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 have been cruel and kind without knowing
I fell in the silence overwhelmed by these days
For I have been shown dear rulers, ruling all things
Thinking the world was mine to lay hold on
I breathe in the promise of maiden and man
But each have their on illusions to hold onto
I only want to be left to my own ways
The rulers of one leaving all things undone
I stood in the awe of the whole creations
Gathered among them was the morning
Giving all its rays
Thinking the world was mine to be lost in
I ran with freedom and sank in between
For I have the path of wonder
There before me
I only want to be left to my own ways
The rulers of one leaving all things undone
I stood in the awe of the whole creation
Gathered among them was the morning
Giving all its rays
I only want to be left to my own ways
The rulers of one leaving all things undone
I stood in the awe of the whole creation
Gathered among them was the morning
Giving all its rays
I only want to be left to my own ways
The rulers of one leaving all things undone
I stood in the awe of the whole creation
Gathered among them was the morning
Giving all its rays
I fell in the silence overwhelmed by these days
For I have been shown dear rulers, ruling all things
Thinking the world was mine to lay hold on
I breathe in the promise of maiden and man
But each have their on illusions to hold onto
I only want to be left to my own ways
The rulers of one leaving all things undone
I stood in the awe of the whole creations
Gathered among them was the morning
Giving all its rays
Thinking the world was mine to be lost in
I ran with freedom and sank in between
For I have the path of wonder
There before me
I only want to be left to my own ways
The rulers of one leaving all things undone
I stood in the awe of the whole creation
Gathered among them was the morning
Giving all its rays
I only want to be left to my own ways
The rulers of one leaving all things undone
I stood in the awe of the whole creation
Gathered among them was the morning
Giving all its rays
I only want to be left to my own ways
The rulers of one leaving all things undone
I stood in the awe of the whole creation
Gathered among them was the morning
Giving all its rays
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More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Such a beautiful and sad song.
The first verse speaks to me very deeply about how someone broke my heart.
"I have been cruel and kind without knowing"
-> However much I tried and believed my actions and words were loving, it seems I did something wrong, but I will never know what because she was unable to express emotion openly or honestly.
"I fell in the silence overwhelmed by these days" -> I was going crazy for a month before we split, trying to work out what I had done to make her contact me less and less straight after we had been on a very expensive holiday that she suggested we go on. I finally straight out asked her when she telephoned me "are we ok?" and my heart felt like it ripped in two during the silence before she replied, "I'm not sure".
"For I have been shown dear rulers, ruling all things" -> This was probably the biggest, and certainly the most painful event/lesson of my life - I am not religious but in that state of anguish, I did beg any higher power that might be out there to stop the pain, acknowledge that I had heard their lesson, that I had been shown how wrong I was about love.
"Thinking the world was mine to lay hold on I breathed in the promise of maiden and man But each have their own illusions to hold onto" -> Describes how naively optimistic I was about the love I gave her. I never dreamed she could become so cold and indifferent to me so quickly. I had no idea feeling such a positive emotion for someone could leave such a deep, lasting scar in me.
"I only want to be left to my own ways The rulers of one leaving all things undone" -> I entered a major depression for about two years - just wanting to hibernate or die. My whole understanding of love, which I regarded as the most significant thing in life until that point, had been totally shattered.
"I stood in the awe of the whole creation Gathered among them was the morning Giving all its rays" -> The sense of being completely out of my depth in life, its meaning for me destroyed - and how the sun pointlessly carried on shining on me and whoever she went on with.
@musicnmeaning Wow. Take every line by line interpretation and reverse the pronouns. <br /> <br /> My husband of 17 years, the only man I had ever been with, the love of my life, the father of my two children, my constant companion and friend, out of seemingly nowhere, left me for my best friend. <br /> <br /> I've spent the better part of the last decade trying to understand how he could have shocked me, not just me, everyone that knew us, including his entire family. In the end, despite knowing I did nothing wrong, it is always we who blame ourselves. <br /> <br /> "If only he could have expressed to me what he was genuinely thinking...."<br /> <br /> Destroyed any ability to trust or love again. It's been 12 years. I have been intentionally alone for 12 years. I don't "date", despite an abundance of opportunity, which is flattering, but that is about it. One of the reasons I believed so strongly in our marriage was because of the intense sexual desire he had for me, nearing the point of obsession, that never wavered after 17 years. The last thing we did was have sex, as we usually did. And then he was gone. <br /> <br /> One of the many questions I have left unanswered is if he was addicted to my sex until he finally "broke free". Living with no closure is agony.