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"
Oh, oh
I stood by the exit door of the hotel cafe
He was playing with his band
I've always been a sucker
Had a weakness for a boy with a guitar and a drink in his hand
His words were like heaven in my hurricane
My knees buckled under
I thought everyone was watching me
Watching you save my life with the song
You were mine
In the back of my mind
Oh, just for one night
Just for a while
There's always one that gets away
The one that sneaks up on you then slips away
Two weeks later I was sitting in his apartment
He was making cappuccino
I said, 'what kind of man makes cappuccino?'
We laughed
We laughed
We laughed
We laughed till tears ran down my face
Oh, but, my man, you're someone else's man
And that ain't the man that I want
But you keep drawing me in with those big, brown, lying eyes
You'll always be mine
In the back of my mind
Oh, we had a night
Just a little while
There's always one that gets away
The one that sneaks up on you then slips away
In a closed off corner of my heart, yes
I'll always see your face
The one that got away
One that got away
The one that got away
The one that got away
Oh, the one that got away
The one that got away
Oh, the one that got away
The one that got away
Oh, the one that got away
Yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Yeah, yeah
Oh
I'm not a victim of cliches
I don't believe in soul mates
Happy endings, only one
Oh, and I met you, and all that changed
I had a taste, and you're still sitting on the tip of my tongue
You were mine
Somewhere in time
I'll look for you first
In my next life
There's always one that gets away
The one that sneaks up on you then slips away
Slips away
In a closed off corner of my heart, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I, I'll always see your face
The one that got away
The one that got away
The one that got away
The one that got away
Oh, the one that got away
The one that got away
Oh, the one that got away
The one that got away
The one that got away
Yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, yeah
The one that got away
I stood by the exit door of the hotel cafe
He was playing with his band
I've always been a sucker
Had a weakness for a boy with a guitar and a drink in his hand
His words were like heaven in my hurricane
My knees buckled under
I thought everyone was watching me
Watching you save my life with the song
You were mine
In the back of my mind
Oh, just for one night
Just for a while
There's always one that gets away
The one that sneaks up on you then slips away
Two weeks later I was sitting in his apartment
He was making cappuccino
I said, 'what kind of man makes cappuccino?'
We laughed
We laughed
We laughed
We laughed till tears ran down my face
Oh, but, my man, you're someone else's man
And that ain't the man that I want
But you keep drawing me in with those big, brown, lying eyes
You'll always be mine
In the back of my mind
Oh, we had a night
Just a little while
There's always one that gets away
The one that sneaks up on you then slips away
In a closed off corner of my heart, yes
I'll always see your face
The one that got away
One that got away
The one that got away
The one that got away
Oh, the one that got away
The one that got away
Oh, the one that got away
The one that got away
Oh, the one that got away
Yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Yeah, yeah
Oh
I'm not a victim of cliches
I don't believe in soul mates
Happy endings, only one
Oh, and I met you, and all that changed
I had a taste, and you're still sitting on the tip of my tongue
You were mine
Somewhere in time
I'll look for you first
In my next life
There's always one that gets away
The one that sneaks up on you then slips away
Slips away
In a closed off corner of my heart, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I, I'll always see your face
The one that got away
The one that got away
The one that got away
The one that got away
Oh, the one that got away
The one that got away
Oh, the one that got away
The one that got away
The one that got away
Yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, yeah
The one that got away
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Great version of a great song,
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I love this song. It's so different from all her others (not that the others are bad, just I like that she has lots of different styles)