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 miss the sound of your voice
And I miss the rush of your skin
And I miss the still of the silence
As you breathe out and I breathe in
If I could walk on water
If I could tell you what's next
I'd make you believe
I'd make you forget
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love
I miss the sound of your voice
Loudest thing in my head
And I ache to remember
All the violent, sweet
Perfect words that you said
If I could walk on water
If I could tell you what's next
I'd make you believe
I'd make you forget
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love
I miss the pull of your heart
I taste the sparks on your tongue
I see angels and devils
And God, when you come on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
Sing sha la la la
Sing sha la la la la
Ooh Ooh Ooh
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love
It's all wrong, it's all wrong
It's all wrong, it's so right
So come on, get higher
So come on and get higher
'Cause everything works, love
Everything works in your arms
And I miss the rush of your skin
And I miss the still of the silence
As you breathe out and I breathe in
If I could walk on water
If I could tell you what's next
I'd make you believe
I'd make you forget
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love
I miss the sound of your voice
Loudest thing in my head
And I ache to remember
All the violent, sweet
Perfect words that you said
If I could walk on water
If I could tell you what's next
I'd make you believe
I'd make you forget
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love
I miss the pull of your heart
I taste the sparks on your tongue
I see angels and devils
And God, when you come on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
Sing sha la la la
Sing sha la la la la
Ooh Ooh Ooh
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love
It's all wrong, it's all wrong
It's all wrong, it's so right
So come on, get higher
So come on and get higher
'Cause everything works, love
Everything works in your arms
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Just saw Matt last night at Hotel Cafe playing all new material and he introduced the song saying he can't go into the real meaning on the radio because the stations get fined, so he explains it as:
"Did you ever eat a bowl of ice cream that was just the best fucking ice cream you've ever eaten? And it's so good it makes your teeth hurt and you can't stop eating it and you just want to pull that ice cream's hair and slap its ass and really bruise it up and make it hurt a little bit. That's what this song's about. I think I just wrote an R. Kelly song."
thanks for posting that quote! it just makes me love the guy even more, even if this song is the only one of his that i've heard so far. he just seems so chill and honest, and this song is feel-good. and i just love how the chorus obviously refers to sex-- "loosen my lips... swing of your hips... PULL ME DOWN HARD... DROWN ME IN LOVE." and moreover, i appreciate his writing about love and sex in a way that is not so crude, like "ay lil mama i see your big boobs and butt come here let me slap that i'll buy you a drink and take you home." props to him, and i'm glad you got to see him perform.
I'm glad you got to see Matt Live, I have seen him in concert countless times over the last ten years and he never disappoints me. As to his explanation of the song, one thing you will learn about Matt if you go to enough of his concerts is that the explanation of each song changes almost every show. It is always hilarious. You'll never get sick of his shows. He is continually changing lyrics to incorporate some joke that has come up earlier in the show, or transitioning into some other random song for on verse than transitioning back. If he didn't even have a guitar with him I would pay to watch him just get up on stage and tell jokes for two hours.
Wow I love the way he put that!!!!! XD