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"
All night I lay on my pillow and pray
For my boss to stop me in the hallway
Lay my head on his shoulder and say
Son, I've been hearing good things
I wake up without warning and go flying around the house
In my sauvignon fierce, freaking out
Take a forty-five minute shower and kiss the mirror
And say, look at me
Baby, we'll be fine
All we gotta do is be brave and be kind
I put on an argyle sweater and put on a smile
I don't know how to do this
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
Baby, come over, I need entertaining
I had a stilted, pretending day
Lay me down and say something pretty
Lay me back down where I wanted to stay
Just say something perfect, something I can steal
Say, look at me
Baby, we'll be fine
All we've gotta do is be brave and be kind
I pull off your jeans, and you spill Jack and Coke in my collar
I melt like a witch and scream
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
For my boss to stop me in the hallway
Lay my head on his shoulder and say
Son, I've been hearing good things
I wake up without warning and go flying around the house
In my sauvignon fierce, freaking out
Take a forty-five minute shower and kiss the mirror
And say, look at me
Baby, we'll be fine
All we gotta do is be brave and be kind
I put on an argyle sweater and put on a smile
I don't know how to do this
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
Baby, come over, I need entertaining
I had a stilted, pretending day
Lay me down and say something pretty
Lay me back down where I wanted to stay
Just say something perfect, something I can steal
Say, look at me
Baby, we'll be fine
All we've gotta do is be brave and be kind
I pull off your jeans, and you spill Jack and Coke in my collar
I melt like a witch and scream
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
I'm so sorry for everything
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The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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Wu-Tang Clan
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Matt Berninger writes a lot of lyrics about the awkward transition into adulthood; characters stumbling and faking their way through their fledgling careers and lives, pretending to be capable and confident but feeling desperately insecure inside. This song is probably the best example, although Mistaken For Strangers touches on it as well.
The character in this song (maybe Berninger himself, in his younger days?) yearns to be given reassurance that he's doing a good job at work ("Son, I've been hearing good things") but when that isn't forthcoming, tries to give himself a pep talk instead:
"Take a forty-five minute shower and kiss the mirror And say, look at me Baby, we'll be fine All we gotta do is be brave and be kind"
God, that's beautiful/melancholy/pitiful. He's saying, look I know you "don't know how to do this" but suck it up, and be a nice person, and you'll get by okay. Fake it if you have to ("put on a smile") but don't let anybody know how insecure you feel inside.
He lets his lover know how he's really feeling though. He says "I've had a stilted, pretending day". He wants her to tell him he'll be fine, because he's been trying to convince himself of the same thing and it isn't working. I think he even feels like he isn't a fully functioning human, the spilled drink making him "melt like a witch and scream", just like holy water would burn a vampire.
What is he sorry for? For being an anxious, insecure fuck up, I think. So many of Berninger's lyrics make me want to give him a bear hug, but this one is just devastating.
I think it's about feeling low and wanting to be told you're loved without having to ask. For somone to show you they care spontaniously, from his boss, or from the girl who should love him unconditionally.
But it doesn't happen, so he turns to sex, a physical feeling to fill the emotional ones he's missing. When it goes wrong, in the tiniest way, such as spilling a drink on his clothes caused him to snowball.
The song is, essentially just "tell me you love me"
Baby We'll Be Fine is a song simply about wanting the people in your life who you try to please the most to appreciate all you do. A simple nod of appreciation, something meaningful, or just saying "Baby we'll be fine" is all he is looking for. He needs it from his boss, his girlfriend, and unfortunately the only person he can get any type of assurance from is himself, which is why he kisses himself in the mirror and says "baby we'll be fine." Forty-five minute showers, Jack and Coke and waking up from a night of Sauvignon are all attempts at soothing ones self. In the end, trying to seek more comfort with sex he has a cold drink spilled on him and sadly is the one who keeps apologizing. Unfortunately there is very little confidence in the lyrics of this song. Very beautiful, but truly sad.
Death of A Salesman
He's assuring himself that everything will be fine, essentially a love song about himself.
For me, this is the best song of Alligator. Just listening to it the other day I got all choked up when he sings "I don't know how to do this". It's such a vulnerable declaration. It's completely heartbreaking this song.
The first part of the song definitely seems the person trying to find justification in life through his work life which he never gets. And this may be because of his relationship with his wife. I haven't heard such a complex and nuanced song about a relationship in a while.
Love love love this song.
I really like this song. It's low key. Sounds a little sorrowful. It puts mee in the mood for longer nights, changing leaves and gray skys.
Sweater weather.
This is about inserting positive thoughts to onesself and sighing about...
I agree. It's strikes me as a song about a guy who is unhappy with life, and with his relationship with the woman mentioned in the song. Maybe because of something he did? He mentions being "So sorry for everything" and then at the end of the song he "Melts like a witch and scream" which, to me, represents the facade he's being trying to reinforce in himself melting away... His frustration with the situation boils over.<br /> <br /> I dunno, a lot of the song is still a mystery to me.
The strongest and most relatable song on Alligator. Beautiful music coupled with amazing lyrics. I think we've been missing the strong suggestion that he's ridiculously insecure, too. He would want his boss to compliment him or use his girlfriend as an emotional crutch if he didn't feel confident with himself.
This song reminds me a lot of Springsteen's "Atlantic City" for some reason. I could easily imagine the narrator of this song saying "last night I met this guy and I'm gonna do a little favor for him." It's all about the insecurity and desperate hope when you can feel things slipping away beyond your control.
It's almost like the thought process of a younger version of Springsteen's character is captured by The National.
He admits to spending too much of himself on his work....whatever that work may be. He tries to reassure himself that all will be ok with the mirror part.
The last part about jack and coke....that is a funny/sexual memory that he has with his past lover. He closes by reminding her of a great memory they share in an effort to woo her back. Hey, just my interpretation of the situation that is...
....or could be they had to break up despite the fact that they both love each other. he is encouraging her to be brave....and remember the good times.
"put on an argyle sweater and put on a smile. I dont know how to do this." By far my fav national lyric