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 nightmare desert stood a building
Outside someone was digging a hole in the ground
They were burying my luck
What have you done?
The man in the hole has smoked up all my income
My better days his for the take and I watched it all
Him putting pins into a doll
What have you done?
The dream blinks into night
The man in the hole
Has carried away the moonlight
Cupped in his hands
A dime on the water
He's a patient man
As his careful stepping shows
Will he take her love?
Will his hands know what mine did?
Will your body like the fit?
Will he take her love?
What have you done?
Outside someone was digging a hole in the ground
They were burying my luck
What have you done?
The man in the hole has smoked up all my income
My better days his for the take and I watched it all
Him putting pins into a doll
What have you done?
The dream blinks into night
The man in the hole
Has carried away the moonlight
Cupped in his hands
A dime on the water
He's a patient man
As his careful stepping shows
Will he take her love?
Will his hands know what mine did?
Will your body like the fit?
Will he take her love?
What have you done?
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More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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."
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
i'm rather sure it's putting "pins" into a doll rather than "hands" and that the "the" in the "this dream wakes..." section is unnecessary as the last word is "tonight"
In the nightmare desert stood a building. Outside someone was diggin' a hole in the ground. They were burying my luck.
What have you done?
The man in the hole has smoked up all my income. My better days, his for the take. And I watched it all: him putting pins into a doll.
What have you done?
This dream fades into night
The man in the hole has carried away the moonlight Cupped in his hands, a dime on the water He's a patient man, As his careful stepping shows
Will he take her love? Will his hands know what mine did? Will her body like the fit?
Will he take her love?
What have you done?
Above are the correct lyrics, as confirmed by Jake Snider.
dxm is right, thats what the booklet says
except actually it is "this dream clinks into night" instead of "this dream fades into night"
The booklet actually says "Blinks into night", it looks like a C but it's a B. Strange typeface.
so no one has any idea what it means? it seems like it'd be obvious.
i think this song is about losing a girl to another guy...
TLDR: This song is about a guy dreaming about killing a close friend of his and feels regret about it. Later, that close friend "takes" his girlfriend.
--
The song is split into two halves divided by the line "This dream fades into night." The first half is about a dream/nightmare the singer has. The second half is about reality.
In the dream, someone close to the narrator has died. I'm going to call him the man in the hole. They are digging his grave and placing him in it. The refrain makes it sound like the singer killed the man in the hole and is now feeling regret.
I'm unsure of the relationship between the singer and the man in the hole - the man is "his luck", but he "smoked up all [my] income". "My better days, his for the take." It sounds like he was a close friend that would always take advantage of the singer.
In the second half of the song, the singer wakens from his dream. The man in the hole is alive. The singer's girlfriend has left him for the man in the hole. The singer is sad and blames the man in the hole for being a manipulative fellow that used careful planning in order to 'take' her.
How does it all fit together? I don't know, but maybe there's a clue in that in the first line, he's having a 'nightmare', but at the end of it it's a "dream."
Anyway, I feel I'm missing a bunch.. please chime in!
playing off of what dendrite said, because i agree with him/her for the most part;
The man in the hole has carried away the moonlight Cupped in his hands, a dime on the water He's a patient man, As his careful stepping shows
the dime = the girl ("a perfect 10") and he's (the man in the hole) got her now, literally, in the palm of his hand.
minus the bear is good, but sometimes they sound emo.