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"
Two carpenters of failing worth,
We found ourselves in disrepair,
But didn't care.
So we took the wood from that old tree,
Built a coffin on the sea.
Flowers strewn across the deck,
Sails drape around our broken necks.
And I'll (And I'll) be taken apart when it's over.
Our ruined hands collecting dust.
Uneven loves that drove us into, our bodies.
But we found the bricks from our old house,
Tried to put them back together,
With no foundation underneath,
It crumbled right back to a smoldering heap.
And we'll (we'll) be taken apart when it's over.
So we gave every flaw in our crooked construction, a name,
And accepted that nothing was meant to hold up for this long.
When you felt the sun come alive in your ribs,
You were dying, just to try it,
As the sutures and stitches that held you together were splitting,
And it made such a glorious sound.
You wire strings slowly disappear.
Well I have been emptied of every fear.
The things that we had but never replaced.
We're falling asleep and forgetting the names.
Well I pried myself into pieces and scattered them over, the wreckage,
And you were still shaking your head, holding on to your nails.
And every splinter of timber like thunder inside of my shuddering frame,
Says I'm gonna pay, yeah we're all gonna pay, when it's over (when it's over).
We found ourselves in disrepair,
But didn't care.
So we took the wood from that old tree,
Built a coffin on the sea.
Flowers strewn across the deck,
Sails drape around our broken necks.
And I'll (And I'll) be taken apart when it's over.
Our ruined hands collecting dust.
Uneven loves that drove us into, our bodies.
But we found the bricks from our old house,
Tried to put them back together,
With no foundation underneath,
It crumbled right back to a smoldering heap.
And we'll (we'll) be taken apart when it's over.
So we gave every flaw in our crooked construction, a name,
And accepted that nothing was meant to hold up for this long.
When you felt the sun come alive in your ribs,
You were dying, just to try it,
As the sutures and stitches that held you together were splitting,
And it made such a glorious sound.
You wire strings slowly disappear.
Well I have been emptied of every fear.
The things that we had but never replaced.
We're falling asleep and forgetting the names.
Well I pried myself into pieces and scattered them over, the wreckage,
And you were still shaking your head, holding on to your nails.
And every splinter of timber like thunder inside of my shuddering frame,
Says I'm gonna pay, yeah we're all gonna pay, when it's over (when it's over).
Lyrics submitted by byuckert
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Excellent song.
I love it so much. I just wish I could somehow download it.
I think this song can be interpreted in many ways, and that's what makes it great for a good discussion as well as making you feel more connected to the song. However, i believe it goes in a gneral direction something like this.
Two people met in circumstances making them different than their normal selves, then they joined forces (relationship or otherwise), and got rid of their old depressed selves for each other.
" Two carpenters of failing worth,We found ourselves in disrepair,But didn't care.So we took the wood from that old tree,Built a coffin on the sea.Flowers strewn across the deck,Sails drape around our broken necks."
Then, since one person cared more about the other, or feelings eventually died down, they broke up. Later they came back multiple times and tried to rebuild a broken friendship/relationship. These too failed due to having no base or initial attraction to build on.
"This is the bulk of the song which i won't make you read again. See part about building houses in lyrics."
Then, when it's all over, the two people are unable to stay friends and the situation becomes extremely dramatic; which ends it all.
"And every splinter of timber like thunder inside of my shuddering frame, Says I'm gonna pay, yeah we're all gonna pay, when it's over"
TL;DR:
People get together and break up. Tries to rebuild the relationship, but they always end due to no real attraction emotionally. After it all, they can even be friends anymore because of the drama and tragedy that follows the last time they met. Open to personal interpretation.