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"
Paradise
Whatcha doin' tonight? (Whatcha doin', whatcha doin')
Have you heard that the world's gone crazy?
Young Americans listen when I say
There's people puttin' us down
I know they're sayin' that we've gone lazy
To tell you the truth we've all seen better days
Don't need no fast buck lame duck profits for fun
Quick trick plans, take the money and run
We need long term, slow burn, getting it done
And some straight talking, hard working son of a gun
So whatcha doin' tonight (whatcha doin', whatcha doin')
I got faith in our generation
Let's stick together and futurize our attitudes
I ain't lookin' to fight
But I know with determination
We can challenge the schemers who cheat all the rules
Come on take pride, be wise, spottin' the fools
Big shots, crackpots bending the rules
A fair shot here for me and for you
Knowing that we can't lose
And we'll be rockin' in paradise
Rockin' the paradise tonight
Rockin' in paradise
Rockin' the paradise tonight
Tonight, tonight
Come on take pride, be wise, spottin' the fools
Big shots, crackpots bending the rules
A fair shot here for me and for you
Knowing that we can't lose
And we'll be rockin' in paradise
Rockin' the paradise tonight (you know we're rocking in paradise)
Rockin' in paradise (you know we're rocking tonight)
Rockin' the paradise tonight (yeah we gnona rock)
Rockin' in paradise (rock, rock, rock, rock, in paradise)
Rockin' the paradise tonight
Rockin' in paradise
Rockin' the paradise tonight (come on, come on)
Whatcha doin' tonight? (Whatcha doin', whatcha doin')
Have you heard that the world's gone crazy?
Young Americans listen when I say
There's people puttin' us down
I know they're sayin' that we've gone lazy
To tell you the truth we've all seen better days
Don't need no fast buck lame duck profits for fun
Quick trick plans, take the money and run
We need long term, slow burn, getting it done
And some straight talking, hard working son of a gun
So whatcha doin' tonight (whatcha doin', whatcha doin')
I got faith in our generation
Let's stick together and futurize our attitudes
I ain't lookin' to fight
But I know with determination
We can challenge the schemers who cheat all the rules
Come on take pride, be wise, spottin' the fools
Big shots, crackpots bending the rules
A fair shot here for me and for you
Knowing that we can't lose
And we'll be rockin' in paradise
Rockin' the paradise tonight
Rockin' in paradise
Rockin' the paradise tonight
Tonight, tonight
Come on take pride, be wise, spottin' the fools
Big shots, crackpots bending the rules
A fair shot here for me and for you
Knowing that we can't lose
And we'll be rockin' in paradise
Rockin' the paradise tonight (you know we're rocking in paradise)
Rockin' in paradise (you know we're rocking tonight)
Rockin' the paradise tonight (yeah we gnona rock)
Rockin' in paradise (rock, rock, rock, rock, in paradise)
Rockin' the paradise tonight
Rockin' in paradise
Rockin' the paradise tonight (come on, come on)
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The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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Little Feat
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
I think this song is sorta like the who's My Generation, except with more energy, and a a deeper connection to the problems that were/actually still are around in the world. He's basically saying that everyone's calling his (the young) generation lazy, and he is saying back that his generation can (if motivated) band together and make the world a better place by standing up to the negative and immoral figures in society. Kinda weird how this song was written in 1978 and all the stuff it's about still applies today!