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"
Maybe life is like a ride on a freeway
Dodging bullets while you're trying to find your way
Everyone's around but no one does a damn thing
It brings me down but I won't let them
If I seem bleak
Well, you'd be correct
And if I don't speak
It's 'cause I can't disconnect
But I won't be burned up by the reflection
Of the fire in your eyes
As you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun
As you're staring at the sun
(Hey) when I ran I didn't feel like a runaway
(Hey) When I escaped I didn't feel like I got away
(Hey) There's more to living than only surviving
Maybe I'm not there but I'm still trying
Though you hear me
I don't think that you relate
My will is something
That you can't confiscate
So forgive me but I won't be frustrated
By destruction in your eyes
As you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun, whoa
(Hey) when I ran I didn't feel like a runaway
(Hey) When I escaped I didn't feel like I got away
(Hey) There's more to living than only surviving
Maybe I'm not there but I'm still trying
Though you hear me
I don't think that you relate
My will is something
That you can't confiscate
So forgive me but I won't be frustrated
By destruction in your eyes
As you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun, whoa
(Hey) maybe life is like a ride on a freeway
(Hey) dodging bullets while you're trying to find your way
(Hey) everyone's around but no one does a damn thing
It brings me down but I won't let them
If I seem bleak
Well, you'd be correct
And if I don't speak
It's 'cause I can't disconnect
But I won't be burned up by the reflection
Of the fire in your eyes
As you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun
As you're staring at the sun
Dodging bullets while you're trying to find your way
Everyone's around but no one does a damn thing
It brings me down but I won't let them
If I seem bleak
Well, you'd be correct
And if I don't speak
It's 'cause I can't disconnect
But I won't be burned up by the reflection
Of the fire in your eyes
As you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun
As you're staring at the sun
(Hey) when I ran I didn't feel like a runaway
(Hey) When I escaped I didn't feel like I got away
(Hey) There's more to living than only surviving
Maybe I'm not there but I'm still trying
Though you hear me
I don't think that you relate
My will is something
That you can't confiscate
So forgive me but I won't be frustrated
By destruction in your eyes
As you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun, whoa
(Hey) when I ran I didn't feel like a runaway
(Hey) When I escaped I didn't feel like I got away
(Hey) There's more to living than only surviving
Maybe I'm not there but I'm still trying
Though you hear me
I don't think that you relate
My will is something
That you can't confiscate
So forgive me but I won't be frustrated
By destruction in your eyes
As you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun, whoa
(Hey) maybe life is like a ride on a freeway
(Hey) dodging bullets while you're trying to find your way
(Hey) everyone's around but no one does a damn thing
It brings me down but I won't let them
If I seem bleak
Well, you'd be correct
And if I don't speak
It's 'cause I can't disconnect
But I won't be burned up by the reflection
Of the fire in your eyes
As you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun
Whoa, as you're staring at the sun
As you're staring at the sun
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Great version of a great song,
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ok this is straight from dexter from offspring.com:
The idea that I was trying to get across in Staring at the Sun is this: I know that one of the toughest things about growing up is trying to figure out who you are, and how you "fit in" to everything. And believe me, it doesn't just stop once you're grown up, either. I know that for me, I definitely felt like I didn't "fit in" in school. In fact, I hate those words: "fit in." I didn't feel comfortable trying to be a part of any one clique at school. I didn't want to just be one of the athletes, or one of the stoners, or one of the popular kids, or whatever. And I remember that a lot of kids wanted to fit in so badly, that they compromised who they were a little bit in order to be a part of one of these groups. I thought that was really sad.
The words "staring at the sun" are kind of a metaphor, or an analogy, for people that are being self-destructive, or compromising themselves. And in the song, I'm saying that I won't be a part of that. Maybe this line wraps it up the best:
But I won't be burned by the reflection Of the fire in your eyes As you're staring at the sun.
That's like me trying to say that if you're going to destroy yourself, you're not going to drag me down with you.
Does that make sense? I think it's so important for kids (or anybody) to just be who they are and not care what anyone else thinks. And that's the hardest thing to do.
ow dextah gurl
sk8erdude148, finally someone here realizes that dexter probably knows more then us about HIS songs. go u
My first impression was that it was about rebellion. The phrase "staring at the sun" is loosely connected to "Blinded By the Light" a Bruce Springsteen-penned song that Manfred Mann Earth Band made famous: "...you shouldn't look into the eyes of the sun, but mama, that's where the sun is"
Fucking ill song
this song probaly means of all the problems he goin threw,so he just tryin to get past them and tryin to create more problems -Maybe life is like a ride on a Freeway, Dodging bullets while you're trying to find your way- when he says that,he probaly means that he tryin to find a way to get threw a problem he is in.
it means that the person is trying to help people with problems and even though he sees thigns logically their irrationality means that he has to try hard not to get dragged down with them and yet he knows he was once like them
Heh, all I know is that it's a good song to frag by ;)
It rulez
scratch that last post i made.....wrong song :-/