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"
In the fire, the king will come
Thunder rolls, piper and drum
Evil sons, overrun
Count their sins judgment comes
The checkerboard of Knights and Knaves
Man will die, man be saved
The sky will fall, the earth will pray
When judgment comes to claim its day
See the word of the prophet
On a stone of his hand
Poison pen revelation
Or just a sign in the sand?
The checkerboard of Knights and Knaves
Man will die, man be saved
The sky will fall, the earth will pray
When judgment comes to claim its day
See the word of the prophet
On a stone of his hand
Poison pen revelation
Or just a sign in the sand?
Thunder rolls, piper and drum
Evil sons, overrun
Count their sins judgment comes
The checkerboard of Knights and Knaves
Man will die, man be saved
The sky will fall, the earth will pray
When judgment comes to claim its day
See the word of the prophet
On a stone of his hand
Poison pen revelation
Or just a sign in the sand?
The checkerboard of Knights and Knaves
Man will die, man be saved
The sky will fall, the earth will pray
When judgment comes to claim its day
See the word of the prophet
On a stone of his hand
Poison pen revelation
Or just a sign in the sand?
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The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
I once read the boys were stocked away on some farm when they came up with the lyrics and songs on Argus. Maybe someone began witnessing to them about the Bible or one of them (Martin, Ted, Andy or Steve) sat outside at night and stared up at a full sky of stars and began wondering about their existence and previous Bible thoughts. Anyway, only they know for sure. It sure sounds like, though, that the second coming of the king (Jesus Christ) was on their mind, and a basic understanding of Armageddeon was in the thinking processes. There is some doubt, though, about the prophecy being real (poison pen) or just conjecture (sign in the sand) to be wiped away by the waves of time, so, are we simply bacteria on this small rock 93 million miles from an insignificant star in a routine galaxy, or are we the product or our Creator who has provided everything for us to live and have a bright future (paradise on earth) I prefer to believe in and have faith in the later.
Otherwide, our existence in moot.
JW.ORG
@ctjbush Well said!
Inspired by the Book of Revelation, not unusual as a prog theme. Don't think there's any particular message other than the prophecy that the world will end and following judgement, some will be saved.
Genesis' Supper's Ready also being based on the same theme.
Was always a Wishbone Ash but for some reason didn't know this song. Saw them for the 2nd time in a small club in Chicago in maybe 1982 and this song was so powerful i was beeging for someone to tell me it's title 2 minutes in to it.
How refreshing to see a recording (from what i would term sort of a heavy sounding band) that is based on Scripture. Particularly one who makes no claim to be anything other than secular.
Laurie Wisefield could jam ALL night--their twin lead sound was second to none!
My thoughts go to King Richard\'s return to England in this text