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"
My friend showed me pictures of his kids
And all I could show him was pictures of my cribs
He said his daughter got a brand new report card (card)
And all I got was a brand new sports car
Uh
And my head keeps spinning
Can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
And my head keeps spinning
I can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
Dad cracked a joke all the kids laugh
But I couldn't hear 'em all the way in first class
Chased the good life my whole life long
Look back on my life and my life gone
Where did I go wrong?
And my head keeps spinning
Can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
And my head keeps spinning
I can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
I seen it, I seen it before
I seen it, I seen it before
I've seen it, I've seen it before
I seen it, I seen it before
My God-sister gettin' married by the lake
But I couldn't figure out who I want to take
Bad enough that I showed up late
I had to leave 'fore they even cut the cake
Welcome to Heartbreak
And my head keeps spinning
Can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
And my head keeps spinning
I can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
Ooh-hoo
Ooh-hoo
Ooh-hoo
And I, and I can't stop
No, no, I can't stop
No, no, no, no, I can't stop
No, no, no, no, I can't stop
Can't stop, I can't stop, I can't stop
No, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
No, no, no, no, oh-whoa
No, no, I can't stop
No, can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
Hoo-hoo
Ooh-hoo
Ooh, ooh-hoo
And all I could show him was pictures of my cribs
He said his daughter got a brand new report card (card)
And all I got was a brand new sports car
Uh
And my head keeps spinning
Can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
And my head keeps spinning
I can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
Dad cracked a joke all the kids laugh
But I couldn't hear 'em all the way in first class
Chased the good life my whole life long
Look back on my life and my life gone
Where did I go wrong?
And my head keeps spinning
Can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
And my head keeps spinning
I can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
I seen it, I seen it before
I seen it, I seen it before
I've seen it, I've seen it before
I seen it, I seen it before
My God-sister gettin' married by the lake
But I couldn't figure out who I want to take
Bad enough that I showed up late
I had to leave 'fore they even cut the cake
Welcome to Heartbreak
And my head keeps spinning
Can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
And my head keeps spinning
I can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
Ooh-hoo
Ooh-hoo
Ooh-hoo
And I, and I can't stop
No, no, I can't stop
No, no, no, no, I can't stop
No, no, no, no, I can't stop
Can't stop, I can't stop, I can't stop
No, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
No, no, no, no, oh-whoa
No, no, I can't stop
No, can't stop having these visions
I gotta get wit' it
Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo
Hoo-hoo
Ooh-hoo
Ooh, ooh-hoo
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
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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, to me, is about his regret at the choices he made in regards to being so career focused. He has missed opportunites in regards to love/family etc and now as he gets more mature he sees that everything he strived for, isn't 'everything'.
A counter point to Love Lockdown.
this song breaks my heart. meaning is obvious- he isn't rich in the way he wants to be. he's devoted so much time to his career and everything else has just passed him by. at least he realizes.. so he can do something about it. poor mr. kanye.
i agree...although he talks about the great things that he has done, he feels like the is somewhere where "he went wrong"<br /> <br /> great song...best one on the cd and one of the best kanye songs ever...
I think this song is about his battle with fame and his life before it. If you listen to him in the beginning he says how his friends showed him a picture of his family, and lal kanye has to offer is material items, things don't mean a thing in life. he has no one near him to love, he doesn;t have a family. the man then goe son by saying yes she got her first report card. and kanye tries to compare it, like a happy moment of his, and he can only think of... a sports car. (material)<br /> "Chased the good life my whole life long<br /> Look back on my life and my life gone"<br /> that line means he chased fame for so long and he finally got it, but now his life is gone. he cant have kids with apaprazii following him, everywhere he goes hes mobbed. he looks back and regrets his decision to want fame. but theres no turning back. he tries to tell him to stop, but yells NO I CANT STOP. I CANT STOP. he is now money-hungry.....