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 am that dickhead in the kitchen
Giving wine to your best girl's glass
I am the amateur pornographer
Unpleasant publisher by hand
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Oh I see the stumbling pinstripe trouser
The flecks of sick on an office shoe
Part of the fatty British average
That lives in the houses around you
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Let's all crowd round the cowering body
Throw stocky fingers, sticks and stones
Let's promise every girl we marry
We'll always love them, though we probably won't
While a knight in shitty armour
Rips the drunk out of her dress
One man tears into another
Hides a coward's heart in a lion's chest
Man, he breeds although he shouldn't
Breeding just because he comes
Acts the father for a minute
Until the worst instincts return
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
I have never wanted more to be your man
And build a house around you
But I am just like all the rest of them
Sorry, selfish, trying to improve
I'm here, I'm here, not heroic but I try
I'm here, I'm here, not heroic but I try
Giving wine to your best girl's glass
I am the amateur pornographer
Unpleasant publisher by hand
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Oh I see the stumbling pinstripe trouser
The flecks of sick on an office shoe
Part of the fatty British average
That lives in the houses around you
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Let's all crowd round the cowering body
Throw stocky fingers, sticks and stones
Let's promise every girl we marry
We'll always love them, though we probably won't
While a knight in shitty armour
Rips the drunk out of her dress
One man tears into another
Hides a coward's heart in a lion's chest
Man, he breeds although he shouldn't
Breeding just because he comes
Acts the father for a minute
Until the worst instincts return
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
I have never wanted more to be your man
And build a house around you
But I am just like all the rest of them
Sorry, selfish, trying to improve
I'm here, I'm here, not heroic but I try
I'm here, I'm here, not heroic but I try
Lyrics submitted by mariri, edited by rockaction, johninky, starvingartist79
Acts of Man Lyrics as written by David William Lawrence Kennedy Andy Monaghan
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
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Though the song begins with such dark and brutish words (appropriate I think, as it is touching on the nature of "Man"-kind) poignantly contrasted by being sung in a soft and even plaintive tone, it ends a beautiful redemptive anthem for all the men out there who are after all, as the song says, still "trying to improve." It pleads with us not to give up on them just yet.
Don't worry lads, we haven't ;)
The song picks out the base and vulgar "acts of man"......contrasting them against the heroic and chivalrous ideas of men.......it's a very interesting song and sounds rather personal as well......I don't think he speaker/singer is referring to all men......but rather uses a generalization to say that most men can be like this.
"knight in shitty armor"
might be the funniest line Scott's ever written
I lol every time
Going by this song every man out there is a date rapist, and it takes a tremendous effort not to be one. Not to be a rapist is a heroic act, apparently. Yeah, no.
I sincerely hope most guys don't think this way, because if they do, I'm sure as hell "giving up" on them. You don't get a medal for not raping, that's the minimum of decent human behaviour.
Some other things:
I am guessing you are female, and honestly, I don't know anyone who thinks this way. I think the song is a lot more positive than that, I think the first stanza refers to the more dickheadish men of this world, the exception to the rule. I think the second verse shows how a majority are part of the average (duh) and are not like the person in the first verse."Let's promise every girl we marry we'll always love them when we probably won't" refers to the idea that we say things we don't mean, but that doesn't make them any less true. If you're in love with someone, even when they're totally unbearable, you still love them. <br /> The next two verses, I think, again reveal the dickhead nature of some men (and women, for that matter), but the 'hiding a coward's heart in a lion's chest' is referencing the idea that bullies are cowards, like these people are dickheads but that's because they're cowards. <br /> I LOVE the last verse, because whilst most of the song, I agree, explores the darker sides of human consciousness, this one shows how a vast majority of us, men and women, are trying to improve.<br /> I really hope you don't hold that view of the world :)
I completely agree with jpecimage
This is the most mental comment I have EVER read. I genuinely have no idea how you can come to that conclusion.<br /> <br /> What I get from this song is pretty much that we (men) are always going to do stupid, idiotic things, but as the song goes on, it shows how we are selfish but wanting to improve ourselves and become "the perfect man"
Just wanted to point out that, as a rape and abuse survivor, the message I got from this song was ultimately a positive one. Everyone is entitled to their own interpretation of music, that's what's so wonderful and democratic about the arts. But I think it is possible to overreact to what one interprets, and I think perhaps you might have done this. I don't think it's a reasonable assumption that the author believes it takes heroic effort not to be a rapist. Otherwise he would probably be writing his songs from prison.<br /> <br /> And yes, I am female, and I have at times been cynical about what lies in the hearts of men. But never THAT cynical.
@modalverb I take this song as VERY cynical, meaning there are no heroes in this world. It's not that all men are date rapists, but some are, and many more defend them. <br /> <br /> "Let's all crowd around the cowering body/Throw stocky fingers, bricks and stones" is about our tendency to pick one those weaker than us.<br /> <br /> "One man tears into another/Hides a coward's heart in a lion's chest" is similar; it criticizes the way in which we berate others in order to hide our emotions - the (ridiculous) notion that being sensitive is "unmanly".<br /> <br /> "I am the amateur pornographer/Unpleasant publisher by hand" - Could be video, or just voyeuristic photos, or just reblogging dirty pictures on Tumblr.<br /> <br /> "I have never wanted more to be your man/And build a house around you" is clearly meant as a positive (as much as there is in this song). He's hopeful in this final verse. All is not lost. We're shitty and terrible, but some do try.