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"
By the rivers dark
I wandered on.
I lived my life
In Babylon.
And I did forget
My holy song
And I had no strength
In Babylon.
By the rivers dark
Where I could not see
Who was waiting there
Who was hunting me.
And he cut my lip
And he cut my heart.
So I could not drink
From the river dark.
And he covered me,
And I saw within,
My lawless heart
And my wedding ring,
I did not know
And I could not see
Who was waiting there,
Who was hunting me.
By the rivers dark
I panicked on.
I belonged at last
To Babylon.
Then he struck my heart
With a deadly force,
And he said, â??This heart
It is not yours.'
And he gave the wind
My wedding ring
And he circled us
With everything.
By the rivers dark,
In a wounded dawn,
I live my life
In Babylon.
Though I take my song
From a withered limb,
Both song and tree,
They sing for him.
Be the truth unsaid
And the blessing gone,
If I forget
My Babylon.
I did not know
And I could not see
Who was waiting there,
Who was hunting me.
By the rivers dark,
Where it all goes on
By the rivers dark
In Babylon.
I wandered on.
I lived my life
In Babylon.
And I did forget
My holy song
And I had no strength
In Babylon.
By the rivers dark
Where I could not see
Who was waiting there
Who was hunting me.
And he cut my lip
And he cut my heart.
So I could not drink
From the river dark.
And he covered me,
And I saw within,
My lawless heart
And my wedding ring,
I did not know
And I could not see
Who was waiting there,
Who was hunting me.
By the rivers dark
I panicked on.
I belonged at last
To Babylon.
Then he struck my heart
With a deadly force,
And he said, â??This heart
It is not yours.'
And he gave the wind
My wedding ring
And he circled us
With everything.
By the rivers dark,
In a wounded dawn,
I live my life
In Babylon.
Though I take my song
From a withered limb,
Both song and tree,
They sing for him.
Be the truth unsaid
And the blessing gone,
If I forget
My Babylon.
I did not know
And I could not see
Who was waiting there,
Who was hunting me.
By the rivers dark,
Where it all goes on
By the rivers dark
In Babylon.
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The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
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This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Holiday
Bee Gees
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
This song is a retelling of Psalm 137.
The Psalm is written by an Israelite mourning having been dragged into the Babylonian exile, and having lost Jerusalem. In the Psalm he and the other Israelites sit down by the rivers of Babylon and weep over the loss of Jerusalem and of the Temple, and the captors mock them asking for a holy song (presumably what would be sung in the Temple) and the writer pleads, "How can we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?" And then he says that if he forgets Jerusalem, his right hand should lose his skill (of playing the lyre) and his tongue should cleave to the roof of his mouth (so he can't sing anymore) and he has a fantasy about taking back Jerusalem and slamming the children of his captors against a rock.
But it all ties in perfectly with this song. Instead, the singer is trapped in Babylon, and has been for some time. Long enough that he has "lived his life in Babylon" and has "forgot his holy song." This could be seen as losing faith or giving into sin. Then he is hunted by, I would presume, his conscience or God. His heart is struck and what is revealed is lawless (torahless) and his wedding ring, to Babylon. He runs from the realization, and truly becomes a citizen of Babylon by rejecting the Lord and his ways. But he is captured by God and his wedding ring is tossed away.
So he regains his identity and faith "in a wounded dawn, by the river's dark." And remains in Babylon. Then it more directly references the psalm again when he says he must take his song from a "withered limb" which is his right hand, no longer able to play the lyre. But the big twist ending, is that his blessing should be gone not if he forgets Jerusalem, but if he forgets Babylon. Or, if he forgets how he forsook the LORD and his ways, and was brought back into his Faith, or Identity, or what have you.