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"
Ladies and gentlemen, here's my disease
Give me a standing ovation and your sympathy
Poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
See the Jean Genie on his high-wire act
At the back of his mind lies a suicide pact
Poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
See the young men itching to burn
Waiting for their own star turn
Needing danger where war would do
If they can't let it out, they'll pick on you
Poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
On fire again
Poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
See Houdini and his underwater tricks
You were sitting at the front hoping his locks would stick
Watch Knievel hit the seventeenth bus
You got crushed in the souvenir rush
Poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
I said, poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
See the young men itching to burn
Waiting for their own star turn
Needing danger where war would do
If they can't let it out, they'll pick on you
Poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
On fire again
I said, poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
Ladies and gentlemen
Here's my disease
Give me a standing ovation
And your sympathy
(Come on, somebody, finish him off please!
Put the poor fool out of his misery, will you?
Can't you see he's had enough?
Finish him off, somebody!)
Give me a standing ovation and your sympathy
Poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
See the Jean Genie on his high-wire act
At the back of his mind lies a suicide pact
Poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
See the young men itching to burn
Waiting for their own star turn
Needing danger where war would do
If they can't let it out, they'll pick on you
Poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
On fire again
Poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
See Houdini and his underwater tricks
You were sitting at the front hoping his locks would stick
Watch Knievel hit the seventeenth bus
You got crushed in the souvenir rush
Poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
I said, poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
See the young men itching to burn
Waiting for their own star turn
Needing danger where war would do
If they can't let it out, they'll pick on you
Poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
On fire again
I said, poor old Johnny Yen's set himself on fire again
Ladies and gentlemen
Here's my disease
Give me a standing ovation
And your sympathy
(Come on, somebody, finish him off please!
Put the poor fool out of his misery, will you?
Can't you see he's had enough?
Finish him off, somebody!)
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.