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"
Do you know where you're going
Do you know where you've been
Is it simple is it simple
The chances seemed so slim
In a cloud is it cloudy
You've clouded up again
Your perception your decision
Your decision
Behind I'm left behind
Oh, I'm left behind, I'm left behind
It's a matter of time
Your protection from ejection
My rejection
Protection from the slide
Projection from a slide
Did it all seem so easy
So easy to concede
Giving in giving in
The chances seemed so slim
In a moment just a moment
I felt you rushing in
You were rushing I am crushing
Your rush to cruise this
I'm left behind
Left behind I'm left behind
It's a matter of time
Your protection from injection
My rejection
Protection from the slide
Projection from a slide
I with your breath on my pillow
And I with the memory
I get to wait it out never put it away
When you left with your death
I felt empty when I looked back
On my pillow what you used to say
What you used to say
I...I'm left behind
I...I'm left behind
I with your breath on my pillow
I with the memory
I get to wait
It out never put it away
When you left with your death
I felt anger when I looked back
On my pillow what you used to say
What you used to say
I felt your breath for a moment
I heard your voice for a moment
Then I looked back
On my pillow what you used to say
What we used to say
That the chances seemed so slim
The chances used to be so slim
Now I swim alone
The slim
Alone
To honor and obey
To cherish and to worship
In sickness and in health
For richer for poorer for anything
Til death do us part
Do you know where you've been
Is it simple is it simple
The chances seemed so slim
In a cloud is it cloudy
You've clouded up again
Your perception your decision
Your decision
Behind I'm left behind
Oh, I'm left behind, I'm left behind
It's a matter of time
Your protection from ejection
My rejection
Protection from the slide
Projection from a slide
Did it all seem so easy
So easy to concede
Giving in giving in
The chances seemed so slim
In a moment just a moment
I felt you rushing in
You were rushing I am crushing
Your rush to cruise this
I'm left behind
Left behind I'm left behind
It's a matter of time
Your protection from injection
My rejection
Protection from the slide
Projection from a slide
I with your breath on my pillow
And I with the memory
I get to wait it out never put it away
When you left with your death
I felt empty when I looked back
On my pillow what you used to say
What you used to say
I...I'm left behind
I...I'm left behind
I with your breath on my pillow
I with the memory
I get to wait
It out never put it away
When you left with your death
I felt anger when I looked back
On my pillow what you used to say
What you used to say
I felt your breath for a moment
I heard your voice for a moment
Then I looked back
On my pillow what you used to say
What we used to say
That the chances seemed so slim
The chances used to be so slim
Now I swim alone
The slim
Alone
To honor and obey
To cherish and to worship
In sickness and in health
For richer for poorer for anything
Til death do us part
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
One of my favourite Sugar songs. It's so intense!
Given the context that Bob wrote it, it's about the loss a partner to HIV/AIDS. I can't remember if it was based on a real friend of his.
@elwyn5150 I think Bob once stated that it is essentially a song based on observation rather than experience.