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"
You used to feel like a smoker
Shivering in the cold
Waiting outside the bar
Till the opener's over
But now you feel like a drinker
Twenty days off the sauce
Down at the liquor store
Trying to call your sponsor
You used to feel like the forest fire burning
But now you feel like a child
Throwing tantrums for your turn
You used to sound like a prophet
And everyone wanted to know
How you could tell the truth
Without losing that soft glow
But now you feel like a salesman
Closing another deal
Or some drunk ship captain
Raging after the white whale
You used to feel like the forest fire burning
But now you feel like a child
Throwing tantrums and then some
You used to feel like the prodigal returning
But now you hate what you've made
And you want to watch it burn
Shivering in the cold
Waiting outside the bar
Till the opener's over
But now you feel like a drinker
Twenty days off the sauce
Down at the liquor store
Trying to call your sponsor
You used to feel like the forest fire burning
But now you feel like a child
Throwing tantrums for your turn
You used to sound like a prophet
And everyone wanted to know
How you could tell the truth
Without losing that soft glow
But now you feel like a salesman
Closing another deal
Or some drunk ship captain
Raging after the white whale
You used to feel like the forest fire burning
But now you feel like a child
Throwing tantrums and then some
You used to feel like the prodigal returning
But now you hate what you've made
And you want to watch it burn
Lyrics submitted by windowbird
Lost My Shape Lyrics as written by David Shannon Bazan
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The Night We Met
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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,
No Surprises
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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.
Magical
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American Town
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Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
I believe that this is a song sung to himself
Definitely. this is a deeply personal conviction. This is old Pedro The Lion vs. new "enlightened" Bazan. David was always on the fringe of Christian songwriters. He went to places that most Christians wouldn't go, but somehow always was viewed as a truth-telling prophet. A forest fire burning is something of power that tears down old views to make room for new growth.. but a child throwing tantrums, well that's just kind of pitiful. Likewise.. the smoker outside the bar eager to get in and play his set after the opener finishes, while fans await his words contrasted with the pathetic, 20-day-sober alcoholic who can barely fight off the temptation to get loaded.
I can't believe how much he ruined this on the cd.
The live version from the Grey Eagle show is fucking golden compared to this.
Sure this is about Bazan and his struggles with organized religion and personal convictions. Nicely juxtaposed images--- from a burning forest fire to a child throwing a tantrum, suggests to me he isn't quite sure what to believe anymore. <br /> <br /> "You used to feel like the prodigal returning<br /> But now,<br /> Now you hate what you've made<br /> And you want to watch it burn"<br /> <br /> However, he does seem adamant he no longer believes in the spiritual values he was raised with and would like nothing better than to "watch them burn". <br /> <br />
you are stupid...of course the cd version is very different than the live version...duh
Lemme feed ya, baby birds.
Listen to the Starflyer 59 song "Broken Arm (Feat. David Bazan)" from the album Ghosts of The Past. It's the lyrics from "Forest Fires" / "Lost My Shape" but musically, it fits the "Forest Fire" version.
Now listen to Bazan's song "Messes" from Strange Negotiations. It is the music from "Broken Arm" / "Forest Fire."