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"
They laugh at me aloud
They say I'm just a clown
That I ain't got no pride
I'm on the outside
The girls look really cute
They really make it work
They think I'm just a jerk
I'm on the outside
I never could sit still
I never was too hip
I never caught the ride
I'm on the outside
I'm on the outside, I'm on the outside now
This is where it all begins right here
On the outside lookin' in, I'm on the outside
I never was a punk
I never shot junk
I never even tried counter
Culture passed me right by
(I'm on the outside)
Don't talk to debutantes
Don't eat in restaurants
The patrons sit and stare
The waiters make wise cracks behind my back
(I'm on the outside)
Teachers there in school
They flunked me by the rule
They say I had no motivation, brains or dedication
I guess the imbeciles were right I'm on the outside
I'm on the outside, I'm on the outside now
This is where it all begins on the outside looking in
Looking in
At you
I'm just an alien through and through
Tryin' to make believe I'm you
Tryin' to fit
Just a stranger on the outside looking in
The disco makes me sick I
Wear the wrong clothes
I say the wrong things
You know I can't dance
My feet are much too wide (I'm on the outside)
You think you set the trends
You wear your hair just right
Your clothes are out-a-sight
Your house is modern really kitch
You get so macho when you're with your bitch
(I'm on the outside)
I see them go to work
I see them go to sleep
I see them on T.V.
I see them laugh and cry
I'm on the outside. I'm on the outside. I'm on the outside
[Chorus]
I'm on the outside. I'm on the outside now
I'm on the outside
I'm on the outside now
They say I'm just a clown
That I ain't got no pride
I'm on the outside
The girls look really cute
They really make it work
They think I'm just a jerk
I'm on the outside
I never could sit still
I never was too hip
I never caught the ride
I'm on the outside
I'm on the outside, I'm on the outside now
This is where it all begins right here
On the outside lookin' in, I'm on the outside
I never was a punk
I never shot junk
I never even tried counter
Culture passed me right by
(I'm on the outside)
Don't talk to debutantes
Don't eat in restaurants
The patrons sit and stare
The waiters make wise cracks behind my back
(I'm on the outside)
Teachers there in school
They flunked me by the rule
They say I had no motivation, brains or dedication
I guess the imbeciles were right I'm on the outside
I'm on the outside, I'm on the outside now
This is where it all begins on the outside looking in
Looking in
At you
I'm just an alien through and through
Tryin' to make believe I'm you
Tryin' to fit
Just a stranger on the outside looking in
The disco makes me sick I
Wear the wrong clothes
I say the wrong things
You know I can't dance
My feet are much too wide (I'm on the outside)
You think you set the trends
You wear your hair just right
Your clothes are out-a-sight
Your house is modern really kitch
You get so macho when you're with your bitch
(I'm on the outside)
I see them go to work
I see them go to sleep
I see them on T.V.
I see them laugh and cry
I'm on the outside. I'm on the outside. I'm on the outside
[Chorus]
I'm on the outside. I'm on the outside now
I'm on the outside
I'm on the outside now
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Some of these lines are powerfully synergistic with Fight Club's anti-consumerism, especially the second to last verse (Your house is modern really kitch).
But other parts of the song address the other side of Fight Club that really interests me - expressed in the movie with the line "I felt like destroying something beautiful". Even though these people are fucking evil, they're the ones who're laughing and enjoying life. And me, the guy who sees the problems with that, is the lonely one.
@ofnothing May have been 4 years ago, but you're wrong. Those people oftentimes aren't happy, you just don't see that. Happiness comes from within and must be chosen. I think other people don't even recognize their unhappiness or honestly even that they are conscious. <br /> <br /> I hope you are in a different mindset now. 4 years ago I felt the same way. <br /> <br />