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"
Can you say your name to me, put mine after yours?
Can we build a house of glass without windows or doors?
Will you learn to love yourself the way I know you should?
Will we find the courage there to call our friendship good?
Call it good, call it good
The world is closing in on me, I think it's time I go
And with your sad young eyes you've taught me things I didn't know
And my heart broke down to powder there and I wish I'd let it show
And I listened as you said to me you'd rather die than grow
Die than grow, die than grow
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Don't let romance and beating hearts change what we came to do
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
So I watched as those who ask for love, demanding some respect
Became the last in line to have what they come to expect
As what nobody taught them that they so rightly deserve
And the hums of their misfortune peaked, the hardest lesson learned
Leasson learned, lesson learned
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Don't let romance and beating hearts change what we came to do
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
To watch us fall is why they came
And fall we did, to the call of the highway
Don't go home, don't look ahead, don't look behind
Everything we were is dead
Then a well of hope and talent sprang, and I caught a glimpse of light
And I drank from there as the colors rang out loudly from your eyes
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Don't let romance or beating hearts change what we came to do
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Die then grow
Die then grow
Die then grow
Die then grow
Can we build a house of glass without windows or doors?
Will you learn to love yourself the way I know you should?
Will we find the courage there to call our friendship good?
Call it good, call it good
The world is closing in on me, I think it's time I go
And with your sad young eyes you've taught me things I didn't know
And my heart broke down to powder there and I wish I'd let it show
And I listened as you said to me you'd rather die than grow
Die than grow, die than grow
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Don't let romance and beating hearts change what we came to do
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
So I watched as those who ask for love, demanding some respect
Became the last in line to have what they come to expect
As what nobody taught them that they so rightly deserve
And the hums of their misfortune peaked, the hardest lesson learned
Leasson learned, lesson learned
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Don't let romance and beating hearts change what we came to do
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
To watch us fall is why they came
And fall we did, to the call of the highway
Don't go home, don't look ahead, don't look behind
Everything we were is dead
Then a well of hope and talent sprang, and I caught a glimpse of light
And I drank from there as the colors rang out loudly from your eyes
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Don't let romance or beating hearts change what we came to do
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Die then grow
Die then grow
Die then grow
Die then grow
Lyrics submitted by mce
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This song seems to be about a man who's hopelessly in love with a woman (possibly much younger than him) who's very immature and selfish, like a child. He even points out that the people who "ask for love" and "demand some respect" come "last in line for what they expect", which refers to the singer's relationships with his friends and family deteriorating due to his relationship with Anita. He doesn't want to have to leave her, but he knows in his heart that she would rather die than be forced to change her ways.
Also, it seems like the "spring of talent" is a reference to having success with his band, which he uses as an excuse to leave her without breaking her heart too much. He insists that he was born to follow her, but it's more like a reassurance to her that he still cares for her rather than the actual truth. "Don't let romance and beating hearts change what we came to do" is a statement to her, telling her not to guilt trip him into staying with her instead of following his dreams with his band.