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"
This is the song of little Jo
She's not the girl I used to know
Forever screaming all the day and night
She used to be a diplomat
But now she's down the laundromat
They washed her mind and now she finds it hard
I know her name
But now she never seems the same
She don't talk to me
'Cause she can't take no sympathy
Because she's highly strung
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
Highly strung
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
She's stepping out upon the ledge
She's got a gun against her head
She's wired up to blow the power line
She's walking out upon the knife
She'll take you to the edge of life
Just like the song, the pressure is on again
I know her name
Ho, but now she never seems the same
She don't talk to me
'Cause she can't take no sympathy
Because she's highly strung
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
Highly strung
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
No, no, no
I know her name
Ho, but now she never seems the same
She don't talk to me
'Cause she can't take no sympathy
Because she's highly strung (highly strung)
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
Highly strung (she's oh)
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
Highly strung (highly strung)
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
Highly strung (she's oh)
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
This is the song of little Jo
She's not the girl I used to know
She's not the girl I used to know
Forever screaming all the day and night
She used to be a diplomat
But now she's down the laundromat
They washed her mind and now she finds it hard
I know her name
But now she never seems the same
She don't talk to me
'Cause she can't take no sympathy
Because she's highly strung
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
Highly strung
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
She's stepping out upon the ledge
She's got a gun against her head
She's wired up to blow the power line
She's walking out upon the knife
She'll take you to the edge of life
Just like the song, the pressure is on again
I know her name
Ho, but now she never seems the same
She don't talk to me
'Cause she can't take no sympathy
Because she's highly strung
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
Highly strung
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
No, no, no
I know her name
Ho, but now she never seems the same
She don't talk to me
'Cause she can't take no sympathy
Because she's highly strung (highly strung)
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
Highly strung (she's oh)
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
Highly strung (highly strung)
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
Highly strung (she's oh)
Oh, highly strung, she's undone
This is the song of little Jo
She's not the girl I used to know
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by eucalypt
Highly Strung [Remastered] Lyrics as written by Gary Kemp
Lyrics © REFORMATION MUSIC INC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Growing up, I loved listening to Spandau Ballet, the music either exciting, elegant or both depending on the mood of the song and frequently with excellent guitar riffs and cool sax. And Tony Haley’s singing is top notch.
This song has all of the excellent aforementioned musical elements going for it… but can we talk about the lyrics for a sec?
This is a song about a poor woman named Jo who used to work as a diplomat. Somewhere over course of her career she had her brain wiped (by the CIA, MI6?), and now she is severely mentally disturbed which leads her to scream all day at a laundromat and repeatedly attempt suicide. Horrific story right?
But what does Tony choose to focus on? That she doesn’t seem the same, that she won’t talk to him, and that she is highly strung. She had illegal brain surgery Tony, what do you expect? Why not sing about finding mental health services for the poor woman and filing a lawsuit against the government on her behalf! Very strange indeed.