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"
Tim, wish you were born a girl
So I could've been your boyfriend
I know it's not possible now
I just never met a girl I like half as much as you
And we could lay around in bed, stay there all day
Or at least until the afternoon
And I could make you spaghetti with tomato sauce
With just a touch of oregano and a parsley stem
And then when you got sick
I could take the day off work
I could've made you chicken soup
And we could watch soap operas
Oh, those TV dramas
I could catch your cold
And you could take care of me
If I could've met you at school, or met you at work
It would have changed everything
Those years of losing, confusion and insecurity
They would have been shared
They would have been easier
Tim, wish you were born a girl
So I could've been your fiance
I'm not saying you can't be all these things for me
But it's just not the same because you're a man
And so am I
So I could've been your boyfriend
I know it's not possible now
I just never met a girl I like half as much as you
And we could lay around in bed, stay there all day
Or at least until the afternoon
And I could make you spaghetti with tomato sauce
With just a touch of oregano and a parsley stem
And then when you got sick
I could take the day off work
I could've made you chicken soup
And we could watch soap operas
Oh, those TV dramas
I could catch your cold
And you could take care of me
If I could've met you at school, or met you at work
It would have changed everything
Those years of losing, confusion and insecurity
They would have been shared
They would have been easier
Tim, wish you were born a girl
So I could've been your fiance
I'm not saying you can't be all these things for me
But it's just not the same because you're a man
And so am I
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The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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Holiday
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
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.
Mountain Song
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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."
Gentle Hour
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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,
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
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.
Aw. I believe the singer here has a strong emotional (romantic) attraction towards Tim, but he is heterosexual (and Tim probably is too), so there is no physical or sexual desire towards Tim. I think the best term to describe his feelings would be homoromantic. It's sweet, but sad.
I agree.
It's a wonderfully sweet and endearing song...I like that Kevin Barnes isn't afraid to sing about such things...when two guys are very close in real life, things that are said by this song usually go UNSAID and I think it's beautiful to get them all out there. Everything this band does is surreal magic and I love 'em, they are worlds above a lot of music out there today...
Love this song, it's so silly, and a great song to annoy all the Tims of the world with by singing it to them constantly! I love the line about spaghetti especially because it's endearing how he knows just the way he likes it, "with just a touch of oregan and a parsley stem". Says alot about a bestfriendship and how you just know everything about each other, even the trivial things.
when i was in high school i heard this song and i emailed kevin to ask him if he was gay because i was completely in love with him over this song. his reply was yes, he is indeed very happy.
this song meant so much to me then, and it still does now that i'm listening to it years after not having heard it. i wish they never went electric, the innocence of their earlier sound is lost.
i know a guy named tim who was born a girl. convenient.
is it weird that this song makes me cry?
this is my favorite song by of montreal.
fortunately this kind of thing is now legal in the great commonwealth of MA. Can i get an amen?!?!?
i said some like this to a friend in middle school. they aren't my friend anymore.
i remember the first time i heard this song i started laughing when he says
"But it's just not the same because you're a man And so am I"
it just sounded so cute and honest. i love it.