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"
Wanderin' through the back roads
And the rain comes rushin' down
To resolve your love
For this man in his twenties
Am I right? Am I wrong? Or am I just dreaming?
Climbing up the backstairs
There's a chill wind in the air
I wrap up from the cold
Pull the blind in the window
Who was here? Was it you? Or am I just dreaming?
Look at all the lonely people
Walking miles around the town
I can see the old cathedral
But I have to play it down
Boats along the river
Setting up their sails
And life carries on as normal
Although you're not around
Waiting as the bus stop
Laughing off the rain
Shaking their umbrellas
'Till it starts again
Flowers in the water
Floating off downstream
Paper in the gutter
Blowing in the breeze
Am I right? Am I wrong? Or am I just dreaming?
Look at all the lonely people
Walking miles around the town
I can see the old cathedral
But I have to play it down
Boats along the river
Setting up their sails
And life carries on as normal
Although you're not around
Waiting as the bus stop
Laughing off the rain
Shaking their umbrellas
'Till it starts again
Flowers in the water
Floating off downstream
Paper in the gutter
Blowing in the breeze
Am I right? Am I wrong? Or am I just dreaming?
Wanderin' through the back roads
And the rain comes rushin' down
To resolve your love
For this man in his twenties
Am I right? Am I wrong? Or am I just dreaming?
And the rain comes rushin' down
To resolve your love
For this man in his twenties
Am I right? Am I wrong? Or am I just dreaming?
Climbing up the backstairs
There's a chill wind in the air
I wrap up from the cold
Pull the blind in the window
Who was here? Was it you? Or am I just dreaming?
Look at all the lonely people
Walking miles around the town
I can see the old cathedral
But I have to play it down
Boats along the river
Setting up their sails
And life carries on as normal
Although you're not around
Waiting as the bus stop
Laughing off the rain
Shaking their umbrellas
'Till it starts again
Flowers in the water
Floating off downstream
Paper in the gutter
Blowing in the breeze
Am I right? Am I wrong? Or am I just dreaming?
Look at all the lonely people
Walking miles around the town
I can see the old cathedral
But I have to play it down
Boats along the river
Setting up their sails
And life carries on as normal
Although you're not around
Waiting as the bus stop
Laughing off the rain
Shaking their umbrellas
'Till it starts again
Flowers in the water
Floating off downstream
Paper in the gutter
Blowing in the breeze
Am I right? Am I wrong? Or am I just dreaming?
Wanderin' through the back roads
And the rain comes rushin' down
To resolve your love
For this man in his twenties
Am I right? Am I wrong? Or am I just dreaming?
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
A beautifully reflective moment of the chorus album.
This song is about someone who's lover is gone. Somethings in the song make me believe his lover has died, others make me believe the lover just left him.
For instance, "rain comes rushing down to resolve your love for this man" seems to me sybolizes someone cryin from above letting them know they still love them.
The "chill wind" in the air also goes with this. As if a ghostly figure is with the person still on earth. The who was here? or am I just dreaming part? Just goes to show someone is missing that he never expected back but now believes is around(somehow).
The part about the cathedral adds to the fact that his lover is gone(either way) but it could also have a double meaning since gays aren't allowed to married, at least in the UK where Andy Bell is.
I tend to believe his lover has died. The whole thing with the rain pretty much confirms that I think. Great song.
I always interpreted this as about a love interest that somehow never developed into a relationship. Something happens, and now it never will. He wanders the city in his melancholy, noticing various things, reflecting. He thinks to himself:
Am I right? (Did I really have a chance with this man). Am I wrong? (There's no way he would have been interested in me) Am I just dreaming? (Who am I kidding? It doesn't matter what he thought about me. My love for him was only in my head; I can never love anyone)
The imagery reflects the bittersweet meloncholia of the situation. Things are dark, but not exactly negative. Life goes on. Maybe it's not really a loss, because it's the loss of a possibility, and an imagined possibility at that.
Of course, this is just my interpretation, biased by my own personal experiences and situation at a time when I heard this song and finally understood how there actually were three distinct possibilities and that "just dreaming" wasn't redundant. It's quite possible I got it all wrong. Either way, though, wonderful song.