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"
Everyone's looking, everyone hides
Everyone's telling everyone lies
We're changing the subject, we're turning away
Away from the heart of it all
You say you are happy
Do you think this is fun?
Well it's only a firefly to the light of the sun
You say this is living, you feel so alive
Well you know everything dies
[Chorus]
Even my wonder, even my fear
Only amount to a couple of tears
There is a rhythm, it's near and it's far
It flows through the heart of us
Welcome to another day
It don't seem that different 'cause nothing has changed
I try to remember, try to remember
When we were just running in place
Reasons for living, never come cheap
But even your best ones can put me to sleep
What I am saying or trying to say
Is that there must be a better way
[Chorus]
It's already in you, it's already there
You may disagree, but I don't really care
Did you ever find out, did you ever find out
What's at the heart of us?
Did you ever find out
Did you ever find out what's at the heart?
Tell me all your wildest dreams
You don't really care, you don't know what they mean
Raiding in the closets, skeleton keys
You know it's easier than you think
[Chorus]
Reasons for living are all really fine,
Leaving me cold thought they're not really mine
Did you ever find out, did you ever find out
What's at the heart of us.
I don't know
I don't know
Everyone's telling everyone lies
We're changing the subject, we're turning away
Away from the heart of it all
You say you are happy
Do you think this is fun?
Well it's only a firefly to the light of the sun
You say this is living, you feel so alive
Well you know everything dies
[Chorus]
Even my wonder, even my fear
Only amount to a couple of tears
There is a rhythm, it's near and it's far
It flows through the heart of us
Welcome to another day
It don't seem that different 'cause nothing has changed
I try to remember, try to remember
When we were just running in place
Reasons for living, never come cheap
But even your best ones can put me to sleep
What I am saying or trying to say
Is that there must be a better way
[Chorus]
It's already in you, it's already there
You may disagree, but I don't really care
Did you ever find out, did you ever find out
What's at the heart of us?
Did you ever find out
Did you ever find out what's at the heart?
Tell me all your wildest dreams
You don't really care, you don't know what they mean
Raiding in the closets, skeleton keys
You know it's easier than you think
[Chorus]
Reasons for living are all really fine,
Leaving me cold thought they're not really mine
Did you ever find out, did you ever find out
What's at the heart of us.
I don't know
I don't know
Lyrics submitted by wellbutrin
Reasons for Living Lyrics as written by Duncan Sheik
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I agree with you Museicalin. . .This is another one of my favorites of Duncan's. . .Great song.