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"
Drink up, baby, stay up all night
With the things you could do, you won't but you might
The potential you'll be that you'll never see
The promises you'll only make
Drink up with me now and forget all about
The pressure of days, do what I say
And I'll make you okay and drive them away
The images stuck in your head
People you've been before
That you don't want around anymore
They push and shove and won't bend to your will
I'll keep them still
Drink up, baby, look at the stars
I'll kiss you again, between the bars
Where I'm seeing you there, with your hands in the air
Waiting to finally be caught
Drink up one more time and I'll make you mine
Keep you apart, deep in my heart
Separate from the rest, where I like you the best
And keep the things you forgot
The people you've been before
That you don't want around anymore
They push and shove and won't bend to your will
I'll keep them still
With the things you could do, you won't but you might
The potential you'll be that you'll never see
The promises you'll only make
Drink up with me now and forget all about
The pressure of days, do what I say
And I'll make you okay and drive them away
The images stuck in your head
People you've been before
That you don't want around anymore
They push and shove and won't bend to your will
I'll keep them still
Drink up, baby, look at the stars
I'll kiss you again, between the bars
Where I'm seeing you there, with your hands in the air
Waiting to finally be caught
Drink up one more time and I'll make you mine
Keep you apart, deep in my heart
Separate from the rest, where I like you the best
And keep the things you forgot
The people you've been before
That you don't want around anymore
They push and shove and won't bend to your will
I'll keep them still
Lyrics submitted by EnjOy IncUbus
Between the Bars Lyrics as written by Steven Paul Smith
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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does anyone know what "between the bars" means?
I think "between the bars" is referring the prison cell bars.
I think prison cell bars was my original interpretation of this song, many years ago.
I've seen "between the bars" as three different things: one being jail bars, another is an actual bar (which I think fits the interpretation that the song is from the point of view a bottle), and then the bars found in music sheets.
The bars found in sheet music, IMO, fits as well since the song is a serenade. So whoever is singing is telling the other person that they will kiss them even between the bars of the song. <br /> If that makes any sense.
I think it means the bars of the girls mind. The things that block her love and happiness. The main reason I think this, is because throughout the song he is talking about her inner demons! How he can take them away. He is kissing her between the bars of the self destruction. He is breaking the barriers of her subconscious. That's just my interpretation!
I've always thought that this song was about alcoholism, and how it manages to addict people by being such a seductive escape from the stuff that they're trying to get away from. So 'between the bars' can be literal, but I think of it a little more abstractly, basically saying that at the very worst points in your life, you'll turn to your addiction because it'll take your mind off of it. It won't take you out of the cell, but it will comfort you while you wallow in it.
Really interesting that so many people think it's referring to being between bars (the place where you drink type of bar). I hadn't even considered that: I thought that it was a way of metaphorically talking about a jail cell, and how addiction comforts you while imprisoning you. I still see it that way, but the other interpretation is an interesting one, and I like it.
@pandorah85 You asked this question 16 years ago. What are your thoughts on the song and lyrics now looking back?
@pandorah85 i think this is 'between the bars' of a song. So a kiss in a pause of the song. If the woman in the song is a personification of alcohol, then this could be a swig from the bottle between bars of the song (like songwriters do).