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"
You kids are the bravest
And I'll admit I doubted this enterprise
how was I wrong
Now that I have your attention
and evening kisses have the power to bring out the truth
Both close your eyes
Imagine you're standing still
Not surrounded by family and friends and pillars of salt
I hope that you've learned to ignore, detractors that cling to you
They're just nervous and don't want you to fail
But remember, a parent's advice will never be as good as (take the place of) experience
Go now live life for the first time
But don't forget to make promises about sickness and health / for richer and poorer everyday
You may not be a man yet
You may not be a woman yet
But you're smart/strong enough to know it's not the 1700s
And you can lock and open doors together
Honeymoon drive
a car so full of amazement it's amazing the wheels can roll on
We all know that it's dry out west
Nervous palms make the air wet
So do the kisses
Sweet words exchanged each passing mile
Memories made each passing line, may last forever
And I'll admit I doubted this enterprise
how was I wrong
Now that I have your attention
and evening kisses have the power to bring out the truth
Both close your eyes
Imagine you're standing still
Not surrounded by family and friends and pillars of salt
I hope that you've learned to ignore, detractors that cling to you
They're just nervous and don't want you to fail
But remember, a parent's advice will never be as good as (take the place of) experience
Go now live life for the first time
But don't forget to make promises about sickness and health / for richer and poorer everyday
You may not be a man yet
You may not be a woman yet
But you're smart/strong enough to know it's not the 1700s
And you can lock and open doors together
Honeymoon drive
a car so full of amazement it's amazing the wheels can roll on
We all know that it's dry out west
Nervous palms make the air wet
So do the kisses
Sweet words exchanged each passing mile
Memories made each passing line, may last forever
Lyrics submitted by carboncentric
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this song is about a couple and everyone said it wouldn't work when they got together, but they stuck with it and it worked. and he's saying that even if it woudln't have worked, they need to experience it for themselves "But remember, a parent's advice will never be as good as (take the place of) experience Go now live life for the first time" the line about the 1700s and locking and opening doors... i think is about sex. i may be wrong. the 1700's was a very sexually repressed time, i.e. no sex before marriage etc, and locking and opening doors... imagine a key.. and a lock.. you get the idea. just a guess
hmm, after thinking about it think the lock and open doors line is more about being able to control your own life and where you're going in it.
Well, you guys are close. The song is about two friends of mine who got married very young (he was just out of high school). I wrote and performed this at their wedding before the band really got going.
The majority of the lyrics revolve around no one (including myself) believing that their relationship - not to mention, marriage - would last. They moved West to Phoenix, where they still live today.
The "1700s" line is a direct reference to the groom's traditional southern baptist parents who didn't want to allow the bride to lift a finger when they were moving. They didn't think it proper for the woman to assert herself and frankly we all thought it was bullshit. It was just my way of telling the bride and groom that they are strong, brave kids and I was proud of them no matter what their ridiculous friends and relatives thought.
-Nathan, ENIAC