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 am on a lonely road and
I am traveling, traveling, traveling, traveling
Looking for something, what can it be?
Oh, I hate you some, I hate you some, I love you some
Oh, I love you when I forget about me
I wanna be strong, I wanna laugh along
I wanna belong to the living
Alive, alive, I want to get up and jive
I want to wreck my stockings in some jukebox dive
Do you want, do you want, do you wanna dance with me baby?
Do you wanna take a chance on
Maybe finding some sweet romance with me, baby? Well come on
All I really, really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you too
All I really, really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you
I wanna talk to you, I wanna shampoo you
Wanna renew you again and again
Applause, applause, life is our cause
When I think of your kisses my mind see-saws
Do you see, do you see, do you see how you hurt me, baby?
So I hurt you too
Then we both get so blue
I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Looking for the key to set me free
Oh the jealousy
The greed is the unraveling it's the unraveling
And it undoes all the joy that could be
I wanna have fun, I wanna shine like the sun
Wanna be the one that you want to see
I wanna knit you a sweater
I wanna write you a love letter
I wanna make you feel better
I wanna make you feel free, hmm hm hmm hm
Wanna make you feel all free
I wanna make you feel free
I am traveling, traveling, traveling, traveling
Looking for something, what can it be?
Oh, I hate you some, I hate you some, I love you some
Oh, I love you when I forget about me
I wanna be strong, I wanna laugh along
I wanna belong to the living
Alive, alive, I want to get up and jive
I want to wreck my stockings in some jukebox dive
Do you want, do you want, do you wanna dance with me baby?
Do you wanna take a chance on
Maybe finding some sweet romance with me, baby? Well come on
All I really, really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you too
All I really, really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you
I wanna talk to you, I wanna shampoo you
Wanna renew you again and again
Applause, applause, life is our cause
When I think of your kisses my mind see-saws
Do you see, do you see, do you see how you hurt me, baby?
So I hurt you too
Then we both get so blue
I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Looking for the key to set me free
Oh the jealousy
The greed is the unraveling it's the unraveling
And it undoes all the joy that could be
I wanna have fun, I wanna shine like the sun
Wanna be the one that you want to see
I wanna knit you a sweater
I wanna write you a love letter
I wanna make you feel better
I wanna make you feel free, hmm hm hmm hm
Wanna make you feel all free
I wanna make you feel free
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
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
as 2 people have said but everyone else seems to have missed: this song is NOT about a perfect love, it's about a love that is hurt by jealousy and greed and by people hurting each other. all the stuff about knitting sweaters and making each other feel free is what she is WISHing for, not what she has.
I think you guys are missing a very important element of this song. Yes, it's about happiness, and yes it's about "perfect" love, but it's about striving for both of those things in an unhappy, imperfect relationship. It sounds like the relationship she is in is not how it used to be. They hurt each other, and she wants it to get back to how it used to be. She loves him so much that her "mind see-saws" but it's to the point that she feels that "I love you when I forget about me." She can only love him if she forgets how awful he makes her feel sometimes and vice versa. She just wants it to be a happy, healthy relationship again.
This song reminds me of when you are head over heals for a guy and all you want is just the company of him. Its one of my favorite Joni Songs
Joni's voice on this song is so bare, young, and truthfull that it elevates my mood anytime or anywhere i hear it.
This song is about a woman who's been hurt by someone she was once in love with. She still loves that person but has resentment towards them; for something they did, probably cheating. She says "i hate you some .... I love you some.. I love you when I forget about me" meaning she hates them for what they did to her, but when she's not thinking of her own feelings she's able to feel that love for them again. The happy parts about dancing in a juke box dive may be reminiscent of their past together- before things went south. "When I kiss you my mind see-saws" refers to the internal struggle she has with the love/hate feelings. She asks "do you see how you hurt me?" And she hurt them too, meaning she probably tried to make her love jealous by hooking up with someone else- but that just hurt them both more. She talks about all the things she wants - love and being good to one another, she wants the good times back. When she says the jealousy and greed are unraveling, she's saying that she's letting her guard down in hopes of making her love as well as herself happy again . She's on a lonely road and she's traveling because she basically doesn't know what to do. She's torn between her heart and fear of being hurt again.
^i love this song, I interpreted the song this way because I can relate. Maybe I'm wrong but it makes sense to m
All I want - being happ - that's all we want isn't it? ANd Joni's so happy she's "wrecked her stockings in some juke box jive" and she doesn't give a damn, in fact it's great! Her head is so full of him her mind "see saws" - who hasn't been there?
All I want - being happy - that's all we want isn't it? ANd Joni's so happy she's "wrecked her stockings in some juke box jive" and she doesn't give a damn, in fact it's great! Her head is so full of him her mind "see saws" - who hasn't been there?
This is such a great song. I'm a huge Joni Mitchell fan. I love when she says, "I want to shampoo you." That's gold.
@I wax poetic <br /> <br /> I was gonna comment the same. It's really simple but effective imagery, erotic yet, more-so, nurturing and loving, which can be a hard thing to combine convincingly in one sentence.
The bit when Joni sings "All i really want our love to do/is to bring out the best in me and in you to" is utterly poignant. Can anyone else tell me of a better reason or explanation for love? "i want to make you feel free" echos a similiar sentiment. i guess Joni is saying that if you have (her) love, you are free from all fears and insecurities, you feel like nothing is insurmountable or restrictive and you can just soar. With such a one at your side, all else seems trivial. Gorgeous.
Joni expresses so humanly what it's like to really be in love... I know I can totally relate to the exhuberance of this song.... just to be totally wrapped up in someone. The last verse is just classic... it's so poignant and yet slightly ironic and ridiculous! Bless her..