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 used to love the tenderloin
Until I made some tender coin
And then I met some ladies from Marin
We took the highway to the one,
Up the coast to catch some sun
They left me with these blisters on my skin
Don't know what I was on,
But I think it grows in Oregon,
So I kept on goin' going on right through
I drove into Seattle rain
Fell in love then missed the train
That could have took me right back home to you
I've been high, I've been low,
I've been yes, and I've been oh, hell no!
I've been rock 'n roll and disco,
Won't you save me San Francisco?
(Oh, oh, oh)
Oh, oh
(Oh, oh, oh oh oh oh)
Every day so caffeinated
I wish they were golden gated
Fillmore couldn't feel more miles away
So wrap me up return to sender
Let's forget this five year bender
Take me to my city by the bay
I never knew all that I had,
Now Alcatraz don't sound so bad
At least they have a hella fine Merlot
If I could wish upon a star
I would hitch a cable car
To the place that I can always call my own
I've been high, I've been low,
I've been yes, and I've been oh, hell no!
I've been rock 'n roll and disco,
Won't you save me San Francisco?
I've been up, I've been down,
I've been so damn lost since you're not around,
I been reggae and calypso
Won't you save me San Francisco?
To tell you the truth
I miss everything, everything
It's a wild, wild beautiful world
But there's a wide eyed girl back there
And she means everything, everything,
I've been stop, I've been go
I've been yes and I've been oh, hell no!
I've been rock and roll and disco,
Won't you save me San Francisco?
I've been up, I've been down,
I've been so damn lost since you're not around,
I've been reggae and calypso,
Won't you save me San Francisco?
(Oh, oh, oh)
Oh, oh
(Oh, oh, oh) save me San Francisco)
(Oh, oh, oh)
Oh, oh
Won't you save me San Francisco
(Oh, oh, oh)
Oh, oh
(Oh, oh, oh) save me San Francisco
(Oh, oh, oh)
Oh, oh
Won't you save me San Francisco
Until I made some tender coin
And then I met some ladies from Marin
We took the highway to the one,
Up the coast to catch some sun
They left me with these blisters on my skin
Don't know what I was on,
But I think it grows in Oregon,
So I kept on goin' going on right through
I drove into Seattle rain
Fell in love then missed the train
That could have took me right back home to you
I've been high, I've been low,
I've been yes, and I've been oh, hell no!
I've been rock 'n roll and disco,
Won't you save me San Francisco?
(Oh, oh, oh)
Oh, oh
(Oh, oh, oh oh oh oh)
Every day so caffeinated
I wish they were golden gated
Fillmore couldn't feel more miles away
So wrap me up return to sender
Let's forget this five year bender
Take me to my city by the bay
I never knew all that I had,
Now Alcatraz don't sound so bad
At least they have a hella fine Merlot
If I could wish upon a star
I would hitch a cable car
To the place that I can always call my own
I've been high, I've been low,
I've been yes, and I've been oh, hell no!
I've been rock 'n roll and disco,
Won't you save me San Francisco?
I've been up, I've been down,
I've been so damn lost since you're not around,
I been reggae and calypso
Won't you save me San Francisco?
To tell you the truth
I miss everything, everything
It's a wild, wild beautiful world
But there's a wide eyed girl back there
And she means everything, everything,
I've been stop, I've been go
I've been yes and I've been oh, hell no!
I've been rock and roll and disco,
Won't you save me San Francisco?
I've been up, I've been down,
I've been so damn lost since you're not around,
I've been reggae and calypso,
Won't you save me San Francisco?
(Oh, oh, oh)
Oh, oh
(Oh, oh, oh) save me San Francisco)
(Oh, oh, oh)
Oh, oh
Won't you save me San Francisco
(Oh, oh, oh)
Oh, oh
(Oh, oh, oh) save me San Francisco
(Oh, oh, oh)
Oh, oh
Won't you save me San Francisco
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The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
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My interpretation is pretty straightforward. This guy is in love with a girl, but life keeps taking him a further and further away from her. Maybe he allowed it because he wasn't ready to commit to her, or perhaps he was too young and immature to realize how important she was. But now, he realizes just how much she means to him, and he wants to go back to her.
Anyway, I didn't much care for this song when I first heard it, but then it got stuck in my head and it's kinda grown on me.