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"
Young Johnny, he really had a way
He did his homework on the school bus
And he always got an A
And the girls liked Johnny
More than anyone 'cept maybe Elton John
Later on in high school
He couldn't keep his red suspenders on
(chorus)
Oh where's Johnny has he gone away
Oh where's Johnny will he be back someday
He had a room full of trophies
From the track meets and the tennis games he'd win
He was a full-blown whiz kid
Bound to be a Renaissance man
Then he went on off to college
Got his head stuck in a different state of mind
When they asked him was it alcohol?
He told them it was nothing of the kind
Just life … just life, mom
(chorus)
But Johnny's alright he just turned out his lights
They'd have paid it no mind had he not been so bright
He opened up his eyes and he snapped out of the groove
He saw both sides of everything and found he could not
move
Johnny moved home
Now he reads a lot of poetry and plays
He'll sit out in the backyard
And not say a word to anyone for days
And his folks gave up
They no longer even bother getting through
He's thirty-odd years old
They must have figured there's just so much you can do
His mother keeps his pictures
In the scrapbook in the drawer with her pearls
She polishes the trophies
That he won back when they thought he'd save the world
Back when the girls liked Johnny
More than anyone 'cept maybe Elton John
She wonders where's her little boy
With the braces and the red suspenders gone
Just life …
He did his homework on the school bus
And he always got an A
And the girls liked Johnny
More than anyone 'cept maybe Elton John
Later on in high school
He couldn't keep his red suspenders on
(chorus)
Oh where's Johnny has he gone away
Oh where's Johnny will he be back someday
He had a room full of trophies
From the track meets and the tennis games he'd win
He was a full-blown whiz kid
Bound to be a Renaissance man
Then he went on off to college
Got his head stuck in a different state of mind
When they asked him was it alcohol?
He told them it was nothing of the kind
Just life … just life, mom
(chorus)
But Johnny's alright he just turned out his lights
They'd have paid it no mind had he not been so bright
He opened up his eyes and he snapped out of the groove
He saw both sides of everything and found he could not
move
Johnny moved home
Now he reads a lot of poetry and plays
He'll sit out in the backyard
And not say a word to anyone for days
And his folks gave up
They no longer even bother getting through
He's thirty-odd years old
They must have figured there's just so much you can do
His mother keeps his pictures
In the scrapbook in the drawer with her pearls
She polishes the trophies
That he won back when they thought he'd save the world
Back when the girls liked Johnny
More than anyone 'cept maybe Elton John
She wonders where's her little boy
With the braces and the red suspenders gone
Just life …
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Where's Johnny Lyrics as written by James Mc Murtry
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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