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"
(Three, four)
Instant karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You better get yourself together
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead
What in the world you thinking of
Laughing in the face of love?
What on earth you tryna do?
It's up to you, yeah, you
Instant karma's gonna get you
Gonna look you right in the face
Better get yourself together, darlin'
Join the human race
How in the world you gonna see
Laughin' at fools like me?
Who in the hell d'you think you are?
A super star?
Well, right you are
Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well, we all shine on
Everyone come on
Instant karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you off your feet
Better recognize your brothers
Everyone you meet
Why in the world are we here?
Surely not to live in pain and fear?
Why on earth are you there
When you're everywhere?
Come and get your share
Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah, we all shine on
Come on and on and on, on, on
Yeah, yeah, alright, uh-huh, ah
Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah, we all shine on
On and on and on, on and on
Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well, we all shine on
And the moon and the stars and the sun
Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Instant karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You better get yourself together
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead
What in the world you thinking of
Laughing in the face of love?
What on earth you tryna do?
It's up to you, yeah, you
Instant karma's gonna get you
Gonna look you right in the face
Better get yourself together, darlin'
Join the human race
How in the world you gonna see
Laughin' at fools like me?
Who in the hell d'you think you are?
A super star?
Well, right you are
Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well, we all shine on
Everyone come on
Instant karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you off your feet
Better recognize your brothers
Everyone you meet
Why in the world are we here?
Surely not to live in pain and fear?
Why on earth are you there
When you're everywhere?
Come and get your share
Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah, we all shine on
Come on and on and on, on, on
Yeah, yeah, alright, uh-huh, ah
Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah, we all shine on
On and on and on, on and on
Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well, we all shine on
And the moon and the stars and the sun
Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
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Instant Karma, as i read it, is a tounge-in-cheek 'salute' to narcissistic, self-centered people who screw over and belittle the decent, those with integrity... and this song says, you're no better than the rest of it, you know, we know it, you are what you do, so go ahead.. but when you do good, it feels good.. instantly. so shine on