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 case you're wondering it's alive and well
That little habit that you left with me
Here in the suburbs where it's hard to tell
If I got the bear or if the bear got me
How did you know that it would take me down
Down to the bottom of the wine-dark sea
Where you were waiting there to bring me 'round
Where you knew all the dopest cuts to be
Down at the bottom of your mystery
Down at the bottom of the wine-dark sea
Saw your old lady in the park today
The legendary smile is wearing thin
Behind that guessing game you make her play
Now that she knows that she could never win
I guess you're never gonna take her down
Down to the bottom of your little black heart
Lay with her naked on the cold hard ground
To watch the sun rise in the dopest part
Down in the bottom where your lifeline shows
Down in the bottom where nobody goes
Did you lose your way, find another
Did you make your play, run for cover
Is its safe to say you got burned today?
Yeah, I like the feathers and I love the hat
Yeah, I like that little gypsy tune you're humming
Yeah, I guess I'm happy now we had this chat
Oh yeah, I'm really glad I saw you coming
There in the corner of the eastern sky
The tortured angel of your rising sign
Darkens the evening with his one good eye
An evil omen of the dopest kind
Down in the bottom where your demons fly
Down in the bottom of the eastern sky
Down in the bottom where your lifeline shows
Down in the bottom where nobody, nobody goes
Down at the bottom of your mystery
Down at the bottom of the wine-dark sea
That little habit that you left with me
Here in the suburbs where it's hard to tell
If I got the bear or if the bear got me
How did you know that it would take me down
Down to the bottom of the wine-dark sea
Where you were waiting there to bring me 'round
Where you knew all the dopest cuts to be
Down at the bottom of your mystery
Down at the bottom of the wine-dark sea
Saw your old lady in the park today
The legendary smile is wearing thin
Behind that guessing game you make her play
Now that she knows that she could never win
I guess you're never gonna take her down
Down to the bottom of your little black heart
Lay with her naked on the cold hard ground
To watch the sun rise in the dopest part
Down in the bottom where your lifeline shows
Down in the bottom where nobody goes
Did you lose your way, find another
Did you make your play, run for cover
Is its safe to say you got burned today?
Yeah, I like the feathers and I love the hat
Yeah, I like that little gypsy tune you're humming
Yeah, I guess I'm happy now we had this chat
Oh yeah, I'm really glad I saw you coming
There in the corner of the eastern sky
The tortured angel of your rising sign
Darkens the evening with his one good eye
An evil omen of the dopest kind
Down in the bottom where your demons fly
Down in the bottom of the eastern sky
Down in the bottom where your lifeline shows
Down in the bottom where nobody, nobody goes
Down at the bottom of your mystery
Down at the bottom of the wine-dark sea
Lyrics submitted by paper bag writer, edited by BalanceAsia
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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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.
It's about a weary drug addict longing for the company of an old friend who died of an overdose. He introduced the speaker to the habit, but he blames himself for letting his friend die, but he also blames the deceased friend for his current condition. His addiction has taken him to some very dark places, and things have gotten so bad that it's impossible for him to determine if he is currently the master of his own fortune in life. He encounters the guy's widow in the park, someone he probably hasn't seen in a very long time, and it's clear that the main thing on her mind is whether or not the speaker is still a user. He compliments the woman on her appearance and they chat for a while, but at the end of the day, he is still haunted by loss and a foreboding sense of impending doom.
The line "If I got the bear or if the bear got me" is a reference to an unused Steely Dan song that was discarded from the Aja sessions, which is itself a song about the mental confusion and disarray brought about by being a junkie. "The Bear" was another nickname for the psychedelic Owsley Stanley, aka Kid Charlemagne.