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"
Many many years ago when this land was young
A lot of our country was covered by big tall beautiful trees
And men had to have the trees to make wood to build houses
Make furniture with to make boots even to make paper with
So as more and more people came more wood was needed
And more and more trees were cut down
And the man that lived in the forest and cut down the trees
Was called the Timber man
Well my world is green and dark and dumb my home is in the loggin' camp
All week I cut down the mighty trees Saturday I get to do as I please
I give the man more than his hire and he'll never know it if I tire
Show me the toughest tree around the Timber man will bring it down
Swing it hard cut it clean no halfway or in-between
Move when the axe is in my hand make way for the Timber man
Yeah he was a mighty big tough man usually
That Timber man that lived in that forest and cut down those big trees
Well they say there's sawdust in my brain and don't get caught out in the rain
I got stump water in my blood the sweat from my brow turns the ground to mud
When the men don't know how to fell a tree the one they'll come and ask is me
I'll mark my spot and I'll take my stand the tree's gonna fall for the Timber man
Swing it hard cut it clean
And when they're cuttin' on a tree and it's just about ready to fall
The man yells out timeber timber
A lot of our country was covered by big tall beautiful trees
And men had to have the trees to make wood to build houses
Make furniture with to make boots even to make paper with
So as more and more people came more wood was needed
And more and more trees were cut down
And the man that lived in the forest and cut down the trees
Was called the Timber man
Well my world is green and dark and dumb my home is in the loggin' camp
All week I cut down the mighty trees Saturday I get to do as I please
I give the man more than his hire and he'll never know it if I tire
Show me the toughest tree around the Timber man will bring it down
Swing it hard cut it clean no halfway or in-between
Move when the axe is in my hand make way for the Timber man
Yeah he was a mighty big tough man usually
That Timber man that lived in that forest and cut down those big trees
Well they say there's sawdust in my brain and don't get caught out in the rain
I got stump water in my blood the sweat from my brow turns the ground to mud
When the men don't know how to fell a tree the one they'll come and ask is me
I'll mark my spot and I'll take my stand the tree's gonna fall for the Timber man
Swing it hard cut it clean
And when they're cuttin' on a tree and it's just about ready to fall
The man yells out timeber timber
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
The Timber Man Lyrics as written by Johnny R. Cash
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.