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"
Seven seas seven skies
Lightning strikes and brave men die
Tatanka great, Tatanka small
When darkness comes they kill them all
Tatanka
You take what you want but you don't ask
You're future doesn't lie with things of the past
The search for freedom will never be found
As long as we stand upon this sacred ground
The curse of the curses upon the land
One day Tatanka will make a stand
Take back the soul of mother nature
Give back the spirit of a world endangered
Tatanka comes, stand and deliver
The souls of the brave lie on forever
The tale of tears is a tale of courage
Tatanka comes from across the river
Chorus repeat
The battles were fought and the damage was done
The wars not over its just begun
The debt that's owed will never be payed
The promised land will never be saved
The curse of curses fire on the land
Today Tatanka has made a stand
Their forefathers dreams, hopes, and vision
Through children's eyes has it been forgiven
Chorus repeat
Le Lakota tolowan yelo
Channi tatanka oyate ki
icic' upi nahan taku un
umnipi nahan unkotipi kte k'un
lepa unk' upelo
wasicu ki ahi nahan
wicakasota pi tka
tatanka tawowakan ki lena
hecenanhgluhapelo
This is a song for the Lakota
Long time ago the buffalo
nation gave themselves
so we can survive and
have shelter
The white man came
and wiped them out
but we still have the spirit
the power of the buffalo
Tatanka comes, stand and deliver
The souls of the brave live forever
The trail of the rears is a tale of courage
Tatanka comes, Tatanka comes
Lightning strikes and brave men die
Tatanka great, Tatanka small
When darkness comes they kill them all
Tatanka
You take what you want but you don't ask
You're future doesn't lie with things of the past
The search for freedom will never be found
As long as we stand upon this sacred ground
The curse of the curses upon the land
One day Tatanka will make a stand
Take back the soul of mother nature
Give back the spirit of a world endangered
Tatanka comes, stand and deliver
The souls of the brave lie on forever
The tale of tears is a tale of courage
Tatanka comes from across the river
Chorus repeat
The battles were fought and the damage was done
The wars not over its just begun
The debt that's owed will never be payed
The promised land will never be saved
The curse of curses fire on the land
Today Tatanka has made a stand
Their forefathers dreams, hopes, and vision
Through children's eyes has it been forgiven
Chorus repeat
Le Lakota tolowan yelo
Channi tatanka oyate ki
icic' upi nahan taku un
umnipi nahan unkotipi kte k'un
lepa unk' upelo
wasicu ki ahi nahan
wicakasota pi tka
tatanka tawowakan ki lena
hecenanhgluhapelo
This is a song for the Lakota
Long time ago the buffalo
nation gave themselves
so we can survive and
have shelter
The white man came
and wiped them out
but we still have the spirit
the power of the buffalo
Tatanka comes, stand and deliver
The souls of the brave live forever
The trail of the rears is a tale of courage
Tatanka comes, Tatanka comes
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Tatanka Lyrics as written by Robert Ingram Philip Mccormack
Lyrics © BRASSTACKS ALLIANCE
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
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.