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"
Mummy can't drive
There's too much inside
Come with me darling
She said, come with me darling
Mummy can't drive [Repeat x2]
She's been out all night
She can't see the stars
See the light
See the street
See the sky
See anything
Granny's crying
Grandpa's crying
Mummy can't drive(let me go, let me go)[Repeat x2]
She's been out all night
No, no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
She can't drive
Hey, stamp the sunshine out [Repeat x2]
"Hey, little boy", the sun cries out
Granny's crying(come with me darling)
Grandpa's crying(come with me darling)
Granny's crying(come with me darling)
Grandpa's crying(come with me darling)
Because mummy can't drive(let me go, let me go)
Mummy can't drive(let me go, let me go)[Repeat x4]
We've got to get out to survive(get out to survive)[Repeat x2]
You know mummy can't drive
Mummy can't drive [Repeat x3]
She's got a pistol on the side(she's got a pistol on the side)
You know mummy can't drive
Mummy can't drive [Repeat x5]
There's too much inside
Come with me darling
She said, come with me darling
Mummy can't drive [Repeat x2]
She's been out all night
She can't see the stars
See the light
See the street
See the sky
See anything
Granny's crying
Grandpa's crying
Mummy can't drive(let me go, let me go)[Repeat x2]
She's been out all night
No, no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
She can't drive
Hey, stamp the sunshine out [Repeat x2]
"Hey, little boy", the sun cries out
Granny's crying(come with me darling)
Grandpa's crying(come with me darling)
Granny's crying(come with me darling)
Grandpa's crying(come with me darling)
Because mummy can't drive(let me go, let me go)
Mummy can't drive(let me go, let me go)[Repeat x4]
We've got to get out to survive(get out to survive)[Repeat x2]
You know mummy can't drive
Mummy can't drive [Repeat x3]
She's got a pistol on the side(she's got a pistol on the side)
You know mummy can't drive
Mummy can't drive [Repeat x5]
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The Night We Met
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Mountain Song
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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.
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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,
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A great song, I love how they use ambiguity by picturing an example of driving to convey the problem of drinking
There's too much inside
I agree with casper2095, on one hand it tells us she's drunk too much but I also think it lets us see the world from her point of view - she has so many problems that it is impossibly hard for her to stop drinking now
Come with me darling She said, come with me darling
Another ambiguity example - on one hand she wants her child to get into the car and go somewhere with her (I'll get to that later) but on the deeper level she introduces a child custody dispute as casper2095 has said. I think it also might mean she wants her child to understand her problem, that it's not so easy to stop drinking (depending on how old the child is)
She can't see the stars See the light See the street See the sky See anything
Literally it means she can't see properly when driving because of being drunk but when given more thought in my opinion each of these things she can't see tells us something different about her: stars - that tells us she can't see the beauty of life thus giving in to her alcoholic problem light - tells us she has no hope for the future which is later reinforced by the inability to see 'street' - when I hear 'street' in this case I think of a mother looking out the window at children playing. I think these two tell us she can't see a possible future where her and her child are happy together sky - that might also mean beauty of life but I think it also could mean she doesn't know her limit when it comes to alcohol (you know, sky is the limit) anything - a conclusion of all of the above and also reinforced how clouded the mind of a person addicted to alcohol, or actually anything, can be
Granny's crying Grandpa's crying
pretty straightforward but I just felt like reinforcing how tragic the situation must be from their point of view - an emotional fight between their love for their daughter and their grandchild - they can't really satisfy one of them without hurting another. if they take away the child from the mother she will start hating them but if they don't do anything about mother's problem it will lead to growing up of their grandchild in terrible conditions which is also shown by: 'Hey, stamp the sunshine out' I also like how the background singing ('let me go' and 'come with me darling' verses) can apply to both mother and child. First of all literally it reaches back to the idea of mother wanting to take her child for a ride but if we look at the situation from mother's point of view 'let me go' could mean that the battle between her addiction and what's good for everybody has been won by alcohol. 'Come with me darling' in this case could show Granny and Grandpa still believing it's not too late and trying to convince her daughter to stop drinking. However, if we apply these two to the child, 'let me go' could mean that her child wants to escape from the mother's problem by going to live with his (presumably) grandparents. 'Come with me darling' in this case would mean the mother still loves her child and begs him to go along with her.
We've got to get out to survive(get out to survive)(2x)
On the literal level it goes back to the idea of the mother wanting her child to go for a ride with her and the realization that this is physically dangerous but obviously that's not the main point. Again, this applies to all of the involved characters - if the mother's addiction isn't somehow stopped it will eventually lead to metaphorical death of her child (living in a broken home), herself (either literally death or seeing herself ruining her son's life) and the grandparents (basically seeing people they love being hurt so much) It perfectly shows how tragic this situation is and is further reinforced by:
She's got a pistol on the side(she's got a pistol on the side)
I think it refers to the mother having suicidal thoughts because of her situation.
It's a great song and sadly many people, including me, can relate to this problem. Another beauty of such songs is that they can be pretty personal so everyone can react to them in a different way, this is my interpretation but I'm sure there are many more