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"
We got married early
And just a little bit late
Baby came too early
But some things just can't wait
We were just beginning
But it was very clear
We grew up a little bit that year
I caught on as a meter man
You were caught at home
When I started night school
You ended up alone
But you had another baby
While I had my career
And we grew up a little bit
We grew up a little bit
We grew up a little bit that year
They put me in a office job
A young man on the move
We bought a house in Shaker Heights
You supervised the move
We were cashing checks, you were changing children
While I played engineer
And we were growing ever faster
Every year
I got bored of kilowatts
You were tired of kids
I started staying out at night
And soon that's what you did
At parties we'd go separately
You'd wiggle and I'd leer
And we were growing faster
We were growing ever faster
We were growing ever faster every year
You learned to live in silence
I learned to live in lies
And we both igored the empty spaces
Growing in our eyes
Your breath became a gin and tonic
Mine became a beer
And we grew up a little more last year
Today at work they passed me by
And promoted John instead
I came home to find you'd wrecked the car
I guess I lost my head
Well, I can't believe I hit you
But the rage came on so strong
Ah, where did we go wrong?
As you sit there crying
I wonder who you are
The partner-stranger-friend and foe
Who's come with me this far
We stand here in the ashes
And I guess it is quite clear
We did not really grow too much
Each year
So you say we're going nowhere
Well I know that's where we've been
Still I can't help wondering
Can we begin again?
I feel so full of questions
Curiosity and fear
But could we grow a little bit
Could we grow a little bit
Can we grow a little bit this year?
And just a little bit late
Baby came too early
But some things just can't wait
We were just beginning
But it was very clear
We grew up a little bit that year
I caught on as a meter man
You were caught at home
When I started night school
You ended up alone
But you had another baby
While I had my career
And we grew up a little bit
We grew up a little bit
We grew up a little bit that year
They put me in a office job
A young man on the move
We bought a house in Shaker Heights
You supervised the move
We were cashing checks, you were changing children
While I played engineer
And we were growing ever faster
Every year
I got bored of kilowatts
You were tired of kids
I started staying out at night
And soon that's what you did
At parties we'd go separately
You'd wiggle and I'd leer
And we were growing faster
We were growing ever faster
We were growing ever faster every year
You learned to live in silence
I learned to live in lies
And we both igored the empty spaces
Growing in our eyes
Your breath became a gin and tonic
Mine became a beer
And we grew up a little more last year
Today at work they passed me by
And promoted John instead
I came home to find you'd wrecked the car
I guess I lost my head
Well, I can't believe I hit you
But the rage came on so strong
Ah, where did we go wrong?
As you sit there crying
I wonder who you are
The partner-stranger-friend and foe
Who's come with me this far
We stand here in the ashes
And I guess it is quite clear
We did not really grow too much
Each year
So you say we're going nowhere
Well I know that's where we've been
Still I can't help wondering
Can we begin again?
I feel so full of questions
Curiosity and fear
But could we grow a little bit
Could we grow a little bit
Can we grow a little bit this year?
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
We Grew up a Little Bit Lyrics as written by Harry F. Chapin
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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