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"
I had it all, or should I say I saw it all?
And it's a long way from the dustbin of New Jersey to the top
Who would have known?
Who would have known
I had a dream, but dreams had other plans for me
For 30 years I set the thermostat
Where Frank Sinatra liked it,
Pulled his girls, and hung his hats
I never knew which one were mine
Now he's gone, and I'm alone
And I don't know where I might be going
I rode the wind, the wind stopped blowing
Set me on the roadside coming home
But home, for me was always someone else you know
That shadows always fall, when the sun goes down
I shook the hands of mafia dons and presidents
And though they always smiled politely
With a measure of decorum
Still their eyes would scan beyond me
For a glimpse of something more
But now he's gone
Now they're gone
And I don't know where I might be going
I rode the wind, the wind stopped blowing
Set me on the roadside coming home
But home, for me was always someone else you know
That shadows always fall, when the sun goes down
Alone, the shadow of a star, don't you know
That shadows always fall, yeah shadows always fall
When the sun goes down
And I don't know where I might be going
I rode the wind, the wind stopped blowing
Set me on the roadside coming home
And home, for me was always someone else you go
And it's a long way from the dustbin of New Jersey to the top
Who would have known?
Who would have known
I had a dream, but dreams had other plans for me
For 30 years I set the thermostat
Where Frank Sinatra liked it,
Pulled his girls, and hung his hats
I never knew which one were mine
Now he's gone, and I'm alone
And I don't know where I might be going
I rode the wind, the wind stopped blowing
Set me on the roadside coming home
But home, for me was always someone else you know
That shadows always fall, when the sun goes down
I shook the hands of mafia dons and presidents
And though they always smiled politely
With a measure of decorum
Still their eyes would scan beyond me
For a glimpse of something more
But now he's gone
Now they're gone
And I don't know where I might be going
I rode the wind, the wind stopped blowing
Set me on the roadside coming home
But home, for me was always someone else you know
That shadows always fall, when the sun goes down
Alone, the shadow of a star, don't you know
That shadows always fall, yeah shadows always fall
When the sun goes down
And I don't know where I might be going
I rode the wind, the wind stopped blowing
Set me on the roadside coming home
And home, for me was always someone else you go
Lyrics submitted by mike, edited by kevyn999, HarcourtFan, dand3, JimSpriggs, jimmybreen, NealLogue, chromechisel49
On Being Frank Lyrics as written by Ben Folds
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
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."
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
It's about Frank Sinatra's butler, when Sinatra died, the butler feels like he isn't his own person because "home was always someone else". He didn't have his own life, he just lived for somebody else.
It's aimed at people who live like this, whether it be a butler situation, or simply a person who lives for someone else (boyfriend/girlfriend). Quite moving.
"And old his girl hands on his hats"
I think it's "pulled his girls and hung his hats".
"I shook the hands, a few dames and presidents"
It's "I shook the hands of mafia dons and presidents"
According to Ben Folds the song is a metaphor for a couple who's been together so long that when they break up they don't know what they individually like anymore.
It's written from the perspective of Frank Sinatra's tour manager.