratch the itch
Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days
Who could stand veins with friends like these?
Pick my teeth out of the mud
And sink the sun, what have you done?
Cut the bandages,
Remove the oxygen
Hey man what's with that stupid grin?
I cut and bleed myself along
A man alone can do no wrong
Another wasted day counting shades of gray
Another fool's attempt to fall from grace
Old man loneliness is a son of a bitch
Both hands bound, can't scratch the itch
Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days
Who could stand veins with friends like these?
Old man loneliness is a son of a bitch
Both hands bound, can't scratch the itch
Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days
Who could stand veins with friends like these?
No sympathy for the devil
God gave him wings, God gave him wings
No sympathy for the devil
God gave him wings, God gave him wings
"These hands; they've made for you
(No sympathy for the devil)
(God gave him wings, God gave him wings)
your wings that stick to you."
It's dirt beneath your fingertips
It hurts to much to wait for it
It's dirt beneath your fingertips
It hurts to much to wait for it
It's dirt beneath your fingertips
It hurts to much to wait for this
Old man loneliness is a son of a bitch
Both hands bound, can't scratch the itch
Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days
Who could stand veins with friends like these?
Old man loneliness is a son of a bitch
Both hands bound, can't scratch the itch
Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days
Who could stand veins with friends like these?
Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days
Who could stand veins with friends like these?
I've fooled myself again
I've sold myself again
Another wasted day counting shades
Of gray, another fool's attempt to fall from grace
A casual line.
A sip of wine to sympathize while you're laughing
But on the inside
I've lost the insight that just might be
The truth
Old man loneliness is a son of a bitch
Both hands bound, can't scratch the itch
Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days
Who could stand veins with friends like these?
Pick my teeth out of the mud
And sink the sun, what have you done?
Cut the bandages,
Remove the oxygen
Hey man what's with that stupid grin?
I cut and bleed myself along
A man alone can do no wrong
Another wasted day counting shades of gray
Another fool's attempt to fall from grace
Old man loneliness is a son of a bitch
Both hands bound, can't scratch the itch
Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days
Who could stand veins with friends like these?
Old man loneliness is a son of a bitch
Both hands bound, can't scratch the itch
Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days
Who could stand veins with friends like these?
No sympathy for the devil
God gave him wings, God gave him wings
No sympathy for the devil
God gave him wings, God gave him wings
"These hands; they've made for you
(No sympathy for the devil)
(God gave him wings, God gave him wings)
your wings that stick to you."
It's dirt beneath your fingertips
It hurts to much to wait for it
It's dirt beneath your fingertips
It hurts to much to wait for it
It's dirt beneath your fingertips
It hurts to much to wait for this
Old man loneliness is a son of a bitch
Both hands bound, can't scratch the itch
Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days
Who could stand veins with friends like these?
Old man loneliness is a son of a bitch
Both hands bound, can't scratch the itch
Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days
Who could stand veins with friends like these?
Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days
Who could stand veins with friends like these?
Lyrics submitted by 001000111000
A Man Alone Lyrics as written by Nathan Barcalow Marc Edwin Allen
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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In the beginning, I think Nate is trying to say that he feels as if he no longer has his own identity or his own soul. he wants to fall away from society and to disappear from the public eye and the "sip of wine to sympathize while you're laughing" line, I think thats supposed to mean that he resorts to certain things in order to not let gossip and mockery get to him. When he says: "But on the inside, I've lost the insight that just might be the truth..." I think he's trying to say that he has forgotten what is real and he's starting to believe all the gossip about him.
but im bored so ill figure out the rest laterr
My take is similar to the previous person saying "Nate is trying to say that he feels as if he no longer has his own identity or his own soul. he wants to fall away from society and to disappear from the public eye"...
I woke up this morning with out a face. (he woke up without a reassuring identity, possibly about his music) I've fooled myself again, (he thought by waking up anew, he would be different. but he was wrong.) I've sold myself again. (did lots of things to try and change, didnt happen.) Another wasted day counting shades of gray, (counting shades of gray=another way of saying he went through lots to find the right fit) Another fool's attempt to fall from grace. (self-explanatory). A casual line. (line could be verbal, like a casual remark someone can make to brush off criticism. or...dare i say...a line of coke?) A sip of wine to sympathize, While you're laughing. But on the inside, I've lost the insight that just might be the truth... (like the person above said)
Old man loneliness is a son of a bitch (loneliness can be like a Both hands bound, can't scratch the itch... (like a problem that keeps bothering, you keep trying to fix it but can never exactly get to it) Cut off all loose ties, then bleed for days, (the people he's surrounded by take their time to help him while he struggles, before 'cutting him loose'. Then when he needs them the most, they leave again and let him deal with a new problem, or 'scratching the itch too hard so that he bleeds the death'.) Who could stand veins with friends like these? (who can stand to have something they love, music perhaps, with friends who are so in and out like that regarding their support)
i think these next lines are regarding the new album I pick my teeth out of the mud, (after getting knocked down by retarded press and critics, he's getting his things back together again) And sink the sun, what have you done? (people think 'what have you done' like why did u throw away what gave you life in the first place, perhaps that driving poppy sceamo that finch used to thrive on) I cut the bandages, Remove the oxygen, (after 'surgery', or finch's reinvention they revealed themselves...) Hey man what's with that stupid grin?(some might think, 'whats with the new style' or "grin" since some people come out of surgery with strange new faces. joker/batman similarity...?)
The rest I haven't really thought out yet.
To me this song has the whole lack of identity theme but also about feeling victimised and mistreated by "friends". I can't be fucked to analyse the whole thing but heres the general message I get from the chorus. Old man lonliness is a son of a bitch-he feels excluded by everyone Both hands bound, can't scratch the itch-he can't escape or control it Cut off all loose ties, and bleed for days- He wants to cut himself off from everyone but he knows it'll just hurt him more Who can stand veins with friends like these?- Obvioulsy about self harm. He hates whats happening so he takes it out on himself. As for the rest of the song just relate it back to my theory nd it should make sense. This song is fucking awsome, I;ve had the album for ages but not listened to it much nd I put it on the other day and this song just stuck out to me. Go buy it!
finch has broken up just thought i'd let u all knw...u prbly already know...but yea...it sucks...they could've been so much better