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"
Ever seen a blind man cross the road
Trying to make the other side
Ever seen a young girl growing old
Trying to make herself a bride
So what becomes of you my love
When they have finally stripped you of
The handbags and the gladrags
That your Granddad had to sweat so you could buy
Baby
Once I was a young man
And all I thought I had to do was smile
You are still a young girl
And you bought everything in style
Listen
But once you think you're in you're out
'Cause you don't mean a single thing without
The handbags and the gladrags
That your Granddad had to sweat so you could buy
Sing a song of six-pence for your sake
And take a bottle full of rye
Four and twenty blackbirds in a cake
And bake them all in a pie
They told me you missed school today
So what I suggest you just throw them all away
The handbags and the gladrags
That your poor old Granddad had to sweat to buy
They told me you missed school today
So I suggest you just throw them all away
The handbags and the gladrags
That your poor old Granddad had to sweat to buy ya
Trying to make the other side
Ever seen a young girl growing old
Trying to make herself a bride
So what becomes of you my love
When they have finally stripped you of
The handbags and the gladrags
That your Granddad had to sweat so you could buy
Baby
Once I was a young man
And all I thought I had to do was smile
You are still a young girl
And you bought everything in style
Listen
But once you think you're in you're out
'Cause you don't mean a single thing without
The handbags and the gladrags
That your Granddad had to sweat so you could buy
Sing a song of six-pence for your sake
And take a bottle full of rye
Four and twenty blackbirds in a cake
And bake them all in a pie
They told me you missed school today
So what I suggest you just throw them all away
The handbags and the gladrags
That your poor old Granddad had to sweat to buy
They told me you missed school today
So I suggest you just throw them all away
The handbags and the gladrags
That your poor old Granddad had to sweat to buy ya
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
Handbags & Gladrags Lyrics as written by Michael D'abo
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The song was written by Mike d'Abo and was first released as a single in 1967 by Chris Farlowe.
Rod's version was arranged by Mike d'Abo, who also played the piano on the recording.
i'd have to say that the unblugged is slightly better than the studio version, still can be much gr8er for having the advantage of being performed on stage and with a refined arrangements
great song. unplugged version is better.
great song, but i think i like the stereophonics version better ♥