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 was five and he was six
We rode on horses made of sticks
He wore black and I wore white
He would always win the fight
Bang bang, he shot me down
Bang bang, I hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound
Bang bang, my baby shot me down
Seasons came and changed the time
When I grew up, I called him mine
He would always laugh and say
"Remember when we used to play?"
Bang bang, I shot you down
Bang bang, you hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound
Bang bang, I used to shoot you down
Music played and people sang
Just for me the church bells rang
Now he's gone, I don't know why
And 'til this day, sometimes I cry
He didn't even say goodbye
He didn't take the time to lie
Bang bang, he shot me down
Bang bang, I hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound
Bang bang, my baby shot me down
We rode on horses made of sticks
He wore black and I wore white
He would always win the fight
Bang bang, he shot me down
Bang bang, I hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound
Bang bang, my baby shot me down
Seasons came and changed the time
When I grew up, I called him mine
He would always laugh and say
"Remember when we used to play?"
Bang bang, I shot you down
Bang bang, you hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound
Bang bang, I used to shoot you down
Music played and people sang
Just for me the church bells rang
Now he's gone, I don't know why
And 'til this day, sometimes I cry
He didn't even say goodbye
He didn't take the time to lie
Bang bang, he shot me down
Bang bang, I hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound
Bang bang, my baby shot me down
Lyrics submitted by almostmanda
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) Lyrics as written by Sonny Bono
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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,
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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.
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I love this song. Like most of the people who have posted comments, I was introduced to this song through Kill Bill Vol. 1. I think this song is about a girl who fell in love with her childhood friend and he left her at the altar with no explanation. That's how I see it anyway.
And as for the movie, I loved it. Especially 'Volume 1'. I think the fact that she's a white woman and that she kicked ass the samurai way is PERFECT for the movie despite what other people have posted. The fact is, it's a story about a woman, who was betrayed. As they say, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. She did everything she could, and worked hard because she wanted her revenge and was willing to do anything to do so. They were all expecting her to die (because, like the some of the people who have posted before me, they thought it was highly unlikely that SHE could really do it) that's what makes it brilliant! I mean, wow. Some of the comments before me... it's like saying, Cinderella will never get the Prince because she was playing maid to her stepsisters! I mean seriously, have movies taught you nothing? The underdog is MEANT to be someone you don't expect to do well. THAT'S why they're the underdog. Welcome to Hollywood!
Okay, here's something really far out that I thought about after listening to This Monkey's Gone to Heaven ( Pixies are awesome!) My thought is that the boy in this song is not a boy at all. I think he represents the temptation of false happiness. Before you tear my head off, hear me out. The reason I think this is because the number 6 means imperfection(pretty much the number of the Devil).
In the Pixies song, the singer says this "if man is five, then the devil is six..." Back to this song. I think that the fact that its a game in the beginning is because it's explaining the innocence of the tempatation to false happiness at first sight. It's easy to think that it was true happiness that you found, but it was always wrong, hence the fact that it "Shot her down." The second verse has the main character completely entranced by this falsified happiness, even though the devil(being the boy) reminds her that she's been "shot down" by these feelings before. The next verse reads that churchbells rang only for her. While I really like the way that people interpret this as the groom leaving the main character, I think it's something different. One of the only times a church bell will ring for you and you alone is a funeral. So what I think has happened is that when the main character dies in the song, she finally realizes that she's been living with false happiness her entire life, and that in death, there's no comforting voice to "take the time to lie." And so after all this, the character is shot down pnce again.
Just something I was thinking about, so once again, DON'T KILL ME!!!
By the way, Kill Bill was an awesome movie. The dialogue was my favorite part of the movies, just like in every other movie Tarrantino touches. It's obviously not his best (that's PULP FICTION) but it is a good set of movies.
@voice.of.reason? I agree. Tho I get it's a man she's known since childhood and I don't think Bang bang is a game it's a metaphor for how he treats her and again when he dies you hear it in the lyrics. basically their whole relationship she had no answers.
This is a wonderful song. To me, it is about a girl's broken heart from unrequited love. I don't think they even got as far as an alter. I think for her.. since day one.. she heard wedding bells but she was never anything to him. I love how the chorus comes in each time. Like.. she just feels shot down after each verse.. while reminiscing about how they rode on horses made of sticks (probably the only real memory they shared).. it hurts to even recall.. so she tells you bang, bang i was shot down.. and later in life when she wanted him to be her's and he would just call back on the days when they played (and that's all it was). I love it.
I love this interpretation. Thank you so much for posting it! :]
do u really think he left her becoz of reasons like falling in love with someone else? i rather think that he died; maybe he was critically ill. the line "he didn´t take the time to lie" implies that he must gone very quickly or that she hasn´t meant anything to him (anymore).
Personally I think that he left because he didn't care. When she called him hers he just laughed. He didn't care therefore he didn't even bother to lie. Great song.
by the way he left her at the altar 'Music played and people sang Just for me the church bells rang '
awesome song. exemplifies everything about being loved and left to me.
so sad. even the simple music to accompany her singing is filled with sadness...
EvolGRE, she's an assassin. She's been trained to use the samurai sword by the best there is and it even shows in the movie that she recieves training from some of the greatest martial artists, Pai Mei for example. Use your imagination a bit, not everything has to be straight foreward. Obviously you didn't watch the movie too closely and if you did, you perhaps lack the capacity to understand it properly. Kill Bill 1 and 2 has incredible cinematography and a thought provoking story line. Maybe you should watch it again with an open mind and without the expectation that it will be Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction.
since when did films have to adhere to reality. the cinema would be a boring place with out bouts of comeplte and total fantasy and anyway how probable is most of the stuff you watch yeah good song