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"
If you don't treat me better
Baby I'll just run away
Baby I don't know what drives you
To play all these silly games
C'mon baby
I'm much stronger than you know
Sometimes
I'm not afraid
To let it show
When will you wake up
I want you more than the stars
And the sun
But I can take only so much
Cool on your island
Is it cool on your island
I got a brand new dress babe
Could it make you want to try
I guess I didn't want to notice
The stars gone
From your eyes
C'mon baby
I'm much stronger than you know
Sometimes
I'm not afraid
To let it show
Baby I'll just run away
Baby I don't know what drives you
To play all these silly games
C'mon baby
I'm much stronger than you know
Sometimes
I'm not afraid
To let it show
When will you wake up
I want you more than the stars
And the sun
But I can take only so much
Cool on your island
Is it cool on your island
I got a brand new dress babe
Could it make you want to try
I guess I didn't want to notice
The stars gone
From your eyes
C'mon baby
I'm much stronger than you know
Sometimes
I'm not afraid
To let it show
Lyrics submitted by merchantpierce
Cool on Your Island Lyrics as written by Tori Ellen Amos Jeffrey Kim Bullard
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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the solo version is good for mellow times of sadness when you're mourning over what things have come to, whereas the yktr version is good for more upbeat times[and yes, the islandy vibe of that version is awesome!!]...those times when you're determined to just leave it all behind.
"from what i gather its about someone who is being mistreated in a relationship, maybe from the other party not commiting or not giving emotional support,"
I agree with you, Gem. that's exactly what i feel about this song.
emotionally distant people are definitely islands... sometimes you have to wonder how warm it really is on those pieces of lonely land out in the middle of the ocean. for anyone trying to reach a person like that, it definitely takes something out of you when you realize the person can't be reached at all...and it hurts to know they don't want to be reached.
"it doesn't take a lot of courage to be icy, stand-offish,"
very well said, eeriemily.