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"
Mary walks
Down to the water's edge
And there she hangs her head
To find herself faded
A shadow of what she once was
She said, "how long have I been sleeping?
And why do I feel so old?
Why do I feel so cold?
My heart is saying one thing
But my body won't let go"
With trembling hands, she reaches up
A stranger's flesh is offered
And I would be the last to know
I would be the last to let it show
I would be the last to go
Take her hand
She will lead you through the fire
Oh and give you back hope
And hope that you won't take too much
Respecting what is left
She cradled us
Oh, she held us in her arms
Unselfish in her suffering, she could not understand
That no one seemed to have the time
To cherish what was given
Oh, and I would be the last to know
And I would be the last to let it show
I would be the last to go
Mary walks
Oh, and I would be the last to know
And I would be the last to let it show
I would be the last to go
Down to the water's edge
And there she hangs her head
To find herself faded
A shadow of what she once was
She said, "how long have I been sleeping?
And why do I feel so old?
Why do I feel so cold?
My heart is saying one thing
But my body won't let go"
With trembling hands, she reaches up
A stranger's flesh is offered
And I would be the last to know
I would be the last to let it show
I would be the last to go
Take her hand
She will lead you through the fire
Oh and give you back hope
And hope that you won't take too much
Respecting what is left
She cradled us
Oh, she held us in her arms
Unselfish in her suffering, she could not understand
That no one seemed to have the time
To cherish what was given
Oh, and I would be the last to know
And I would be the last to let it show
I would be the last to go
Mary walks
Oh, and I would be the last to know
And I would be the last to let it show
I would be the last to go
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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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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“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
I can understand how it would sound that way, but why would she write a song about that? I just think the idea is a bit far off. I can't help but think that this song is in reference to the virgin mary, especially in the lines:
Take her hand she will lead you through the fire give you back hope and hope that you won't take too much respecting what is left she cradled us she held us in her arms unselfish in her suffering she could not understand that no one seemed to have the time to cherish what was given
And if it is indeed about the Virgin, the first line is expressing the struggle of the difficulty of bearing the son of God. I know this might sound nuts, but that's always what i've thought of this song.