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"
He's got a million dollar car
He's got a thirty-seven year old guitar
He's got a family who deals heroin
You're on the edge of your chair
And you feel it
He's looking at you, he's laughing at you
It's happening
I can't, I can't believe it
But it's here on the pages I'm reading
It's all I can do to conceal my feelings of jealousy
Jealousy
I know it's just a drawer of photographs
They're ex-girlfriends, I try to remember that
I don't want to look, but I'm already hooked on jealousy
Jealousy
I can't believe you had a life before me
I can't believe they let you run around free
Just putting your body wherever it seemed like a good idea
What a good idea
Standing on the corner watching the ladies pass by
Imagining me behind your eyes
And what did I see?
I saw hips, I saw thighs
I saw secret positions that we never try
I saw jealousy
I saw jealousy
I can't, I can't believe it
But it's here in this place and I see it
It's all I can do to conceal my feelings of jealousy
Jealousy
Standing on the mudflats watching the salmon fly
Wonder if I'll ever bury the hatchet inside
Imagining me behind your eyes
And what did I see?
I saw hips, I saw thighs
I saw secret positions that we never try
I saw jealousy
I saw jealousy
I can't believe you had a life before me
I can't believe they let you run around free
Just putting your body wherever it seemed like a good idea
What a good idea
He's got a thirty-seven year old guitar
He's got a family who deals heroin
You're on the edge of your chair
And you feel it
He's looking at you, he's laughing at you
It's happening
I can't, I can't believe it
But it's here on the pages I'm reading
It's all I can do to conceal my feelings of jealousy
Jealousy
I know it's just a drawer of photographs
They're ex-girlfriends, I try to remember that
I don't want to look, but I'm already hooked on jealousy
Jealousy
I can't believe you had a life before me
I can't believe they let you run around free
Just putting your body wherever it seemed like a good idea
What a good idea
Standing on the corner watching the ladies pass by
Imagining me behind your eyes
And what did I see?
I saw hips, I saw thighs
I saw secret positions that we never try
I saw jealousy
I saw jealousy
I can't, I can't believe it
But it's here in this place and I see it
It's all I can do to conceal my feelings of jealousy
Jealousy
Standing on the mudflats watching the salmon fly
Wonder if I'll ever bury the hatchet inside
Imagining me behind your eyes
And what did I see?
I saw hips, I saw thighs
I saw secret positions that we never try
I saw jealousy
I saw jealousy
I can't believe you had a life before me
I can't believe they let you run around free
Just putting your body wherever it seemed like a good idea
What a good idea
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
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."
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
I love this song!! It's so true. Whenever I get with i guy I can't help but try to find out about past girls, it's just in my nature. And then when I do find out I realize I wish I didn't know!! My favorite part is "I can't believe you had a life before me I can't believe they let you run around free Just putting your body wherever it seemed like a good idea" It's just soo true!
It's about having a fourgy