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"
Oh, you look so tired
Mouth slack and wide
Ill-housed and ill-advised
Your face is as mean
As your life has been
Crash into my arms
I want you
You don't agree
But you don't refuse
I know you
And I know a place
Where no one is likely to pass
Oh, you don't care if it's late
And you don't care if you're lost
And oh, you look so tired
(But tonight you presume too much)
Too much, too much
And if it's the last
Thing I ever do
I'm gonna get you
Crash into my arms
I want you
You don't agree
But you don't refuse
I know you
Crash into my arms
I want you
You don't agree
But you don't refuse
I know you
Oh...
Thank you.
Mouth slack and wide
Ill-housed and ill-advised
Your face is as mean
As your life has been
Crash into my arms
I want you
You don't agree
But you don't refuse
I know you
And I know a place
Where no one is likely to pass
Oh, you don't care if it's late
And you don't care if you're lost
And oh, you look so tired
(But tonight you presume too much)
Too much, too much
And if it's the last
Thing I ever do
I'm gonna get you
Crash into my arms
I want you
You don't agree
But you don't refuse
I know you
Crash into my arms
I want you
You don't agree
But you don't refuse
I know you
Oh...
Thank you.
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Jack the Ripper Lyrics as written by Martin James Boorer Steven Morrissey
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"Your face is as mean As your life has been"
What a line, what a song!!
great song. great man/band.
I love this song. Colin Meloy's (The Decemberists) cover of this rules so hard.
I have yet to hear the covers. But I do think the studio version is better. I love the added end, which goes:
And no one knows a thing about my life I can come and go as I please And if I want to, I can stay Oh, or if I want to, I can leave Nobody knows me Nobody knows me Nobody knows me Nobody knows me Oh, oh Nobody knows me Oh, oh Nobody knows me Oh, oh Nobody knows me Oh
@xdarkentries The studio version is amazing. Blows the covers out of the water.
AFI did a beautiful cover of this song for DECEMBERUNDERGROUND.
When Morrissey says, "I love/The romance of crime" he is telling the truth. He told of Kray Brothers (The Last of the Famous International Playboys) Hector (First of the Gang to Die) and others both in his past and his present work.
The first verse is clearly alluded to Jack the Ripper, a despicable man in appearance.
I think the song could be interpreted as being from the perspective of the serial killer. The ripper could be speaking directly to the prostitutes and then in the studio version’s third verse (which is a b-side to Certain People I Know) he is reflecting on the pros and cons of being an outsider, something Morrissey knows a thing or two about.
okay anyway mcr, really should NOT be covering morrissey when they suck at their own songs as it is.
MCR covered this song? Hell no!!!! I've not heard their version but I bet its terrible. This song is amazing though. I think instead of being from the perspective of Jack The Ripper, it may be from a policeman who is trying to catch the killer. I have heard that policemen dressed up as woman to try and catch him. But I think either way the lines fit in. Great song.
I definitely think it is Morrissey relating to the outsider. You hear this song and it almost sounds appealing to have no one know who you are. I know I get sick of trying to get people to understand me because they just won't.