This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
You know me
I used to get caught up in everyday life
Trying to make it through my day so I could sleep at night
Tried to figure out my way through the maze of rights and wrongs
But like you used to say
Nothing feels like it's really worth it
Forget perfect, I'm trying not to be worthless
Since I last saw you I've been looking for a purpose
Well, I met this kid who thought like I did
He had a weird way of looking at it
This is what he said
Slip out the back before they know you were there
And at the worst you'll see nobody cares
Cause you don't wanna be around when it all goes down
Even heroes know when to be scared
Now, I don't remember where I met him
Or remember his name
But he walked funny like he was just too big for his frame
Just over five foot but he weighed a buck fifty
And what he said seemed so right it stuck with me
Listen, it's like poker, you can play your best
But you gotta know when to fold your cards and take a rest
And know when to hold your cards, hold your breath
And hope that nobody else is stacking the deck
Because I don't need to tell you that life isn't fair
It doesn't care, it arbitrarily cuts off your air
And like you, I want someone to say it's okay
In the truest part of our hearts everybody's afraid
We're just under-appreciated and overwhelmed
Fighting so hard to hide our fear that we're scaring ourselves
You understand what I'm saying, cause you always did
But it's different in the words of a cowardly kid who said
And I'm no hero
You remember how it was, you know
All I ever did was worry, feeling out of control
To the point where everything was going end over end
I'm spinning around in circles again
This is where you come in
All of this to explain to you why I had to
Separate myself away from yesterday's life
Please remember, this isn't how I hoped it would be
But I had to protect you from me
That's why I
Slipped out the back before you knew I was there
I know you felt unprepared
But every single time I was around I'd just bring you down
And I could tell that it was time to be scared
That's why I
Slipped out the back before you knew I was there
And I know the way I left wasn't fair
I didn't wanna be around just to bring you down
I'm not a hero but don't think I didn't care
I used to get caught up in everyday life
Trying to make it through my day so I could sleep at night
Tried to figure out my way through the maze of rights and wrongs
But like you used to say
Nothing feels like it's really worth it
Forget perfect, I'm trying not to be worthless
Since I last saw you I've been looking for a purpose
Well, I met this kid who thought like I did
He had a weird way of looking at it
This is what he said
Slip out the back before they know you were there
And at the worst you'll see nobody cares
Cause you don't wanna be around when it all goes down
Even heroes know when to be scared
Now, I don't remember where I met him
Or remember his name
But he walked funny like he was just too big for his frame
Just over five foot but he weighed a buck fifty
And what he said seemed so right it stuck with me
Listen, it's like poker, you can play your best
But you gotta know when to fold your cards and take a rest
And know when to hold your cards, hold your breath
And hope that nobody else is stacking the deck
Because I don't need to tell you that life isn't fair
It doesn't care, it arbitrarily cuts off your air
And like you, I want someone to say it's okay
In the truest part of our hearts everybody's afraid
We're just under-appreciated and overwhelmed
Fighting so hard to hide our fear that we're scaring ourselves
You understand what I'm saying, cause you always did
But it's different in the words of a cowardly kid who said
And I'm no hero
You remember how it was, you know
All I ever did was worry, feeling out of control
To the point where everything was going end over end
I'm spinning around in circles again
This is where you come in
All of this to explain to you why I had to
Separate myself away from yesterday's life
Please remember, this isn't how I hoped it would be
But I had to protect you from me
That's why I
Slipped out the back before you knew I was there
I know you felt unprepared
But every single time I was around I'd just bring you down
And I could tell that it was time to be scared
That's why I
Slipped out the back before you knew I was there
And I know the way I left wasn't fair
I didn't wanna be around just to bring you down
I'm not a hero but don't think I didn't care
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Blue
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Plastic Bag
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
I can relate to the song b/c of relationship i was in..
And I'm no hero You remember how it was, you know All I ever did was worry, feeling out of control To the point where everything was going end over end I'm spinning around in circles again This is where you come in All of this to explain to you why I had to Separate myself away from yesterday's life Please remember, this isn't how I hoped it would be But I had to protect you from me
that explains it a lot. To relate this, when I was with my g/f, she was going through a really rough time..and I would try to help, but my helping was making it worse. LIke the song says, I was always worried, and there were times when I felt like it was too much... "feeling out of control..".... so basically he's saying that he left the relationship because all he was doing was making things worse...
And to go along with what I was saying, it's not about alienation from others because if you look at this verse...
Listen, it's like poker, you can play your best But you gotta know when to fold your cards and take a rest And know when to hold your cards, hold your breath And hope that nobody else is stacking the deck
It's saying that you DO need to put yourself out on a limb from time to time, but that life isn't about ALWAYS sacrificing yourself and trying to save everyone.
It's basically saying, pick your battles and causes because you can't win everything and if you try then you are going to be completely lost.
yes, I agree with the comment above. I think the song is a suicide note. And I don't know... I feel so depressed these days that I listened to this song over and over again. It's kinda represent my feeling. I'm afraid of hurting others, I'm afraid of myself. I feel like I'm in a battle I cannot win.
And of course, if I lose my patience, I can't handle this pain anymore, and then I commit suicide, I'll write this song as my suicide note. It would represent my feeling well.
I think this song can be interpreted in many ways, lol idk if its about anal sex haha, on a serious note, suicide def can fit, with an angel talking to mike telling him some advice, but idk cus why would an angel giv someone advice to kill themselves. what i think is a more secular meaning, such as slip out the back means to runaway, literally runaway from your family or your lover or such, and to stay away, you do this b.c the ppl ur are running away from are hurt by ur actions and perhaps u by theirs. so u runaway while u can so as to not truly and permanently hurt these ppl. the worse thing that can happen is nobody cares you are gone b.c they know that u were hurting them as well so they dont care that u r gone and that could hurt you the most. b.c if u left ppl u cared about unannounced and they didnt care that u were gone. that would be really painful emotionally. and as for the kid hes talking about meeting, to me it sounds like hes a drifter or something. someone who u may meet randomly and not remember where or his name b.c it could have been anywhere, at a bar/club, at a job, but if he was a local person or something ud kno him or get to kno him but b.c hes not u meet him one nite and only one nite and hes gone, cus hes slipping out the back before he hurts anyone else. he just drifts around from place to place never really getting to know anyone on a real level
I wrote a story based off this song. I interpreted it as possible suicide:
That's why I Slipped out the back before you knew I was there I know you felt unprepared But every single time I was around I'd just bring you down And I could tell that it was time to be scared That's why I Slipped out the back before you knew I was there And I know the way I left wasn't fair I didn't wanna be around just to bring you down I'm not a hero but don't think I didn't care
Suicide isn't fair to the people you leave behind and no one is ever prepared for such. Usually a person who is depressed can bring other people down and that causes the person who is feeling suicidal to want to die even more, knowing they're hurting others they care about. They care, so they leave. Otherwise, the song is just working up to that with the second verse talking about knowing when to quit, the third about life being hard. I don't want to say I doubt Mike was suicidal when he wrote this song, but then again the man has been writing for years, not just since Hybrid Theory. It might have just been collecting dust and he decided to put it on the album.
The lyrics are really not too symbolic in this song, as much as I love the meaningfulness behind them, and the way it's all put together.
It's simply about Mike self-identifying with a kid who shared his view of life in a certain way. A kid who told him that it's best to leave before someone gets hurt (or everything just goes to hell in a handbasket); at best you succeed, and spare them (or yourself) the pain that would've been caused; at worst you'll see nobody cares that you even left.
Probably one of the most seriously underrated songs of all time.
I agree with all of these views (I'm still at maybe for the anal sex theory, though. :P) It seems to me that this song can mean multiple different things. Whether it was an angel telling him not to kill himself, his father's words echoing in his head, or just a really bad relationship that he has to separate himself from, it's an amazing song with a deep meaning.
'Had to protect you from me" is a cowardly way to live; it's a horrible line in the creative song. It's also a lie. It covers the fear, but deep down the individual knows the truth. And so does the person s/he claims to be protecting. But if it floats his/her boat to procliam knighthood, than so be it. So be it...
I love this song, but I haven't the faintest clue what it means, lol
Take chances, but know when to give up or you're gonna screw yourself over.
I think it's about realising that sometimes it's better to leave a destructive situation. Know when to give up. You can't always win, you just have to make the best with what you have and move on when things fall apart.