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"
Written by Tommy Shaw
Lead Vocals by Tommy Shaw
I'm tired of your psychology
To bring me to my bended knees
And if I could only talk to you
I'm sure that I could make you see
'Cause time has a way
Of bringing even mountains down, down, down
Storm clouds are coming
I suggest you head for higher ground
I say you're a thing of the past
And you ain't gonna last
No matter what you say or do
It's all caught up to you
You're duty-free, you're tax-exempt
You party with the President
And you dance the dance so naturally
Why not believe you're heaven-sent
But time has a way of bringing
Even mountains down, down, down
There's a storm cloud a-comin'
I insist you head for higher ground
You talk talk and you get so intense
That you almost make sense
And that's what scares me the most
You as the host of Celebrity Lies
It's prime time, baby
Can't you see in my eyes, it's a
Cold war-runnin' in the streets
Everybody you meet knows
It's going down, don't you know
Cold war-blowing in the air
Everyone everywhere says it's time
To get ready for a cold war
Don't you look now
But the skinny boy's becoming a man
You say it's the luck of the draw
And you can't have it all
And I'll die young trying to make it
Into something that ain't gonna last
You ought to reconsider
'Cause I'm coming fast with a
Cold war-running in the streets
Everybody you meet
Know's it's going down, don't you know
Cold war-blood is in the air
Everyone everywhere says it's time
To get ready for a cold war-looking at me
From behind every tree
There's a scared man running from a
Cold war-don't you look now
But the skinny boy's a streetfighting man
[extra verses sung in concert during the Kilroy tour:]
Try as you will, you can't escape the chill
that penetrates your clothing,
demanding that you feel
all the trouble that surrounds you,
the bad mixed with the good,
the heartless bits of data waiting to be understood
Information Central promptly processed your request,
the task we're told honestly requires you acquiesce.
Well, blind faith put you where you are now
You're a selfish old cow gettin' high on society's milk.
We pay your bills, life should be so tough.
You'd better watch your fat ass, 'cause we've had enough!
Lead Vocals by Tommy Shaw
I'm tired of your psychology
To bring me to my bended knees
And if I could only talk to you
I'm sure that I could make you see
'Cause time has a way
Of bringing even mountains down, down, down
Storm clouds are coming
I suggest you head for higher ground
I say you're a thing of the past
And you ain't gonna last
No matter what you say or do
It's all caught up to you
You're duty-free, you're tax-exempt
You party with the President
And you dance the dance so naturally
Why not believe you're heaven-sent
But time has a way of bringing
Even mountains down, down, down
There's a storm cloud a-comin'
I insist you head for higher ground
You talk talk and you get so intense
That you almost make sense
And that's what scares me the most
You as the host of Celebrity Lies
It's prime time, baby
Can't you see in my eyes, it's a
Cold war-runnin' in the streets
Everybody you meet knows
It's going down, don't you know
Cold war-blowing in the air
Everyone everywhere says it's time
To get ready for a cold war
Don't you look now
But the skinny boy's becoming a man
You say it's the luck of the draw
And you can't have it all
And I'll die young trying to make it
Into something that ain't gonna last
You ought to reconsider
'Cause I'm coming fast with a
Cold war-running in the streets
Everybody you meet
Know's it's going down, don't you know
Cold war-blood is in the air
Everyone everywhere says it's time
To get ready for a cold war-looking at me
From behind every tree
There's a scared man running from a
Cold war-don't you look now
But the skinny boy's a streetfighting man
[extra verses sung in concert during the Kilroy tour:]
Try as you will, you can't escape the chill
that penetrates your clothing,
demanding that you feel
all the trouble that surrounds you,
the bad mixed with the good,
the heartless bits of data waiting to be understood
Information Central promptly processed your request,
the task we're told honestly requires you acquiesce.
Well, blind faith put you where you are now
You're a selfish old cow gettin' high on society's milk.
We pay your bills, life should be so tough.
You'd better watch your fat ass, 'cause we've had enough!
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