2 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Next Time Lyrics
It feels like a long time since I was free
It feels like the right time to take that seriously
It feels like the trees are a peculiar green
It feels like the air is hung heavily
I don't want to be the kind
Struck by fear to run and hide
I'll do better next time
It feels like warning signs were there for us to see
It feels like they taught us ignore diligently
I feel her, I hear her weakly scream
Am I really so unkind
To turn around and close my eyes?
I'll do better next time
I'll do better next time
It feels like the last breath we will ever share
It feels like the last time I'll run my fingers through your hair
I can no longer close my eyes
While the world around me dies
At the hands of folks like me
It seems they fail to see
There may never
Next time be
It feels like the right time to take that seriously
It feels like the trees are a peculiar green
It feels like the air is hung heavily
Struck by fear to run and hide
I'll do better next time
It feels like they taught us ignore diligently
I feel her, I hear her weakly scream
To turn around and close my eyes?
I'll do better next time
I'll do better next time
It feels like the last time I'll run my fingers through your hair
While the world around me dies
At the hands of folks like me
It seems they fail to see
There may never
Next time be
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
It seems like this is a song about someone struggling with addiction. Whatever that addiction is can be left to interpretation, the use of sand in the video might imply a drug addiction. The first verse expresses a moment of clarity in the situation where the speaker takes a step back to assess the situation he finds himself in (And I use masculine pronouns deliberately here as Laura herself states this album was written from a man's perspective). There are a few hints that point to it being an addiction: Feelings of being trapped, the desire to change, the self-loathing at falling into it; "Am I really so unkind?" and the style of dancing in the music video resembles a kind of demonic posession; this is something the speaker feels he is a slave to. The song goes on to note someone, mostly likely a significant other, who is suffering as a result; "I feel her, I hear her weakly scream," expresses this, and he fears loosing her. It seems like she has tolerated this situation in silence and he finally comes to realize that after falling time after time, there will be a last chance at redemption, and after that point, there may never next time be. The final verse is where the speaker puts his foot down and refuses to be a victim of his impulses. At this point in the video, all hell breaks loose as "he" struggles to fight the temptations, but in the end, returns to the embrace of his significant other.
This song is about the speaker commenting on global warming/the way in which humans are destructing the planet and drawing comparisons to an addictive and toxic relationship. There are references to the trees and the air in the first verse and then Marling explicitly talks about the world around her dying in the final verse.
The speaker is guilty on behalf of all humanity for 'closing her eyes' to the reality and knows that there will not be a 'next time' as this is the only world we have.
This album is a celebration of femininity and the 'her' referenced in this particular song is Mother Earth, whose screams are being ignored.