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 see you there
Your long black hair
Your eyes just stare
Your mind is turning
You know I'll laugh
And I won't take it back
I've seen your eyes I know
What your thinking
And one by one
We'll shoot our guns
We'll have fun
Don't ever doubt it
And when I say
Fare thee well
My only friend
Oh how the days go
Your setting sun
Your broken drum
Your little drugs
I'll never forget you
Never
Forget
You
Your long black hair
Your eyes just stare
Your mind is turning
You know I'll laugh
And I won't take it back
I've seen your eyes I know
What your thinking
And one by one
We'll shoot our guns
We'll have fun
Don't ever doubt it
And when I say
Fare thee well
My only friend
Oh how the days go
Your setting sun
Your broken drum
Your little drugs
I'll never forget you
Never
Forget
You
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More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
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”
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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.
this song is about elliott smith
(for those who dont know who he is, he was an indie singer sonwriter who passed away in 2003)
Beck and him were good friends and this a tribute to him, it's a beautiful song.
this song screams elliott and it diligently explains him in the simplest ways, it's obvious it's about him.
This song is about me and my ex wife. We love each other more than anything. We can read each other's minds. But she did something to me once. She can't look at me anymore. I told her what her life would devolve into without me and yeah, I laughed when I had to say "I told you so". The look in her eyes betrayed her.
But if she ever overcomes her neurosis and drug habits, we'll get back together someday. And then we can again go shooting and do the other things we used to do together.
We've been apart for 16 years. And I'll never forget her. It's just not possible.
I can't believe I'm the first to comment about this song. I definitely think it's the best song on Guero.
I agree with tin14man. It sounds like electro-"Sea Change."
It sounds like it's about a relationship that fails, but ends up being important to the singer. (First love, possibly?)
yeah its beautiful, timeless. I wonder who he wrote it about...Leigh Limon? maybe Winona Ryder? anybody know?
I've heard this could be a tribute to Elliott Smith. Just something to think about...
This is a nice song. It's nice to listen to it and think about the lyrics, but if you're tired, it puts you right to sleep. It's cool like that.
randomly came on my launch cast station, the 'gurellito' version. i heard that boards of canda are on it, this must be their redoing- it's gorgeous..
the song sounds like a freindship that's saying goodbye.
I agree. I think it's a song about a really close friend that has either died or left his life. It could also be about a relationship that went bad over time, and although it was bad at times, he won't forget the times he had with her and he won't regret anything.