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"
The other day when we were walking by the graveyard near the house
You asked me if I thought we would ever die
And if life and love both fade so predictably
We've made ourselves a kind of predictable lie
And so I pictured us like corpses
Lying side by side in pieces
In some dark and lonely plot under a bough
We looked so silly there all decomposed
Half turned to dust in tattered clothes
Though we probably look just as silly now
Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye to all this dog-eared innocence
I can't pretend that I can tell you what is going to happen next or how to be
But you have no idea about me
Do you?
And it left me to wonder if people ever know each other
Or just stumble around like strangers in the dark
'Cause sometimes you seem so strange to me, I must seem strange to you
We're like two actors playing our parts
Did you memorize your lines? 'cause I did
Here's the part where I get so mad I tell you I can't forget the past
You get so quiet now and you seem somehow like a lost and lonely child
And you just hope that the moment won't last
Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye to all this dogged innocence
I can't pretend that I can tell you what is going to happen next or how to be
But you have no idea about me
You have no idea about me
Do you?
So there's always a way around
There's something tying our feet to the ground
A moment passed we hear how it sounds
Then it seems a little less profound
Like we're all going the same way down
Yeah we're all going the same way down
I'm just trying to write it all down
'Cause I write songs and you write letters
We are tied like two in tethers
And we talk and read, and laugh and sleep
At night in bed together
And you wake in tears sometimes
I can see your thoughts flash across your eyes
They say darling will you be kind, will you be a good man and stay behind
If I get old?
And then the letters all pass through my head
With the words that I was told
About the fading flesh of life and love
The failures of the bold
I can list each crippling fear like I'm reading from a will
And I'll defy everyone and love you still
I will carry you with me up every hill
And if you die before I die I'll carve your name out of the sky
I'll fall asleep with your memory and dream of where you lie
Maybe better to move on and to let life just carry on and I may be wrong
Still I'll try
'Cause it's better to love, whether you win or lose or die
It's better to love, whether you win or lose or die
It's better to love, and I will love you 'til I die
You asked me if I thought we would ever die
And if life and love both fade so predictably
We've made ourselves a kind of predictable lie
And so I pictured us like corpses
Lying side by side in pieces
In some dark and lonely plot under a bough
We looked so silly there all decomposed
Half turned to dust in tattered clothes
Though we probably look just as silly now
Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye to all this dog-eared innocence
I can't pretend that I can tell you what is going to happen next or how to be
But you have no idea about me
Do you?
And it left me to wonder if people ever know each other
Or just stumble around like strangers in the dark
'Cause sometimes you seem so strange to me, I must seem strange to you
We're like two actors playing our parts
Did you memorize your lines? 'cause I did
Here's the part where I get so mad I tell you I can't forget the past
You get so quiet now and you seem somehow like a lost and lonely child
And you just hope that the moment won't last
Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye to all this dogged innocence
I can't pretend that I can tell you what is going to happen next or how to be
But you have no idea about me
You have no idea about me
Do you?
So there's always a way around
There's something tying our feet to the ground
A moment passed we hear how it sounds
Then it seems a little less profound
Like we're all going the same way down
Yeah we're all going the same way down
I'm just trying to write it all down
'Cause I write songs and you write letters
We are tied like two in tethers
And we talk and read, and laugh and sleep
At night in bed together
And you wake in tears sometimes
I can see your thoughts flash across your eyes
They say darling will you be kind, will you be a good man and stay behind
If I get old?
And then the letters all pass through my head
With the words that I was told
About the fading flesh of life and love
The failures of the bold
I can list each crippling fear like I'm reading from a will
And I'll defy everyone and love you still
I will carry you with me up every hill
And if you die before I die I'll carve your name out of the sky
I'll fall asleep with your memory and dream of where you lie
Maybe better to move on and to let life just carry on and I may be wrong
Still I'll try
'Cause it's better to love, whether you win or lose or die
It's better to love, whether you win or lose or die
It's better to love, and I will love you 'til I die
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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,
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Gorgeous song. Mikel's lyrics are always perfect. I don't know how he does it. And his voice conveys emotions in a way that seems effortless. This is one of their songs that really hits me.
I think it's about what the other people have said. Reflecting on love and how it's worth it in the end, even if you don't know where it will take you. Seems like she's being afraid of growing apart or of the relationship not lasting, but he's reassuring her that he will love her no matter what. Very touching.