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"
Dear Mavis I'm compelled to write this letter
In the hope that you may soon be getting better
I've a feeling you should go and see a doctor
If you haven't then you know you really oughta
I was worried so I went to see the vicar
But before I could confess he first confessed to be a stripper
Dear Mavis it was very strange to see him
So I thought I'd write and ask you your opinion
Should I grass on him, report him to the Cardinal?
Or whether I should egg him on to turn professional?
If I dob on him they'll call him plastic scouser
But the only thing the Stripper Vicar wears is plastic trousers
Mavis's opinion, all we really seek
Mavis's opinion, all we, should we
Lie while he's still alive?
Should we lie while he's still alive?
Cause when the vicar strips he gets away with it
Dear Mavis thought I'd follow up my letter
Drop a line about the fate of our poor vicar
Very tragically his time on Earth has ended
Found him gagged and bound in stockings and suspenders
Dear Mavis if you tell us what you're thoughts are
And I hope that they're not biased 'cause you are the vicar's daughter
Mavis's opinion,all we really seek
Mavis's opinion, all we, should we
Lie now that he has died?
Should we lie now that he has died?
Cause when the vicar strips he gets away with it
And we know that he's a vicar and by night a part time stripper
And the vicar got suspended in his stockings and suspenders
And he's making wine from water while he dresses like his daughter
And we know that he's a rip off 'cause we've seen him with his kit off
Should we lie now that he has died?
Should we lie now that he has died?
Cause when the vicar strips he gets away with it, oh shit!
In the hope that you may soon be getting better
I've a feeling you should go and see a doctor
If you haven't then you know you really oughta
I was worried so I went to see the vicar
But before I could confess he first confessed to be a stripper
Dear Mavis it was very strange to see him
So I thought I'd write and ask you your opinion
Should I grass on him, report him to the Cardinal?
Or whether I should egg him on to turn professional?
If I dob on him they'll call him plastic scouser
But the only thing the Stripper Vicar wears is plastic trousers
Mavis's opinion, all we really seek
Mavis's opinion, all we, should we
Lie while he's still alive?
Should we lie while he's still alive?
Cause when the vicar strips he gets away with it
Dear Mavis thought I'd follow up my letter
Drop a line about the fate of our poor vicar
Very tragically his time on Earth has ended
Found him gagged and bound in stockings and suspenders
Dear Mavis if you tell us what you're thoughts are
And I hope that they're not biased 'cause you are the vicar's daughter
Mavis's opinion,all we really seek
Mavis's opinion, all we, should we
Lie now that he has died?
Should we lie now that he has died?
Cause when the vicar strips he gets away with it
And we know that he's a vicar and by night a part time stripper
And the vicar got suspended in his stockings and suspenders
And he's making wine from water while he dresses like his daughter
And we know that he's a rip off 'cause we've seen him with his kit off
Should we lie now that he has died?
Should we lie now that he has died?
Cause when the vicar strips he gets away with it, oh shit!
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this song is the shit... i hope somebody starts commenting on these mansun songs, because mansun is seriously amazing... i love their music... it's so energetic, but it still reflects some social unrest... it doesn't pretend that everything is all good, but it's still happy about life. i like that.
not a great fan of mansun but a fan of this song
Well, what can i say about the lads from Chester!!! Saw them way back in 1996 in Leeds in a gig that coined the phrase "Stop throwing shoes on stage!". This song is fantastic live .... just like all Mansun material (what you hear on the vinyl / cd is what you get at a gig).
brilliant lyrics,brilliant song,brilliant band.
Very funny song but I think that it has a serious side about people in positions of respect or power and the moral dilema of whether to let people know what they really get up to when they think nobody is watching.
I love this song!
one of the best songs ever written, by one of the best bands ever to exist. so melodic yet it hints at this weird deeper menace.
What an amazing song. The meaning is pretty damn obvious, but wow...
basically, I'll echo what paul_banks said. "melodic yet it hints at this weird deeper menace". Well put.