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"
Everywhere I've been people ask me why you'd walk
So far away from that soulful sunshine
But it's just no place for me where one man's freedom is only talk
I've had to run, hoping just to find mine
A couple of years ago a few boys up and left home
To find a place where greener grass would grow
And though the grass was frozen over and the beaches lined with snow
It was a lonely town that we all would come to know
It took a while to get here
And i'll still be here when you're gone
If this is gospel Lord then I've found religion
If I can only hold on
There's a few along the way who've made the nights not seem so long
Whose songs lifted us up and cured our pain
And the talk of perfect had kept us up long past the dawn
And set us free, never to return again
We need to keep ourselves alive long enough to die together
And make it through those rough and windy seas
They tell us all to strive to find a place that's always better
What a world to make us all so hard to please
It took a while to get here
And i'll still be here when you're gone
If this is gospel Lord then I've found religion
If I can only hold on
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
If this is gospel Lord then I've found religion
If I can only hold on
Down the back roads of our memories there's a town we used to know
That will forever be unchanged and unknown
We see that world as ghost-like photographs through a hazy front window
And soon forgot about the innocence we've shown
Now the boys are counting cards as we move further down the road
Trying to leave this city behind
But the highway wind with the windows down is getting mighty cold
Trying to stay on that straight and narrow line
It took a while to get here
And i'll still be here when you're gone
If this is gospel Lord then I've found religion
If I can only hold on
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
If this is gospel Lord then I've found religion
If I can only hold on
So far away from that soulful sunshine
But it's just no place for me where one man's freedom is only talk
I've had to run, hoping just to find mine
A couple of years ago a few boys up and left home
To find a place where greener grass would grow
And though the grass was frozen over and the beaches lined with snow
It was a lonely town that we all would come to know
It took a while to get here
And i'll still be here when you're gone
If this is gospel Lord then I've found religion
If I can only hold on
There's a few along the way who've made the nights not seem so long
Whose songs lifted us up and cured our pain
And the talk of perfect had kept us up long past the dawn
And set us free, never to return again
We need to keep ourselves alive long enough to die together
And make it through those rough and windy seas
They tell us all to strive to find a place that's always better
What a world to make us all so hard to please
It took a while to get here
And i'll still be here when you're gone
If this is gospel Lord then I've found religion
If I can only hold on
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
If this is gospel Lord then I've found religion
If I can only hold on
Down the back roads of our memories there's a town we used to know
That will forever be unchanged and unknown
We see that world as ghost-like photographs through a hazy front window
And soon forgot about the innocence we've shown
Now the boys are counting cards as we move further down the road
Trying to leave this city behind
But the highway wind with the windows down is getting mighty cold
Trying to stay on that straight and narrow line
It took a while to get here
And i'll still be here when you're gone
If this is gospel Lord then I've found religion
If I can only hold on
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
If this is gospel Lord then I've found religion
If I can only hold on
Lyrics submitted by jenjenjenjenjen
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
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,
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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.