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"
See the lonely man there on the corner,
What he's waiting for, I don't know,
But he waits everyday now.
He's just waiting for something to show.
And nobody knows him,
And nobody cares,
'Cos there's no hiding place,
There's no hiding place - for you.
Looking everywhere at no one,
He sees everything and nothing at all - oh.
When he shouts nobody listens,
Where he leads no one will go - oh.
He's a lonely man, there on the corner,
What he's waiting for, I don't know,
But he waits everyday now.
He's just waiting for something to show - oh.
Nobody knows him,
And nobody cares,
'Cos there's no hiding place,
There's no hiding place - for you and me.
Are we just like all the rest,
We're looking too hard for something he's got
Or moving too fast to rest.
But like a monkey on your back you need it.
But do you love it enough to leave it - ah.
Just like the lonely man there on the corner,
What he's waiting for, I don't know - oh.
But he waits every day now.
He's just waiting for that something to show - oh.
Who's the lonely man there on the corner,
What he's waiting for, I don't know.
But he's there every day now.
And he's just waiting for something to show - oh.
Who's the lonely man there on the corner,
What he's waiting for, I don't know.
Oh but he waits every day now.
He's just waiting for that something to show.
What he's waiting for, I don't know,
But he waits everyday now.
He's just waiting for something to show.
And nobody knows him,
And nobody cares,
'Cos there's no hiding place,
There's no hiding place - for you.
Looking everywhere at no one,
He sees everything and nothing at all - oh.
When he shouts nobody listens,
Where he leads no one will go - oh.
He's a lonely man, there on the corner,
What he's waiting for, I don't know,
But he waits everyday now.
He's just waiting for something to show - oh.
Nobody knows him,
And nobody cares,
'Cos there's no hiding place,
There's no hiding place - for you and me.
Are we just like all the rest,
We're looking too hard for something he's got
Or moving too fast to rest.
But like a monkey on your back you need it.
But do you love it enough to leave it - ah.
Just like the lonely man there on the corner,
What he's waiting for, I don't know - oh.
But he waits every day now.
He's just waiting for that something to show - oh.
Who's the lonely man there on the corner,
What he's waiting for, I don't know.
But he's there every day now.
And he's just waiting for something to show - oh.
Who's the lonely man there on the corner,
What he's waiting for, I don't know.
Oh but he waits every day now.
He's just waiting for that something to show.
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae
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The Night We Met
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
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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.
Blue
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Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Phil Collins taking a deeper look at something he portrayed a few years later again with 'another day in paradise'. descriptions in the song let us believe this is mainly about a homeless/crazy man, someone that presence isn't noticed, other that a man as we people from the city cross by many. this is as sad as collins can get, speaking about his concerns, not preaching but socially right, communication or the lack of it was always often at the center of his lyrics. I'm touched by the melody aswell only gets the point even stronger along those perfect words.
I caught this song on the radio one time and was like "how i miss this phil collins song?" went home and downloaded it immediately.
I just remember growing to hate this one as it was played every half-hour on the radio when it came out. Now I think it means we are all lonely men on the corner waiting for something, ala "Nowhere Man"
i think this suggests that we are the lonely man than it does suggest we should be. the wording of the song points to the fact the man on the corner is quite contented with his situation, its only those looking on at him that dont understand his reason for it. the world goes on around him with all the nastiness we take as bein part of it but this does not apply to him and therefore we should i think be envious of his lack of worries.
that was badly written but it mean to say that we 'are not' him or like him. we apparently all long to be but cannot find it within ourselves to be.
I think this is about letting something pass you by, and regretting it, and standing around waiting for it to come back to you
A chopped up version of the synth in the background of this song is used in Kevin Rudolf's song "Welcome to the World", which is a song about the 15 minutes of fame a celebrity gets, then it's time for them to disappear into anonymity again.
These two songs seem to have something in common. The lyrics to Man on the Corner may be interpreted as the man waiting for his shot at fame again. We all need it, but when we find fame (as some do) do we love it enough to leave it and become "just like all the rest" again? Well, that's my rambling done.
The way I interrupted the song was that society lets people disappear and that no one notices or will notice. And that these people feel alone and alienated and we should feel ashamed because all of us have alienated people before and judged when we shouldn't of. Also, I think the song touches on the fact that some people should enjoy the simplicity of some moments and stop and enjoy things. The lonely man on the corner enjoys being alone and thinking, and the rest of the world don't realize why because they can't find a reason because they enjoy materialized objects and worries.
To me, this song conveys that we see people all the time just standing there, lost, unnoticed, and we have no idea why they're there. The monkey on the back has no specific meaning. It's a metaphor indicating that we all go through our troubles and to someone just looking at the person, they have no idea what's on their minds. On a different note the corner could also be a metaphor for being stuck in life, not knowing how to get that monkey off your back.
Don't we all see or have met someone like the lonely man? PC says there's no hiding place for any of us.