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"
This girl I know needs some shelter
She don't believe anyone can help her
She's doing so much harm, doing so much damage
But you don't want to get involved
You tell her she can manage
And you can't change the way she feels
But you could put your arms around her
I know you want to live yourself
But could you forgive yourself
If you left her just the way
You found her
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
You're a boy and I'm a girl
But you know you can lean on me
And I don't have no fear
I'll take on any man here
Who says that's not the way it should be
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
She's a girl and you're a boy
Sometimes you look so small, look so small
You've got a baby of your own
When your baby's grown, she'll be the one
To catch you when you fall
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
You're a girl and I'm a boy
You're a girl and I'm a boy, yeah
You're a girl and I'm a boy
You're a girl and I'm a boy
Sometimes you look so small, need some shelter
Just runnin' round and round, Helter Skelter
And I've leaned on you for years
Now you can lean on me
And that's more than love, that's the way
It should be
Now I can't change the way you think
But I could put my arms around you
That's just part of the deal
That's the way I feel
I put my arms around you
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
You're a boy and I'm a girl
You're a boy and I'm a girl, hey
You're a boy and I'm a girl
You're a boy and I'm a girl, yeah
She don't believe anyone can help her
She's doing so much harm, doing so much damage
But you don't want to get involved
You tell her she can manage
And you can't change the way she feels
But you could put your arms around her
I know you want to live yourself
But could you forgive yourself
If you left her just the way
You found her
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
You're a boy and I'm a girl
But you know you can lean on me
And I don't have no fear
I'll take on any man here
Who says that's not the way it should be
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
She's a girl and you're a boy
Sometimes you look so small, look so small
You've got a baby of your own
When your baby's grown, she'll be the one
To catch you when you fall
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
You're a girl and I'm a boy
You're a girl and I'm a boy, yeah
You're a girl and I'm a boy
You're a girl and I'm a boy
Sometimes you look so small, need some shelter
Just runnin' round and round, Helter Skelter
And I've leaned on you for years
Now you can lean on me
And that's more than love, that's the way
It should be
Now I can't change the way you think
But I could put my arms around you
That's just part of the deal
That's the way I feel
I put my arms around you
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
I stand in front of you
I'll take the force of the blow
Protection
You're a boy and I'm a girl
You're a boy and I'm a girl, hey
You're a boy and I'm a girl
You're a boy and I'm a girl, yeah
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Man, this song just owns.
I agree, I really hear a girl singing to a boy about herself in the third person. Maybe she's in love with the guy, but maybe there's just a bond that supersedes mere friendship but doesn't quite fit as romantic love - maybe it's the kind of thing that COULD be romantic love in a different context, but isn't now and maybe doesn't ever need to be.
By the way, it's:
"You've got a baby of your own When your baby's GONE, she'll be the one To catch you when you fall"
The implication being, it's not literally a BABY she's referring to, but a romantic attachment. It really doesn't make a lot of sense that she's referring to an actual baby, if you think about it in context with that whole verse. When your infant's grown, she'll catch you when you fall? What?? In other words, the guy has himself a girl (a colloquial "baby"), but the singer knows he's just going to end up getting hurt, and will therefore get his back when he needs it. It also is again implying what could be a romantic thing, or just a "mere" uber-friendship.
i couldnt agree with you more. this song evokes all type of feelings about me and my male friend. sigh.
What they mean by "when your baby is grown, she'll be the one to catch you when you fall" is that we take care of our children but when our children our grown they will be the ones we can lean on, that take care of us, that "catch us when we fall" ????❤????