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, how I've tried to get you out of my head.
And I lied, broken words I said.
Never thought I'd walk on this street again.
Standing where it all began.
Tried to forget when I left this town,
But it takes me right back when I come back around.
Retrace the steps we took on that long summer night.
I'm right there by your side.
Retrace the steps we took when we met worlds away.
Counting backwards while the stars are falling.
Oh, how I find every subtle thing screams your name.
It reminds me of places of times we shared.
Couldn't live locked in these memories.
Now I'm chained to my thoughts again.
And I tried to forget when I left this town,
But I'll take you right back if you come back around.
Retrace the steps we took on that long summer night.
I'm right there by your side.
Retrace the steps we took when we met worlds away.
Counting backwards while the stars are falling.
I need some shelter, I need some safety.
Photographs, they haunt me lately.
Chasing shadows as the evening takes me.
I'm still searching, but the picture's fading.
Retrace the steps we took on that long summer night.
I'm right there by your side.
Retrace the steps we took when we met worlds away.
Counting backwards, still counting backwards.
And no where else has ever felt like home.
And I can't fall asleep when I'm lying here alone.
I replay your voice, it's like you're here.
You move the earth, but now the sky is falling.
Retrace the steps we took on that long summer night.
I'm right there by your side.
Retrace the steps we took when we met worlds away.
Counting backwards while the stars are falling.
And I lied, broken words I said.
Never thought I'd walk on this street again.
Standing where it all began.
Tried to forget when I left this town,
But it takes me right back when I come back around.
Retrace the steps we took on that long summer night.
I'm right there by your side.
Retrace the steps we took when we met worlds away.
Counting backwards while the stars are falling.
Oh, how I find every subtle thing screams your name.
It reminds me of places of times we shared.
Couldn't live locked in these memories.
Now I'm chained to my thoughts again.
And I tried to forget when I left this town,
But I'll take you right back if you come back around.
Retrace the steps we took on that long summer night.
I'm right there by your side.
Retrace the steps we took when we met worlds away.
Counting backwards while the stars are falling.
I need some shelter, I need some safety.
Photographs, they haunt me lately.
Chasing shadows as the evening takes me.
I'm still searching, but the picture's fading.
Retrace the steps we took on that long summer night.
I'm right there by your side.
Retrace the steps we took when we met worlds away.
Counting backwards, still counting backwards.
And no where else has ever felt like home.
And I can't fall asleep when I'm lying here alone.
I replay your voice, it's like you're here.
You move the earth, but now the sky is falling.
Retrace the steps we took on that long summer night.
I'm right there by your side.
Retrace the steps we took when we met worlds away.
Counting backwards while the stars are falling.
Lyrics submitted by TerribleThings___x
Retrace Lyrics as written by Dan Wilson Christian Edwin Mcalhaney
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, O/B/O DistroKid, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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everytime i think of this song, i think of an old love that i had back in High School. She pulled me around and played with my emotions but somehow, i still have feelings for her, even after 4 years. I've moved on but i still think of her all the time
Wow. Same here.
i'm in that same boat also. with the whole playing with emotions thing too. it sucks. it's only been a month for me since it ended and not years, so i do still have some feelings and think of her all the time too. some girls i just don't get and she's one of them, but why do i like her so much? idk...i just don't know.
Reminds me of my first girlfriend in high school, who taught me what love is, and how beautiful life was when you found it. These lyrics express that sort of blissful nostalgia perfectly
I'm doing this by ear, so any corrections are welcomed.
I think it's Photographs, they hold me lately.
It's "Photographs they haunt me lately."
yea aaleman1 is right, its "photographs, the haunt me lately"
Fix'd.
"back" should be included in the chorus part "I'm (back) there by your side.
This song is about someone who cannot move on from a past love, revisiting his memories which are raised especially when he goes back to the town where they had a romance. Reminiscing, he admits that he cannot let go and forget, and offers if only she'd come back to that town, they could both go back to those memories. Beautiful song..
I agree with what taboo said. I mean, I instantly thought of my ex when I heard this song. He's the one who left though, not me. But you get the point still lol