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 hope abandon, ye who enter here
Said the sign I read that was hangin' above her bed
And the sirens all were wailin', but a man can ignore the signs
Gotta keep a good eye on the windin' road ahead
And my first sin was a young American girl
My first sin was a young American girl
And I spent time 'neath the trestles
With the punks and the dime store saints
Kept faith and a switchblade stuffed beneath my coat
And I ran with dirty angels, slept out in the rain
We were scared and tired and barely 17
And my first sin was a fear that made me old
My first sin was a fear that made me old
Now I walk down by the shipyards
Near the place where I was born
Sayin' "Oh, Maria, if you'da known me when"
But she only smiles
By the light on the Navesink banks
Sayin' "Listen baby, I know you now"
Then she steps into the river
And I just stand by the moon
Thinkin' 'bout a ghost I hear at night
And she says "Your first sin was a lie you told yourself"
"Your first sin was a lie you told yourself"
Said the sign I read that was hangin' above her bed
And the sirens all were wailin', but a man can ignore the signs
Gotta keep a good eye on the windin' road ahead
And my first sin was a young American girl
My first sin was a young American girl
And I spent time 'neath the trestles
With the punks and the dime store saints
Kept faith and a switchblade stuffed beneath my coat
And I ran with dirty angels, slept out in the rain
We were scared and tired and barely 17
And my first sin was a fear that made me old
My first sin was a fear that made me old
Now I walk down by the shipyards
Near the place where I was born
Sayin' "Oh, Maria, if you'da known me when"
But she only smiles
By the light on the Navesink banks
Sayin' "Listen baby, I know you now"
Then she steps into the river
And I just stand by the moon
Thinkin' 'bout a ghost I hear at night
And she says "Your first sin was a lie you told yourself"
"Your first sin was a lie you told yourself"
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
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”
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
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.
I really like this song, it has such a dark, mysterious sound to it... somehow it seems to evoke the emotion/setting of being at a shipyard at night (at least in my opinion). but it definitely is about his sins (as he clearly keeps saying it), and more over his past. the first verse, I take is about when he lost his virginity... but he does it in such a poetic, non-raunchy way... but he also doesn't describe the incident as a coming of age, but rather the decent into a relatively sinful lifestyle... the second verse he's talking about hanging out with the wrong crowd, in the wrong places (needs a switchblade 'just in case')... sleeping in the rain, and ultimately being scared "the fear that made me old," those experiences "aged" him beyond his 17 years. at the end, i'm imagining "Maria" would be Hollie (his wife)... and he looks back at those moments with regret, "if you'da known me when..." but it comes together so well, simply with the line "listen, baby, i know you now." now is all that matters, its so beautiful and what real love should be about... then "your first sin is the lie you told yourself" ...i think she (Maria/Hollie) is telling him, the only thing you've done wrong is telling yourself you've done so many bad things. It's beautiful, to me, how this song comes together and turns around...
This song... I hope some day I can meet Brian Fallon in person, shake his hand and thank him for this song. I get chills and it brings tears to my eyes every time I hear the line, "Listen baby, I know you now."
the navesink banks, i think its a really simple song, but its one of my favourite. the first 2 verses are in the past and the final is in the present.
verse 1, i think is about him losing his virginity, hes 'barely 17', i think he maybe used this girl, theres no reference to romance, lust or passion so i think he just used her and maybe broke her heart.
verse 2- i think he got into the wrong crowd when he was younger, was a bit of a rebel, acting hard and tough but it was only an act "We were scared and tired and barely seventeen". i think by doing this to this girl and losing his virginity made him feel old and grown up. "My first sin was the fear that made me old."
verse 3- i love this verse by the way! were now in the present, he's come back to his hometown with his wife/girlfriend and he's trying to tell her that he used to be different, that he was once a different person and she wouldn't have liked who he used to be. "But she only smiles" and says "Listen, baby, I know you now." saying that whats in the past is in the past and its who we are now and what we do now is what matters. he's still haunted by the memories of what he did to this "young American girl", and his girlfriend is saying to him that he's beating himself up over something thats not as bigger deal as he thinks. and that he needs to move on and stop living in regret.
@cieran it's not just about what is in the past is in the past: it's his past that brought him to where he is now. Your first sin is a lie you told yourself means it wasn't even a sin. Is was you that thought it was a sin, but she doesn't see it as that. <br /> <br /> Really enjoyed your analysis.
By saying that the inscription from the gates of Hell was hanging over her bed, he implies that sleeping with her was the beginning of his proverbial "descent into Hell," which is consistent with the line, "my first sin was a young american girl."
Also, I've seen other versions of the lyrics that say "and the sirens over wailing, but a man can't ignore the signs" and I thought that version made more sense, but after considering the Dante's Inferno reference, it makes more sense for it to say that he did ignore the signs, since he slept with her anyway.
This is another one of my favorite songs. I love how simple and stripped down it is, not a lot going on musically. Just makes the lyrics more powerful if you ask me.
I love the repitition of the "first sin". "My first sin was a young American girl", "My first sin was a fear that made me old", "Your first sin was a lie you told yourself".
I think my favorite part though is:
Now I walk down by the shipyard, near the place that I was born Sayin, "Ah, Maria, if you'da known me when." But she just smiles, by the light on the Navesink Banks Sayin, "Listen baby... I know you now."
I mean that's just... phew.
Do you suppose the Maria at the end of the song is the same she from the beginning, with the sign above her bed? Or two different women? Perhaps the first girl was one that ruined him, and Maria is a different one, and he wishes he knew her -- she knew him -- before the first girl. I don't know. I'm just thinking aloud. =]
@Desaparecida I definitely think it's two different women. He doesn't call the first one by name, just a young American girl. She was the sin, and she is someone who made him who he is, even though he isn't particularly proud of it. Maria is the one who has accepted him as who he is, and has stepped into his river - his life - while he is on the banks, stuck in this past for a few moments. Seeing everything properly under the light from the moon. The nighttime reference is a reference to his age and maturity.<br /> <br /> Love your analysis.
I can't believe there are no comments on this song. This song blew me away, the lyrics are brilliant - specifically the line 'My first sin was a young American girl."
This song reminds me of The River by Springsteen. A lot.
soo spooky, lolol
Navesink is a coastal town in New Jersey.
this is my favorite song on Sink or Swim. really great lyrics.