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"
I want to be a lilikoi, Boy Lilikoi
You grind your claws, you howl, you growl unafraid of Hoi Polloi
You run, you're free, you climb endless trees, you reignite
You growl, you howl, you show your teeth
You bite, it's alright
Just say no more, use your eyes, the world goes and flutters by
Use your eyes, you'll know you are
Use your eyes, the world goes and flutters by
Use your eyes, you'll know you are
Wild be my boy, you burn so bright, till you illuminate
One day you're out, you give up the fight, you slow down heart-rate
We all grow old, use your life, the world goes and flutters by
Use your life, you'll know you are
Use your life, the world goes and flutters by
Use your life, you'll know you are
Electricity wires are down, rainbow colours fade into brown
I dreamt your smile was shifting for good
Courageous boy, now you are gone
And run faster, yet have no place to go
Your spirit still burns, it's now a ghost sun
You are (Alive)
You are (Alive)
I want to be a lilikoi, boy, you
You grind your claws, you howl, you growl, unafraid of Hoi Polloi
Electricity wires are down, rainbow colors fade into brown
I dreamt your smile was shifting for good
Courageous boy, now you are gone
You run faster, yet have no place to go
Your spirit still burns, it's now a ghost sun
You are (Alive)
You are (Alive)
You grind your claws, you howl, you growl unafraid of Hoi Polloi
You run, you're free, you climb endless trees, you reignite
You growl, you howl, you show your teeth
You bite, it's alright
Just say no more, use your eyes, the world goes and flutters by
Use your eyes, you'll know you are
Use your eyes, the world goes and flutters by
Use your eyes, you'll know you are
Wild be my boy, you burn so bright, till you illuminate
One day you're out, you give up the fight, you slow down heart-rate
We all grow old, use your life, the world goes and flutters by
Use your life, you'll know you are
Use your life, the world goes and flutters by
Use your life, you'll know you are
Electricity wires are down, rainbow colours fade into brown
I dreamt your smile was shifting for good
Courageous boy, now you are gone
And run faster, yet have no place to go
Your spirit still burns, it's now a ghost sun
You are (Alive)
You are (Alive)
I want to be a lilikoi, boy, you
You grind your claws, you howl, you growl, unafraid of Hoi Polloi
Electricity wires are down, rainbow colors fade into brown
I dreamt your smile was shifting for good
Courageous boy, now you are gone
You run faster, yet have no place to go
Your spirit still burns, it's now a ghost sun
You are (Alive)
You are (Alive)
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More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
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How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Perhaps the lilikoi metaphor is more about the way the lilikoi grows? The vines are unruly and can grow (move) quite fast and they also obviously have a wild quality.
"Electricity wires are down, rainbow colours fade into brown" could also be a direct reference to the physical qualities of vines.
"Courageous boy, now you are gone And run faster, yet have no place to go Your spirit still burns, it's now a ghost sun"
The fruit of the lilikoi looks like a sun, so obviously when the plant has spread as much as it can (and has no place to go) and the plant dies, the ghost sun could be the ghost of the sun (fruit) that once existed.
Anyways. Interpretations are always subjective, but this works for me.