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 end of the century
I said my goodbyes
For what it's worth
I always aim to please
But I nearly died
For what it's worth
Come on lay with me
'Cause I'm on fire
For what it's worth
I tear the sun in three
To light up your eyes
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
Broke up the family
Everybody cried
For what it's worth
I have a slow disease
That sucked me dry
For what it's worth
Come on walk with me
Into the rising tide
For what it's worth
Filled a cavity
Your god shaped hole tonight
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
No one cares when you're out on the street
Picking up the pieces to make ends meet
No one cares when you're down in the gutter
Got no friends got no lover
No one cares when you're out on the street
Picking up the pieces to make ends meet
No one cares when you're down in the gutter
Got no friends got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
Got no friends got no lover
I said my goodbyes
For what it's worth
I always aim to please
But I nearly died
For what it's worth
Come on lay with me
'Cause I'm on fire
For what it's worth
I tear the sun in three
To light up your eyes
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
Broke up the family
Everybody cried
For what it's worth
I have a slow disease
That sucked me dry
For what it's worth
Come on walk with me
Into the rising tide
For what it's worth
Filled a cavity
Your god shaped hole tonight
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
For what it's worth
No one cares when you're out on the street
Picking up the pieces to make ends meet
No one cares when you're down in the gutter
Got no friends got no lover
No one cares when you're out on the street
Picking up the pieces to make ends meet
No one cares when you're down in the gutter
Got no friends got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
For what it's worth
Got no lover
Got no friends got no lover
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More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
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”
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
'I always aimed to please But I nearly died' was a big revelation for the protagonist and hence a turning point in his life.
This is the first step into realizing he needs to change his approach to achieve what he wants.
But the song is not about taking better actions through that revelation because the protagonist is still reflecting on what led to this revelation.
At first, he wants to distract himself ('Come on lay with me 'cause I'm on fire') and he tries it one more time the old way ('I'd tear the sun in three to light up your eyes') showing once again how much he's prepared to do for his love, but ultimately he reflects on the things he's already done for her ('Broke up the family').
He understands that she's his 'disease' and he understands the position he's in now 'No one cares when you're down in the gutter'. So it's clear he's not ready to change yet. All this talk about 'For what it's worth' is like him saying 'What does it matter what I'm doing. I've fallen so low anyway. Can also make the best of it.'
This refers to ignoring the call to change and just having sex with her again by following his sexual desires ('Fill the cavity. Your God-shaped hole tonight').
The resolution of the song is that he's hit rock bottom. He's in the gutter and he's lost her too - the one person he gave up everything for. And that's a cautionary tale: If you lose yourself in order to be with someone and reject and push away everyone and everything else, then one day you'll end up completely alone and with nothing.
But when you look back at the first verse, the protagonist said: 'I always aimed to please but I nearly died'. This refers back to the ending of the song. The protagonist had been in the gutter but he made it through. He nearly died there. And now he can act as a mentor for other people who might be caught in the same situation.