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"
Did you never call? I waited for your call
These rivers of suggestion are driving me away
The trees will bend, the cities wash away
The city on the river there is a girl without a dream
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry
Eastern to Mountain, third party call, the lines are down
The wise man built his words upon the rocks
But I'm not bound to follow suit
The trees will bend, the conversation's dimmed
Go build yourself another home, this choice isn't mine
I'm sorry, I'm sorry
Did you never call? I waited for your call
These rivers of suggestion are driving me away
The ocean sang, the conversation's dimmed
Go build yourself another dream, this choice isn't mine
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry
These rivers of suggestion are driving me away
The trees will bend, the cities wash away
The city on the river there is a girl without a dream
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry
Eastern to Mountain, third party call, the lines are down
The wise man built his words upon the rocks
But I'm not bound to follow suit
The trees will bend, the conversation's dimmed
Go build yourself another home, this choice isn't mine
I'm sorry, I'm sorry
Did you never call? I waited for your call
These rivers of suggestion are driving me away
The ocean sang, the conversation's dimmed
Go build yourself another dream, this choice isn't mine
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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.
"'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."
American Town
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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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
driver08uk is spot on. It is about waiting for a phone call which is not coming because - unknown to the singer - a flood has washed the phone lines away so as the singer waits for the call he wonders why she is not calling and mentally pulls apart the relationship they have.
This song reeks strongly of regret, this huge chance passed and the narrator couldn't stop it from doing so. or maybe he regrets taking action on it, and quite literally feels sorry to the other for not having the guts to take the chance. on a more personal note, it just sounds so big and haunting, even for a little pop song. rem at their fucking finest.
South Central Africa is known for infrequent rain -- sorry to plant a crop that will never grow -- did not ever call the farm department for agricultural data -- building of home/dream altered due to drought.
This is the song that started it all for me with R.E.M. when it came out back in the day. :) I LOVE this song and I always will.
So...I've read these ideas and I see where you guys are coming from, but they all fail to make much sense to me. This is a song again about losing his religion...It is a song about religious oppression. He waited for God, for a calling. The rain washes into the river, leads to the sea.. Eastern to mountain...to Ararat for a third party call from Yaweh, the words placed upon the stones. Commandments which he will not follow...Nor will he follow the Muslim faith, the oppression of women, in cites along the Tigris, I suspect...Desert cities are all on rivers.. Religious oppression, the singing ocean dimming conversations....and for all of it he expresses sorrow... Pretty straight forward and ever sentence makes sense...The other versions leave large parts of the song shrouded in mystery. The Israelite home and dream, not his choice, all there. But what do I know?
A relationship that never really started but the protagonist wished had......she is going to "Go build yourself another dream, this choice isn't mine"
this is one of my five favorite songs of all time
i don't think it's about anything so specific...just about feeling guilty for things that were never in your hands to begin with...or not having the foresight to see an opportunity pass until there's no turning back...
"The wise man built his words upon the rocks But I'm not bound to follow suit " One of my favourite lyrics ever... I think the song could be about a relationship where two people want different things... he is restless and wants to live and take risks, whereas she wants to settle down - "a girl without a dream". He says I'm sorry, I love you but I've got to move on.
A man (Stipe) waiting for a phone call from a loved one, who was trying to get in touch but "the lines were down" due to the rain.