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"
I got sunshine in my stomach
Like I just rocked my baby to sleep
I got sunshine in my stomach
But I can't keep me from creeping sleep
Sleep, deep in the deep
Rockface moves to press my skin
White liquid turn sour within
Turn fast, turn sour
Turn sweat, turn sour
Must tell myself that I'm not here
I'm drowning in a liquid fear
Bottled in a strong compression
My distortion shows obsession
In the cave
Get me out of this cave
If I keep my self-control
I'll be safe in my soul
And the childhood belief
Brings a moment's relief
But my cynic soon returns
And the lifeboat burns
My spirit just never learns
Stalactites, stalagmites
Shut me in, lock me tight
Lips are dry, throat is dry
Feel like burning, stomach churning
I'm dressed up in a white costume
Padding out leftover room
Body stretching, feel the wrenching
In the cage
Get me out of the cage
In the glare of a light
I see a strange kind of sight
Of cages joined to form a star
Each person can't go very far
All tied to their things
They're netted by their strings
Free to flutter in memories of their wasted wings
Outside the cage I see my Brother John
He turns his head so slowly round
I cry out "Help!"
Before he can be gone
And he looks at me without a sound
And I shout out "John please help me!"
But he does not even want to try to speak
I'm helpless in my violent rage
And a silent tear of blood dribbles down his cheek
And I watch him turn away and leave the cage
My little runaway
(Raindrops keep failing on my head, they keep falling on my)
(Raindrops keep failing on my head, they keep falling on my)
(Raindrops keep failing on my head, they keep falling on my)
In a trap, feel a strap
Holding still
Pinned for kill
Chances narrow that I'll make it
In the cushioned straight-jacket
Just like 22nd Street
They got me by my neck and feet
Pressures building, can't take more
My headaches charge, ear aches roar
In this pain
Get me out of this pain
If I could change to liquid
I could fill the cracks up in the rocks
I know that I am solid
And I am my own bad luck
Outside John disappears, and my cage dissolves
Without any reason my body revolves
Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Turning around
Just spinning around
(Round, round, round, round)
Like I just rocked my baby to sleep
I got sunshine in my stomach
But I can't keep me from creeping sleep
Sleep, deep in the deep
Rockface moves to press my skin
White liquid turn sour within
Turn fast, turn sour
Turn sweat, turn sour
Must tell myself that I'm not here
I'm drowning in a liquid fear
Bottled in a strong compression
My distortion shows obsession
In the cave
Get me out of this cave
If I keep my self-control
I'll be safe in my soul
And the childhood belief
Brings a moment's relief
But my cynic soon returns
And the lifeboat burns
My spirit just never learns
Stalactites, stalagmites
Shut me in, lock me tight
Lips are dry, throat is dry
Feel like burning, stomach churning
I'm dressed up in a white costume
Padding out leftover room
Body stretching, feel the wrenching
In the cage
Get me out of the cage
In the glare of a light
I see a strange kind of sight
Of cages joined to form a star
Each person can't go very far
All tied to their things
They're netted by their strings
Free to flutter in memories of their wasted wings
Outside the cage I see my Brother John
He turns his head so slowly round
I cry out "Help!"
Before he can be gone
And he looks at me without a sound
And I shout out "John please help me!"
But he does not even want to try to speak
I'm helpless in my violent rage
And a silent tear of blood dribbles down his cheek
And I watch him turn away and leave the cage
My little runaway
(Raindrops keep failing on my head, they keep falling on my)
(Raindrops keep failing on my head, they keep falling on my)
(Raindrops keep failing on my head, they keep falling on my)
In a trap, feel a strap
Holding still
Pinned for kill
Chances narrow that I'll make it
In the cushioned straight-jacket
Just like 22nd Street
They got me by my neck and feet
Pressures building, can't take more
My headaches charge, ear aches roar
In this pain
Get me out of this pain
If I could change to liquid
I could fill the cracks up in the rocks
I know that I am solid
And I am my own bad luck
Outside John disappears, and my cage dissolves
Without any reason my body revolves
Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Turning around
Just spinning around
(Round, round, round, round)
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae
In the Cage [New Stereo Mix] Lyrics as written by Michael Rutherford Anthony Banks
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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all references to the rael story throught the lamb, easiest explained (altho not in any logical way) through the story on the album sleeve. just to add something tho... while this is definately brilliant in every way, its unfair to claim peter gabriels era in anyway better to phils or even ray wilsons. a band is a band, people move about. -if u like peter u follow him etc. if i werent for the conversion over time to a more public friendly kind of music then 1987s wembley gig and the ultimate worldwide fame genesis found wouldnt've happened. anyway, by 1974 gabriel had started to dominate the band when it was always banks and rutherfords baby. if he hadnt have left then the next album would have been terrible as the members started to hate the man. u have to learn to enjoy all the songs based on what they are, not what u think they coulda been if other people were involved. there is no sense in that.
Utter tosh !