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"
The wolves wear the wool
Of the sheep the have fooled
And preach their code of conduct:
"You've gotta push that, push that product"
We'll live in fear, for coats they may sheer
The fleecing of a fleeting flock
You may have my wool
You may have my locks
But my voice you have not
My voice you have not
We're sitting ducks, with feathers plucked
You hide your fangs so cleverly dear
You sing your songs so prettily
I'll never fall for the
Hook line and sinker
Your smoke and mirrors
I won't ever take the bait
I'll never fall for those
Formats and figures
Your greedy fingers
Won't ever get their hands on me
Hey boy, you best look out
"Ooh, we'll have you."
Pay mind to those greedy people climbers
They're licking their lips at you
They'll crush and they'll claw
Their way to the top
Your legs are just ladders to them
Your head's just another step man
On you like a rash
On you like a rash
I'll never fall for the
Hook line and sinker
Your smoke and mirrors
I won't ever take the bait
I'll never fall for those
Formats and figures
Your greedy fingers
Won't ever get their hands on me
Even though you hide your fangs so cleverly dear
You sing you songs so prettily dear
Your most gentle call
Your most soothing song won't lead this sheep astray
All these suits with big black lives
Can't put me on the company's dime
I won't be bought
No I won't be sold
All these greasy palms and greedy hands
All my supply all your demand
I'm not you whore
And I won't be your Babylon
Of the sheep the have fooled
And preach their code of conduct:
"You've gotta push that, push that product"
We'll live in fear, for coats they may sheer
The fleecing of a fleeting flock
You may have my wool
You may have my locks
But my voice you have not
My voice you have not
We're sitting ducks, with feathers plucked
You hide your fangs so cleverly dear
You sing your songs so prettily
I'll never fall for the
Hook line and sinker
Your smoke and mirrors
I won't ever take the bait
I'll never fall for those
Formats and figures
Your greedy fingers
Won't ever get their hands on me
Hey boy, you best look out
"Ooh, we'll have you."
Pay mind to those greedy people climbers
They're licking their lips at you
They'll crush and they'll claw
Their way to the top
Your legs are just ladders to them
Your head's just another step man
On you like a rash
On you like a rash
I'll never fall for the
Hook line and sinker
Your smoke and mirrors
I won't ever take the bait
I'll never fall for those
Formats and figures
Your greedy fingers
Won't ever get their hands on me
Even though you hide your fangs so cleverly dear
You sing you songs so prettily dear
Your most gentle call
Your most soothing song won't lead this sheep astray
All these suits with big black lives
Can't put me on the company's dime
I won't be bought
No I won't be sold
All these greasy palms and greedy hands
All my supply all your demand
I'm not you whore
And I won't be your Babylon
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The Night We Met
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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.
Amazing
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Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
The song speaks of the lurid hold that the world has over us, or at least tries to obtain. The wolves wear our wool. The heartless winners of this dog eat dog world dominate us and wear our own locks. They may have control of your life, of your look, but your voice they can't take. The spoils of this world are tempting, becasue they hide their "fangs" well. In the end we are disposable. We are the oil that feeds the industry yet the industry defines us and neither the industry could be without us as their cheap thrill or could we be without the indsutry that gives us a "product to push". We are their sitting ducks, their easy target, they try to shoot us down for their own gain. It's almost like an elicit love affair with someone you know to be horrible, yet the image they present is so enticing that you may get caught up in it but then you proclaim that you won't be led astray.
It reminds me of that thought of imagening the amount of suffering and depravity that it takes to build up one person like Rockefeller. And the blindness and deception that it takes to capture people in a state that could only be described as Orwellian and of 1984 in nature.
"I'm not your whore And I won't be your Babylon" I'm still trying to figure this one out. Babylon, as most of you know was the capital or holy city of Babylonia and most of modern civilization sprung from that region. It is currently located in modern-day Iraq. Perhaps this is an anti-war reference? The war is about greed, the people behind it not only have blood on their hands but they have greasy palms drenched in oil. But it may also be a religious refernce tothe tower of Babylon? They are not the industries whores and will not gather in zeal like the people of Babylon to erect some sort of misguided tower of Babylon?
love this song. reminds me of the brand new song 'good to know...' where he sings 'we prey as wolves among the sheep'...slight resemblence. it appears that this could be the gritty side of the music industry. the money and greed. i think i read somewhere treos said they dislike how music is manufactured so much and how its like a conveyour belt trying to churn out the next money making record. fast music like fast food. leaves you unfilled after a short time. they like to think of their music as a full meal. something long lasting and satisfying. which is the way creativity should be. btw thats an analogy they used themselves. hence the line 'youve got to push that push that product'. alot of the time artists dont have a choice and its a shame that they have to abide by that formula but its a sacrifice made to keep going. no doubt that people who are in it for the love of music feel strongly about this.
I think Babylon goes w/ the whore concept... in the Bible, Babylon is referred to as "The mother of prostitutes" (Rev. 17:5)...
I love what you think this song is about. Very interesting.
This is one of my favorite songs on the album. I can't wait to see them again.
Brendan said this:
"The lyrics for this song can be looked at in many different lights and transposed into many different scenarios. They can relate to the story of the record if you would like or probably a number of other things. I will leave it at that."
I think it's about the music business though.
I agree with the music business!
This song reminds me of the government and how they sort of "brainwash" people. Maybe not so much in America but in a lot of other countries.
For example, if any of you guys have seen the movie V For Vendetta, the Chancellor tried to convince the people that he was doing only good and that V was a bad guy. However, in reality, V was trying to tell the people that the government is all a bunch of lies.
"You may have my wool You may have my locks But my voice you have not" thats saying how you can maybe take away all these things from me but you can't control me and you can't alter the way I feel
"I'm not you whore And I won't be your Babylon" to me, this line is saying that he won't help the government out and that he's not going to try to make other people help the government either
thats just my take on this song
Nice try, Kandy. But it's not as deep as your pseudo-intellectual brain would like to believe.
It's about the music industry. The band has confirmed this multiple times in interviews.
Hahahahaha. My thoughts exactly antennas. Kandy reminds me of the song "Admit It" by Say Anything.
Well, replace the word "World" in my interpretation with the word "Music" and its still dead on, The meaning is still the same, just a lot more focused on a single subject and experience. And my pseudo-intellectual brain? Right. You don't even know me so to assume that I'm a pseudo intellectual who is as shallow as a puddle is rather sad. I hope you don't judge all strangers that harshly.