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"
Casey joins the hollow sound of silent people walkin'
Down the stairway to the subway in the shadows down below
Following their footsteps through the neon darkened coridors
Of silent desperation, never speakin' to a soul
The poison air he's breathin' has the dirty smell of dyin'
'Cause it's never seen the sunshine and it's never felt the rain
But Casey minds the arrows and ignores the fatal echoes
Of the clickin' of the turnstile and the rattle of his chains
"Oh", she said "Casey it's been so long since I've seen you"
"Here" she said, "Just a kiss to make a body smile"
"See" she said, "I've put on new stockings just to please you"
"Lord" she said, "Casey can you only stay awhile"
Casey leaves the underground and stops inside the Golden Crown
For somethin' wet to wipe away the chill that's on his bones
See'ing his reflection in the lives of all the lonely men
Who reach for anything they can to keep from going home
Standing in the corner, Casey drinks his pint of bitter,
Never glancing in the mirror at the people passing by
Then he stumbles as he's leavin' and he wonders if the reason
Is the beer that's in his belly or the tear that's in his eye
"Oh" she said, "I suppose you seldom think about me"
"Now" she said, "Now that you've a family of your own"
"Still" she said, "It's so blessed good to feel your body"
"Lord" she said, "Casey, it's a shame to be alone"
"Oh" she said, "Casey, it's been so long since I've seen you"
"Here" she said "Just a kiss to make a body smile"
"See" she said, "I've put on new stockings just to please you"
"Lord" she said, "Casey, can you only stay a while"
"Lord" she said, "Casey it's a shame to be alone"
Down the stairway to the subway in the shadows down below
Following their footsteps through the neon darkened coridors
Of silent desperation, never speakin' to a soul
The poison air he's breathin' has the dirty smell of dyin'
'Cause it's never seen the sunshine and it's never felt the rain
But Casey minds the arrows and ignores the fatal echoes
Of the clickin' of the turnstile and the rattle of his chains
"Oh", she said "Casey it's been so long since I've seen you"
"Here" she said, "Just a kiss to make a body smile"
"See" she said, "I've put on new stockings just to please you"
"Lord" she said, "Casey can you only stay awhile"
Casey leaves the underground and stops inside the Golden Crown
For somethin' wet to wipe away the chill that's on his bones
See'ing his reflection in the lives of all the lonely men
Who reach for anything they can to keep from going home
Standing in the corner, Casey drinks his pint of bitter,
Never glancing in the mirror at the people passing by
Then he stumbles as he's leavin' and he wonders if the reason
Is the beer that's in his belly or the tear that's in his eye
"Oh" she said, "I suppose you seldom think about me"
"Now" she said, "Now that you've a family of your own"
"Still" she said, "It's so blessed good to feel your body"
"Lord" she said, "Casey, it's a shame to be alone"
"Oh" she said, "Casey, it's been so long since I've seen you"
"Here" she said "Just a kiss to make a body smile"
"See" she said, "I've put on new stockings just to please you"
"Lord" she said, "Casey, can you only stay a while"
"Lord" she said, "Casey it's a shame to be alone"
Lyrics submitted by ButNeverOutgunned
Casey's Last Ride Lyrics as written by Kris Kristofferson
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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this song was actually written for his wife in some odd way
Funny. I didn't know Kris Kristofferson and John Denver's wife had much of a relationship.