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've gotta get up to get down and start all over again
Head on down to the basement and shout
Kick those white mice and black dogs out
Kick those white mice and baboons out
Kick those baboons and other motherfuckers out
And get it on, get it on
On the day that you got born
They had to dig him from the ground
They chipped him from the frozen snow
They dug his monkey fingers
But he had no where to go
They dug his pink hair curlers
They dug his sequined gown
They dug his Stratocaster
They dug his pornographic crown
He's got some words of wisdom
I got some words of wisdom
He's got some words of wisdom
I got some words of wisdom
Get it on!
Get it on!
On the day that
You got born!
He crawled out of the ooze
He defied evolution
He had green flippers and sang the blues
He caused a revolution
He got in the British weeklies
He got in the dailies too
He drank panther piss and fucked the girls you're probably married to
He's got some words of wisdom
I got some words of wisdom
He's got some words of wisdom
I got some words of wisdom
Get it on!
Get it on!
On the day that
You got born!
(Get it on!)
(Get it on!)
Alright
(Get it on!)
(Get it on!)
You gotta do The Vaughan (do The Vaughan!)
Yeah, papa's down (papa's down!)
Yeah, sweets is sweet (sweets is sweet!)
Tex is on (tex is on!)
Then one day he went away
His neighbor claimed he'd shot him
If he hadn't of disappeared
The Taxman would have got him
Yeah but before I leave
I call out from the storm
For those who gave their lives
So we could get it on!
Get it on!
Get it on!
On the day that
You were born!
(Get it on!)
(Get it on!)
(Get it on!)
(Get it on!)
Head on down to the basement and shout
Kick those white mice and black dogs out
Kick those white mice and baboons out
Kick those baboons and other motherfuckers out
And get it on, get it on
On the day that you got born
They had to dig him from the ground
They chipped him from the frozen snow
They dug his monkey fingers
But he had no where to go
They dug his pink hair curlers
They dug his sequined gown
They dug his Stratocaster
They dug his pornographic crown
He's got some words of wisdom
I got some words of wisdom
He's got some words of wisdom
I got some words of wisdom
Get it on!
Get it on!
On the day that
You got born!
He crawled out of the ooze
He defied evolution
He had green flippers and sang the blues
He caused a revolution
He got in the British weeklies
He got in the dailies too
He drank panther piss and fucked the girls you're probably married to
He's got some words of wisdom
I got some words of wisdom
He's got some words of wisdom
I got some words of wisdom
Get it on!
Get it on!
On the day that
You got born!
(Get it on!)
(Get it on!)
Alright
(Get it on!)
(Get it on!)
You gotta do The Vaughan (do The Vaughan!)
Yeah, papa's down (papa's down!)
Yeah, sweets is sweet (sweets is sweet!)
Tex is on (tex is on!)
Then one day he went away
His neighbor claimed he'd shot him
If he hadn't of disappeared
The Taxman would have got him
Yeah but before I leave
I call out from the storm
For those who gave their lives
So we could get it on!
Get it on!
Get it on!
On the day that
You were born!
(Get it on!)
(Get it on!)
(Get it on!)
(Get it on!)
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The Night We Met
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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”
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
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.
This song is their attempt to "Break On Through To The Other Side".
That is, I don't think that it is about anything concrete, but an attempt to invoke and channel the inner demon that inspires such gonzo rock.
Marcus Greil has some great material on Stagger Lee, who seems to be a recurring archetype and inspiration in rock music. "Get It On" may be another example of this archetype. I think that Greil wrote about this in his book "Mystery Train".