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"
Now gather round you sailor boys, and listen to my plea
And when you've heard my tale you'll pity me
For I was a real damned fool in the port of Liverpool
The first time that I came home from the sea
I was paid off at the Home, from a voyage to Sierra Leone
Two pounds ten and sixpence was my pay
When I drew the tin I grinned, but I very soon got skinned
By a girl by the name of Maggie May
Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they've taken you away
They've sent you to Van Diemen's cruel shore
For you robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler
And you'll never shine in Paradise Street no more
I shan't forget the day when I first met Maggie May
She was cruising up and down on Canning Place
With a figure so divine, like a frigate of the line
So, being a sailor, I gave chase
Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they've taken you away
They've sent you to Van Diemen's cruel shore
For you robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler
And you'll never shine in Paradise Street no more
Next day I woke in bed, with a sore and aching head
No shoes, or shirt, or trousers could I find
I asked her where they were, and she answered, "My dear sir,
They're down in Kelly's knock-shop, number nine"
Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they've taken you away
They've sent you to Van Diemen's cruel shore
For you robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler
And you'll never shine in Paradise Street no more
Oh, you thieving Maggie May, you robbed me of my pay
When I slept with you last night ashore
And the judge he guilty found her of robbing a homeward-bounder
And she'll never roam down Paradise Street no more
Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they've taken you away
They've sent you to Van Diemen's cruel shore
For you robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler
And you'll never shine in Paradise Street no more
And when you've heard my tale you'll pity me
For I was a real damned fool in the port of Liverpool
The first time that I came home from the sea
I was paid off at the Home, from a voyage to Sierra Leone
Two pounds ten and sixpence was my pay
When I drew the tin I grinned, but I very soon got skinned
By a girl by the name of Maggie May
Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they've taken you away
They've sent you to Van Diemen's cruel shore
For you robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler
And you'll never shine in Paradise Street no more
I shan't forget the day when I first met Maggie May
She was cruising up and down on Canning Place
With a figure so divine, like a frigate of the line
So, being a sailor, I gave chase
Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they've taken you away
They've sent you to Van Diemen's cruel shore
For you robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler
And you'll never shine in Paradise Street no more
Next day I woke in bed, with a sore and aching head
No shoes, or shirt, or trousers could I find
I asked her where they were, and she answered, "My dear sir,
They're down in Kelly's knock-shop, number nine"
Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they've taken you away
They've sent you to Van Diemen's cruel shore
For you robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler
And you'll never shine in Paradise Street no more
Oh, you thieving Maggie May, you robbed me of my pay
When I slept with you last night ashore
And the judge he guilty found her of robbing a homeward-bounder
And she'll never roam down Paradise Street no more
Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they've taken you away
They've sent you to Van Diemen's cruel shore
For you robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler
And you'll never shine in Paradise Street no more
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Maggie Maggie May Lyrics as written by Lionel Bart
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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