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 took a drive today
I thought about you
I thought about a friend who passed
And how much we just went through
I saw the sun shine off the hood of a Cadillac
I thought about some things I said
And some I would take back
I thought about how fortunate I feel to be alive
And if you're scared of the future tonight
We'll just take it each hour one at a time
It's a pretty good night for a drive
So dry up those eyes, dry up those eyes
Because the radio will still play loud
Songs that we heard as our guards came down
Like in the summertime when we first met
I'll never forget, and don't you forget
These nights are still ours
I still love the way you smile
I still love the ocean
We should remember to slow down more often
And maybe we will
Now here's a lot of good things coming our way right now
A lot of bad has passed
But we survived the breakdowns
All is forgiven, water under bridges now
And if you're scared of the future tonight
We'll just take it each hour one at a time
It's a pretty good night for a drive
So dry up those eyes, dry up those eyes
Because the radio will still play loud
Songs that we heard as our guards came down
Like in the summertime when we first met
I'll never forget, and don't you forget
These nights are still ours
I thought about you
I thought about a friend who passed
And how much we just went through
I saw the sun shine off the hood of a Cadillac
I thought about some things I said
And some I would take back
I thought about how fortunate I feel to be alive
And if you're scared of the future tonight
We'll just take it each hour one at a time
It's a pretty good night for a drive
So dry up those eyes, dry up those eyes
Because the radio will still play loud
Songs that we heard as our guards came down
Like in the summertime when we first met
I'll never forget, and don't you forget
These nights are still ours
I still love the way you smile
I still love the ocean
We should remember to slow down more often
And maybe we will
Now here's a lot of good things coming our way right now
A lot of bad has passed
But we survived the breakdowns
All is forgiven, water under bridges now
And if you're scared of the future tonight
We'll just take it each hour one at a time
It's a pretty good night for a drive
So dry up those eyes, dry up those eyes
Because the radio will still play loud
Songs that we heard as our guards came down
Like in the summertime when we first met
I'll never forget, and don't you forget
These nights are still ours
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
Cajun Girl
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”
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.
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.
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 love this song, one of my favorites from Gaslight.
I'm thinking this song is about a death, a crumbling relationship, just a huge shit storm in general going on for the narrator. But he's just trying to see everything through with some optimism; trying to save his relationship, not letting that death of a friend be the end of him and/or his girl, just standing his ground through the hard times.
I think this song is being sung to a friend that's having just as hard of a time as the singer with life and its consequences. As he addresses both death and relationships, i think the song is a general reflection on their lives, and appreciation for having gotten through some rough patches.
I think "Dictionaries and Boomboxes" is a reference to the movie Say Anything. There's a part where Lloyd (John Cusack) and Diane (Ione Skye) are in Diane's room and Lloyd points out Diane's "mother dictionary" and Diane tells him that when she was little she used to look up a new word in the dictionary every day. And then there's the famous boombox scene, where Lloyd stands under Diane's window blasting "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel after they fought. If the song title is a reference to Say Anything, then the guys in TGA did a great job of picking out objects that show what make the characters tick. In Diane's case, it's language and academics, and Lloyd has his music. My apologies if I focused too much on the movie rather than the song.
sink florida sink
iancurits: yeah, that was the first thing I thought when I first heard this song. The "whoa's" in this song is a little TOO similar to the chorus of "Sink, Florida, Sink".
Maybe it's an homage? I mean, these guys salute their idols many times on the record. And you can tell that they've taken lots of inspiration from Against Me! (as well as the clash, bob dylan, bruce springsteen and others)
Obviously, "sink, florida, sink". but also the chorus sounds like ramones' "Poison Heart". c
I think its about seeing an ex - girlfriend after going through a bad breakup. Maybe he wants her back. Maybe he doesnt. He now realizes that the painful things they said to each other now don't matter. But they are going to go for a drive and try to start over as friends.
I think it's "And if you're scared of the future tonight, We'll just take it each ALBUM one at a time."
Given the references to letting the radio play loud, and also the general music-centricness of the album.
You're right, it does sound alot like "album"...hmmm.
these are amazing.
no, guys. It's hour. It doesn't have anything to do with the references to the volume, it has to do with the previous line, "if you're scared of the FUTURE tonight", we'll break down Time and take it one HOUR at a time.
That said, I like "album" a lot more :)