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No Longer What You Require Lyrics
We had it all we were, young lovers, we were full of trust and faith
We were dead set on makin' it last forever, forever and a day.
I recall it was fall last year when, it started to die.
You standing still as the temperature kills, the summer's thrills that were keeping it alive.
The days got colder so I held you closer, in an effort to save us from time,
Almost like a wind came and ruined the spark and left us in the dark.
But hey- I coulda told you that I loved you and stayed,
around to rekindle the fire but I was late,
on my return and now you've lost all faith.
And I am the liar,
I'm no longer what you require.
I still feel you at night, turning in the sheets when I turn out the light
That's how it goes, the ghost of your first love wont ever leave you til the day that you die
I wont ever live down leaving her behind even if the choice was the right one
It was a good thing staring me right in the face but I turned and ran away.
Hey, I coulda told you that I loved you and stayed,
around to rekindle the fire but I was late
on my return and now you've lost all faith.
And I am the liar,
I'm no longer what you require.
Back then the days were so much faster,
we were young, stubborn, and in love with disaster.
You know you can't go back even if you try,
you better just forget her won't you close the door on me
cause it'll never be the same
it'll never be the way it was before
Well hey- I coulda told you that I loved you and stayed,
around to rekindle the fire but I was late,
on my return and so you've lost all faith.
And I am the liar,
Oh hey- I woulda told you that I loved you and stayed
around to rekindle the fire but I was late
on my return and now you've lost all faith.
In the dying light, I'm no longer what you require.
I'm no longer what you require
No longer
We were dead set on makin' it last forever, forever and a day.
I recall it was fall last year when, it started to die.
You standing still as the temperature kills, the summer's thrills that were keeping it alive.
The days got colder so I held you closer, in an effort to save us from time,
Almost like a wind came and ruined the spark and left us in the dark.
But hey- I coulda told you that I loved you and stayed,
around to rekindle the fire but I was late,
on my return and now you've lost all faith.
And I am the liar,
I'm no longer what you require.
I still feel you at night, turning in the sheets when I turn out the light
That's how it goes, the ghost of your first love wont ever leave you til the day that you die
I wont ever live down leaving her behind even if the choice was the right one
It was a good thing staring me right in the face but I turned and ran away.
around to rekindle the fire but I was late
on my return and now you've lost all faith.
And I am the liar,
I'm no longer what you require.
Back then the days were so much faster,
we were young, stubborn, and in love with disaster.
You know you can't go back even if you try,
you better just forget her won't you close the door on me
cause it'll never be the same
it'll never be the way it was before
Well hey- I coulda told you that I loved you and stayed,
around to rekindle the fire but I was late,
on my return and so you've lost all faith.
And I am the liar,
Oh hey- I woulda told you that I loved you and stayed
around to rekindle the fire but I was late
on my return and now you've lost all faith.
In the dying light, I'm no longer what you require.
I'm no longer what you require
No longer
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I think there are some small mistakes with the lyric, correct it if ya can.
"Standing still As the temperature killed The summer's thrills..."
"And I still feel you ignite turning in the sheets when I turn out the light" (I could be wrong at this part)
"I won't ever look down leaving her behind Even if the choice was the right one..."
"Hey I could of told you that I loved you and stayed Around a kindle of fire but I was late..."
MEANING OF THE SONG IMO:
He's telling us a story about his, possibly, childhood love or his relationship with a girl he loved and everything went so well. "We had it all we were, young lovers, we were full of trust and faith"
Then suddenly he had to leave for something (moving, military or a career) so the connection between him and the girl started to die. That fact totally paralyzed the girl, but the decision was already made...he couldn't do anything but held her close as though it would stop time from passing: "You stand still as the temperature kills...The day got colder so I held you closer, in an effort to save us from time..."
There love was so strong that it was burning like a spark. The wind stands for the decision he made (leaving her behind), and it totally killed their relationship. The death of their relationship is described as the dark: "Almost like the wind came and ruined the spark and left us in the dark."
Now he's back, but he realizes it's too little too late now. He wishes he could have told her how much he loved her and stayed with her before he made the decision of leaving. He apparently had promised her that he'd be back in a short time before he left. But it seemed that he couldn't make it, so he's now described as a liar. And the girl was frustrated, it hurt her, she lost all the faith she had in their relationship, so he feels that she doesn't need him anymore, no longer what she requires: "But hey- I coulda told you that I loved you and stay, around to rekindle the fire but I was late, on my return and now you've lost all faith. And I am a liar, I'm no longer what you require."
Now what he did to their relationship comes back to hurt him. The pain is horrible for him since it was his first love, and he perceives that it won't ever leave him be. It will haunt him forever. He can't go for another girl, since obviously she's the only one he loves. So instead of moving on, leaving everything including the girl behind, which he thinks will be the right choice, he keeps on trying. Now he remembers the time that he was about to leave, the girl looked right in his face as a hint that she wanted him to stay. But he turned around and left. "It's how it goes, the ghost of your first love wont ever leave you til the day that you die I wont ever live down leaving her behind even if the choice was the right one It was a good thing staring me right in the face but I turned and ran away."
Now he knows that he made a big mistake so he wishes he could have stayed...so here comes the chorus again. (I like how every line of this song comes along very well together, Howie Day is a great writer)
At the moment, he's reminiscing the times they had together back to the time when the relationship was still going well. No matter what he does, he cannot make it go the same way as it did, that's his perception for their relationship now. Now all he wants the girl to do is forget about it and close the door of hope on him as though it would help him move on... "Back then the days were so much faster, we were young stubborn and in love with disaster. You know you cant go back even if you try, you better just forget it wont you close the door on me cause it will never be the same it will never be the way it was before"
you're wrong, its not a physical something that tore them apart, it was just life
you're wrong, its not a physical something that tore them apart, it was just life
i hate that there aren't more comments on this song, because it is SO amazing, but i think the commenter before me is pretty much right. the only thing i'm not sure of is that the leaving wasn't by choice. i think when he talks about when he left, i think it's because he was scared of the love turning into what it was, and just ran, and then by being "late" on his return, i think it's because he had been gone so long that she had moved on.
the great thing about this song, is that it's happened to us all, whether we were the one running from someone or someone ran from us. it's very relatable, but not cliche and overdone like so many songs are about this kind of thing. i loveee howie day! :)
You're right. We have all been there, and despite how different situations can be, the feeling is always the same and I can easily see relating it to whichever circumstance you happen to be in.
You're right. We have all been there, and despite how different situations can be, the feeling is always the same and I can easily see relating it to whichever circumstance you happen to be in.
For me, its drifting apart. I was with a girl and we drifted apart to the point that she cheated. I could have easily told her that I loved her and stayed to rekindle our fire, but I didn't. I let it go (as did she)
For me, its drifting apart. I was with a girl and we drifted apart to the point that she cheated. I could have easily told her that I loved her and stayed to rekindle our fire, but I didn't. I let it go (as did she)
"Back then the days were so much faster, we were young stubborn and in love with disaster."
"Back then the days were so much faster, we were young stubborn and in love with disaster."
...
I just love this line. Young and stubborn, that described us perfectly. The disaster part makes me wonder if perhaps the people in the song just weren't right for each other. The days always seem so much faster when you're living them. For me, months of our relationship problems seemed to just go by. And after its over (hind sight is 20-20) you wonder how you missed all the signals and didn't react to the circumstance. It is all too easy for a bad day to turn into a bad week and then a bad month and then a bad year.
The greatest and yet possibly worst thing about this song is the obscurity of it. I stumbled upon it by chance on youtube because I'm a Howie Day fan. But 99.9% of the world don't know what beauty they are missing. But at the same time, I would hate to see pop culture ruin this song like what happened to "somebody that you used to know".
And by the way, while the album version of this song is good, my favorite is still the live version from Mix 106.5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT2NgTWAYIk Perhaps because that is how I first heard the song, but I like it better because it has so much more emotion than the recorded version. The album version has some nice effects too, but the emotion really does it for me. A good song is a good song anyway you look at it.
and yes the lyrics above are wrong.
and yes the lyrics above are wrong.
I also suggest the following lyric modification. Instead of "You better just forget it wont you close the door on me" I sing it "You better just forget her wont you close your eyes" Only reason being that eyes rhymes with try. Part of this is because of the live version that I first heard (and only heard until recently) doesn't have "on me" he just says door and drops off.
I also suggest the following lyric modification. Instead of "You better just forget it wont you close the door on me" I sing it "You better just forget her wont you close your eyes" Only reason being that eyes rhymes with try. Part of this is because of the live version that I first heard (and only heard until recently) doesn't have "on me" he just says door and drops off.