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"
Choosing my words carefully
Has never been my strength
I've been known to be vague
And often pointless
But you sure as shit know me
Better than anybody else
And for that in my heart I am hopeful
So I helped you pack your bags
And I folded up your snap shirts
When you come back
It will already be the winter
If you look at other girls
Working out in the nighttime
I don't mind but I don't want to know it
And these years that I have known you
It's gone and blurred my sense of time
Now I can hardly even recall
What came before this
Letters left on pillows
Messages left on phones
Postcards in the mail
When we sent them
Cobwebs all collected
Paintings on the walls
Lounging around all day
In a hot pink chenille housecoat
And the secrets that I whispered
In your ear while you were sleeping
You can call to mind when you're
Out in the world without me
Oh the denim king
I sure as shit do love you
And I cuss because I mean it
And for that in my heart I am hopeful
And these words that I chose
I was so careful
Has never been my strength
I've been known to be vague
And often pointless
But you sure as shit know me
Better than anybody else
And for that in my heart I am hopeful
So I helped you pack your bags
And I folded up your snap shirts
When you come back
It will already be the winter
If you look at other girls
Working out in the nighttime
I don't mind but I don't want to know it
And these years that I have known you
It's gone and blurred my sense of time
Now I can hardly even recall
What came before this
Letters left on pillows
Messages left on phones
Postcards in the mail
When we sent them
Cobwebs all collected
Paintings on the walls
Lounging around all day
In a hot pink chenille housecoat
And the secrets that I whispered
In your ear while you were sleeping
You can call to mind when you're
Out in the world without me
Oh the denim king
I sure as shit do love you
And I cuss because I mean it
And for that in my heart I am hopeful
And these words that I chose
I was so careful
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any thoughts on what exactly "the denim king" is all about?
Other than that, love this song, so beautiful.
My thought is that the denim king is a reference to her husband Colin Cripps. I mean, the guy likes to wear a lot of denim. And "snap shirts" too. Those are a kind of "cowboy" shirt, with snaps on the pockets. I've actually seen Colin (at a Kathleen show) wearing snap shirts and denim jeans (with the cuffs rolled up). He's a beast of a rocker, that's for sure. And so is she. Great song, great artist.
My thought is that the denim king is a reference to her husband Colin Cripps. I mean, the guy likes to wear a lot of denim. And "snap shirts" too. Those are a kind of "cowboy" shirt, with snaps on the pockets. I've actually seen Colin (at a Kathleen show) wearing snap shirts and denim jeans (with the cuffs rolled up). He's a beast of a rocker, that's for sure. And so is she. Great song, great artist.