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"
I don't know
It's like when you go to read your own poetry
You get all choked up
Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growing old
Some would try for fame and glory
Others aren't so bold
Everyone and friends and family
Saying, "hey, get a job
Why do you only do that only?
Why are you so odd?"
"We don't really like what you do
We don't think anyone ever will
It's a problem that you have
And this problem's made you ill"
Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growing old
Some would try for fame and glory
Others aren't so bold
The artist walks alone
Someone says behind his back
"He's got his gall to call himself that
He doesn't even know where he's at"
The artist walks among the flowers
Appreciating the sun
He does this all his waking hours
But is it really so wrong
They sit in front of their TVs
Saying, "hey, this is fun"
And they laugh at the artist
Saying, "he doesn't know how to have fun"
The best things in life are truly free
Singing birds and laughing bees
You got me wrong says he
The sun don't shine in your TV
Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growing old
Some would try for fame and glory
Others aren't so bold
Everyone and friends and family
Saying, "hey, get a job
Why do you only do that only?
Why are you so odd?"
"We don't really like what you do
We don't think anyone ever will
It's a problem that you have
And this problem's made you ill"
Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growin' old
Some would try for fame and glory
Others just like to watch the world
It's like when you go to read your own poetry
You get all choked up
Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growing old
Some would try for fame and glory
Others aren't so bold
Everyone and friends and family
Saying, "hey, get a job
Why do you only do that only?
Why are you so odd?"
"We don't really like what you do
We don't think anyone ever will
It's a problem that you have
And this problem's made you ill"
Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growing old
Some would try for fame and glory
Others aren't so bold
The artist walks alone
Someone says behind his back
"He's got his gall to call himself that
He doesn't even know where he's at"
The artist walks among the flowers
Appreciating the sun
He does this all his waking hours
But is it really so wrong
They sit in front of their TVs
Saying, "hey, this is fun"
And they laugh at the artist
Saying, "he doesn't know how to have fun"
The best things in life are truly free
Singing birds and laughing bees
You got me wrong says he
The sun don't shine in your TV
Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growing old
Some would try for fame and glory
Others aren't so bold
Everyone and friends and family
Saying, "hey, get a job
Why do you only do that only?
Why are you so odd?"
"We don't really like what you do
We don't think anyone ever will
It's a problem that you have
And this problem's made you ill"
Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growin' old
Some would try for fame and glory
Others just like to watch the world
Lyrics submitted by calvins_hobbies
Story of an Artist Lyrics as written by Daniel Johnston
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"it's like when you go to read your own poetry, you get all choked up, you know?"