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 can't blame you, and I can't save you
But I will try
For you and I, for you and I
I won't find out all the dirty little things that you've done
But I will try
I—I'm coming for you giants and you liars and your chariots of fire
You charmers with your anecdotes have started to show your true colors
Now I'm staring at the moon wondering why the bottom fell out
I've been searching for answers and there's questions I've found
Open your eyes and share this burden somehow
Are you ready to drink
Or are you waiting to drown?
I would break you
Before I let you fall into the blind
For you and I, for you and I
I will breathe in all the truth I can stomach
If it keeps you alive
We've changed the dreamers and the preachers and the wise men on the hill
To concrete stepping smilers terrified to lose their power and control
Yeah we've been crying for a leader to speak like the old prophets
The blood of the forgotten wasn't spilled without a purpose, or was it?
Now I'm staring at the moon wondering why the bottom fell out
I've been searching for answers and there's questions I've found
Open your eyes and share this burden somehow
Are you ready to drink
Or are you waiting to drown?
Yeah
Ah—ah
Yeah you'll never be whole, yeah you'll never be whole
Until you lose control
And think freely to smash the wall of apathy
Stop your self-importance and lift the weight off somebody else
Yeah you'll never be whole, yeah you'll never be whole
Until you lose control
And stop drinking the wine that's been dripping
From the lips of the gluttons and envying their bloody teeth
Yeah you'll never be whole, yeah you'll never be whole
Until you lose control
But I will try
For you and I, for you and I
I won't find out all the dirty little things that you've done
But I will try
I—I'm coming for you giants and you liars and your chariots of fire
You charmers with your anecdotes have started to show your true colors
Now I'm staring at the moon wondering why the bottom fell out
I've been searching for answers and there's questions I've found
Open your eyes and share this burden somehow
Are you ready to drink
Or are you waiting to drown?
I would break you
Before I let you fall into the blind
For you and I, for you and I
I will breathe in all the truth I can stomach
If it keeps you alive
We've changed the dreamers and the preachers and the wise men on the hill
To concrete stepping smilers terrified to lose their power and control
Yeah we've been crying for a leader to speak like the old prophets
The blood of the forgotten wasn't spilled without a purpose, or was it?
Now I'm staring at the moon wondering why the bottom fell out
I've been searching for answers and there's questions I've found
Open your eyes and share this burden somehow
Are you ready to drink
Or are you waiting to drown?
Yeah
Ah—ah
Yeah you'll never be whole, yeah you'll never be whole
Until you lose control
And think freely to smash the wall of apathy
Stop your self-importance and lift the weight off somebody else
Yeah you'll never be whole, yeah you'll never be whole
Until you lose control
And stop drinking the wine that's been dripping
From the lips of the gluttons and envying their bloody teeth
Yeah you'll never be whole, yeah you'll never be whole
Until you lose control
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by indigochild816, kickinggiant, gifoverit
A Beginner's Guide To Destroying The Moon Lyrics as written by Michael Volpe Mark Foster
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
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The Night We Met
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I think this song is about losing someone to addiction, which is a plague on the younger generation. Losing friends to addiction has unfortunately been a recurring issue in Mark Foster's life, and I think this darkness permeates much of this album.
The first stanza talks about how difficult it is to deal with an addict without judgement, while at the same time the desperate need to cut through the BS that addicts tell themselves and those around them.
The refrain talks about seeing "the bottom fall out". It's not clear if this is just a recurring relapse, or if this an overdose. He talks about asking yourself questions, and begs the addict to just reach out for help.
In the next stanza he offeres to help, to listen to anything at all the addict wants to talk about. He bemoans that our leaders have completely let us down on this, they are more interested in playing power games than actually helping.
And with so many dead, no prophet steps forward. All those dead of overdose and it doesn't make any difference.
The refrain again, and the admonition that "you'll never be whole until you lose control". This seems to fold right into the "12 Steps" pf AA or NA, that you won't get better until you admit you have no control and you give yourself over to a higher power.
Just my take. Mark Foster noodles around quite a bit with his lyrics, so it's never possible to be completely sure about the lyrics.
oh wow i really like this interpretation. i only recently got into this song, but couldnt really decipher the lyrics. theres nothing about them on genius either. after listening to the song again with this in mind, i really liked it! great interpretation :D