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"
"Mistreat me darling and I might just disappear"
Upon freighter running dark out of Algiers
Put tiny grains in children's tears
While taking twenty five percent of all those flashbulbs and mementos
From the mechanized divisions rolling over your frontiers
I saw my baby talking to a man to day
Speaking softly in a confidential way
I saw her shadow pull his glove off
As a bluebird flew over
Life's is no pleasure
When you doubt the one you love
Who are all these strangers?
I never will, go back again
Go back into the past
The flood is rising fast
You can break a window and look down
Into a muddy glass
It's mirror or lens to burn
There was a deal done in Benghazi and Belgrade
Upon a scimitar or other crooked blade
Ransacks and loots, vacated suits
And a pistol points but never shoots,
Army sitting in a locomotive yard without their boots
Upstairs your man is painting rain out in the street
Imagines woman that he's destined still to meet
He's trying sidetrack, one to count on
Caught somewhere between a countess and a courtesan
And it's only love to feign and then it's gone
Who are all these strangers?
He's a privateer as dusk gets near
A brigand after dark, his victim lined with chalk
A corsair, filled with horsehair to the core
Dashed on eyes of adamantine, you despised his stripling whine
That little smudger and the mouthpiece that he's with
Using his claws just like a practiced fingersmith
I dreamed I took his digit prints
And then I sewed then on a villain's hands
Watched him ransom and demand
And then called the flatfoots in
I never will go back again
Go back into the past
The flood is rising fast
You can break the window and look down
Into the muddy glass
For it's a mirror or lens to burn
Who are all these strangers?
All these strangers
Sat upon a narrow bed
I thought about the things she said
All these strangers
How I wished the night would end
Tried to stop the days ahead
I'd carve her name down in the wood
Some small remembrance if I could
Upon freighter running dark out of Algiers
Put tiny grains in children's tears
While taking twenty five percent of all those flashbulbs and mementos
From the mechanized divisions rolling over your frontiers
I saw my baby talking to a man to day
Speaking softly in a confidential way
I saw her shadow pull his glove off
As a bluebird flew over
Life's is no pleasure
When you doubt the one you love
Who are all these strangers?
I never will, go back again
Go back into the past
The flood is rising fast
You can break a window and look down
Into a muddy glass
It's mirror or lens to burn
There was a deal done in Benghazi and Belgrade
Upon a scimitar or other crooked blade
Ransacks and loots, vacated suits
And a pistol points but never shoots,
Army sitting in a locomotive yard without their boots
Upstairs your man is painting rain out in the street
Imagines woman that he's destined still to meet
He's trying sidetrack, one to count on
Caught somewhere between a countess and a courtesan
And it's only love to feign and then it's gone
Who are all these strangers?
He's a privateer as dusk gets near
A brigand after dark, his victim lined with chalk
A corsair, filled with horsehair to the core
Dashed on eyes of adamantine, you despised his stripling whine
That little smudger and the mouthpiece that he's with
Using his claws just like a practiced fingersmith
I dreamed I took his digit prints
And then I sewed then on a villain's hands
Watched him ransom and demand
And then called the flatfoots in
I never will go back again
Go back into the past
The flood is rising fast
You can break the window and look down
Into the muddy glass
For it's a mirror or lens to burn
Who are all these strangers?
All these strangers
Sat upon a narrow bed
I thought about the things she said
All these strangers
How I wished the night would end
Tried to stop the days ahead
I'd carve her name down in the wood
Some small remembrance if I could
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
All These Strangers Lyrics as written by Declan Patrick Aloyius Macmanus T-bone Burnett
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Spirit Music Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Mountain Song
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"'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."
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Blue
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“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Jealousy is aroused in the second verse when he sees his lover with another man. And he studies the strangers that he sees from his window as he paints. Some of the above words are wrong. Here is a careful transcription of the lyrics.
"Mistreat me darling and I might just disappear Upon a freighter running dark out of Algiers Put tiny grains in children's tears While taking 25% of all those flashbulbs and mementoes From the mechanized divisions rolling over your frontiers.”
I saw my baby talking to a man to day Speaking softly in a confidential way I saw a shadow pull his glove off As a bluebird flew over Life's no pleasure When you doubt the one you love Who Are All These Strangers? I never will go back again Go back into the past The flood is rising fast You can break the window and look down Into the muddy glass Where it's mirror or a lens to burn...
Now there was a deal done in Benghazi and Belgrade... Upon a scimitar or other crooked blade Ransacks and loots, vacated suits And a pistol points but never shoots, an army sitting in a locomotive yard without their boots Upstairs your man is painting rain out in the street Imagines women that he's destined still to meet He's trying to sidetrack one to count on Caught somewhere between a countess and a courtesan There’s only love to feign and then it's gone. Who Are All These Strangers? He's a privateer as dusk gets near A brigand after dark, his victim lined with chalk A corsair, filled with horsehair to the core There’s ? eyes on Adamantine, you despised this stripling whine
That little smudger and the mouthpiece that he's with Using his claws just like a practiced fingersmith I dreamed I took his digit prints And then I sewed them on a villain's hands and Watched him ransom and demand and then called the flatfoots in I never will go back again Go back into the past For the flood is rising fast You can break the window and look down Into the muddy glass For it's a mirror or a lens to burn... Who Are All These Strangers? All These Strangers Sat down on a narrow bed Thought about the things she said All These Strangers How I wished the night would end Try to stop the days ahead I'd carve her name down in the wood Some small remembrance if I could.