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 missed your twenty-first birthday, I've been up at home
Almost tried to call you, don't know if I should
Hate to picture you half-drunk happy
Hate to think you went out without me
I'm sorry if you blame me, if I were you, I would
Thought you'd see it comin', but you never could
I still haven't heard from your family
But you said your mom always loved me
Sometimes I go blurry-eyed
Small talk and you tell me that you're on fire
Lights on and it's black and white
I couldn't stay forever
I see the look in your eye and I'm bitin' my tongue
You'll be the love of my life when I was young
When the night is over
Don't call me up, I'm already under
I get a little bit alone sometimes and I miss you again
I'll be the love of your life inside your head
When the night is over
Don't call me up, I'm already under
Audrey said she saw you out past twelve o'clock
Just because you're hurtin' doesn't mean I'm not
If it doesn't go away by the time I turn thirty
I made a mistake and I'll tell you I'm sorry, "Sorry"
Sometimes I go blurry-eyed
Small talk and you tell me that you're on fire
Lights on and it's black and white
I couldn't stay forever
I see the look in your eye and I'm bitin' my tongue
You'll be the love of my life when I was young
When the night is over
Don't call me up, I'm already under
I get a little bit alone sometimes and I miss you again
I'll be the love of your life inside your head
When the night is over
Don't call me up, I'm already under
Almost tried to call you, don't know if I should
Hate to picture you half-drunk happy
Hate to think you went out without me
I'm sorry if you blame me, if I were you, I would
Thought you'd see it comin', but you never could
I still haven't heard from your family
But you said your mom always loved me
Sometimes I go blurry-eyed
Small talk and you tell me that you're on fire
Lights on and it's black and white
I couldn't stay forever
I see the look in your eye and I'm bitin' my tongue
You'll be the love of my life when I was young
When the night is over
Don't call me up, I'm already under
I get a little bit alone sometimes and I miss you again
I'll be the love of your life inside your head
When the night is over
Don't call me up, I'm already under
Audrey said she saw you out past twelve o'clock
Just because you're hurtin' doesn't mean I'm not
If it doesn't go away by the time I turn thirty
I made a mistake and I'll tell you I'm sorry, "Sorry"
Sometimes I go blurry-eyed
Small talk and you tell me that you're on fire
Lights on and it's black and white
I couldn't stay forever
I see the look in your eye and I'm bitin' my tongue
You'll be the love of my life when I was young
When the night is over
Don't call me up, I'm already under
I get a little bit alone sometimes and I miss you again
I'll be the love of your life inside your head
When the night is over
Don't call me up, I'm already under
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
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.