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"
There was a little boy and there was a little girl
And they lived in an alley under the red sky
There was a little boy and there was a little girl
And they lived in an alley under the red sky
There was an old man and he lived in the moon
One summer's day he came passing by
There was an old man and he lived in the moon
And one day he came passing by
Someday little girl, everything for you is gonna be new
Someday little girl, you'll have a diamond as big as your shoe
Let the wind blow low, let the wind blow high
One day the little boy and the little girl were both baked in a pie
Let the wind blow low, let the wind blow high
One day the little boy and the little girl were both baked in a pie
This is the key to the kingdom and this is the town
This is the blind horse that leads you around
Let the bird sing, let the bird fly
One day the man in the moon went home and the river went dry
Let the bird sing, let the bird fly
The man in the moon went home and the river went dry
And they lived in an alley under the red sky
There was a little boy and there was a little girl
And they lived in an alley under the red sky
There was an old man and he lived in the moon
One summer's day he came passing by
There was an old man and he lived in the moon
And one day he came passing by
Someday little girl, everything for you is gonna be new
Someday little girl, you'll have a diamond as big as your shoe
Let the wind blow low, let the wind blow high
One day the little boy and the little girl were both baked in a pie
Let the wind blow low, let the wind blow high
One day the little boy and the little girl were both baked in a pie
This is the key to the kingdom and this is the town
This is the blind horse that leads you around
Let the bird sing, let the bird fly
One day the man in the moon went home and the river went dry
Let the bird sing, let the bird fly
The man in the moon went home and the river went dry
Lyrics submitted by hari66, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Under the Red Sky Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Here's my take.
The little boy and the girl lived in an alley under the red sky - the kids had a tough childhood - not from well to do families; living as if under a curse (red sky) - the fury of the sun - reflective of the curse pronounced in Deut 28:23 "The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron."
The moon is a symbol of religion - it is merely a reflection of absolute truth (the sun). It is only a reflection because it is based on man's understanding of the truth.
The man in the moon is the preacher man and he gives hope to the little girl who listens to his sermons - she has hope that she will be lifted out of the hardship she was born into - "the alley under the red sky".
But then the winds of life blew hard (the winds blew low and high) and they both ended up screwed by life just the same and died like everyone else (baked in a pie) - even if they lived their lives hoping and believing that things will get better.
This whole thing happens in a bible-based town where they preach the Kingdom of Heaven and are led around by a horse as blind as everyone else (the preacher man). He obviously has a very strong influence on the town's folks and gives them all hope. and they hope until they die.
but then the last stanza says that one day this "hope-giver" preacher man dies and the towns folk are left high and dry. That means that without hope, our lives are meaningless and dry. We need hope to live - even if it doesn't work out. For without hope and vision we perish. There is nothing to motivate us to carry on living.