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"
There she sits her hands are held
Tight around her glass
She only needs to be alone
She knows this mood will pass
To realize that she was strong
And he too weak to stay
And to realize that she is better off this way
Brief candles in her mind
Bright and tiny gems of memory
Brief candles burn so fine
Leaves a light inside where she can see
What makes it all worthwhile
Her sadness makes her smile
His alone girl fades away
Left out on a limb
Finds he needs her more because
She's no more need for him
He understood so very well
The things she had to say
Soon he'll understand that he is better off this way
Brief candles in his mind
Bright and tiny gems of memory
Brief candles burn so fine
Leaves a light inside where he can see
What makes it all worthwhile
His sadness makes him smile
In the corner see his face
The man just sips his drink
Not one feeling does he show
Far too numb to think
He does not say a single word
No word of love to say
Maybe he will soon believe he's better off this way
Brief candles in his mind
Bright and tiny gems of memory
Brief candles burn so fine
Leaves a light inside where he can see
What makes it all worthwhile
His sadness makes him smile
Tight around her glass
She only needs to be alone
She knows this mood will pass
To realize that she was strong
And he too weak to stay
And to realize that she is better off this way
Brief candles in her mind
Bright and tiny gems of memory
Brief candles burn so fine
Leaves a light inside where she can see
What makes it all worthwhile
Her sadness makes her smile
His alone girl fades away
Left out on a limb
Finds he needs her more because
She's no more need for him
He understood so very well
The things she had to say
Soon he'll understand that he is better off this way
Brief candles in his mind
Bright and tiny gems of memory
Brief candles burn so fine
Leaves a light inside where he can see
What makes it all worthwhile
His sadness makes him smile
In the corner see his face
The man just sips his drink
Not one feeling does he show
Far too numb to think
He does not say a single word
No word of love to say
Maybe he will soon believe he's better off this way
Brief candles in his mind
Bright and tiny gems of memory
Brief candles burn so fine
Leaves a light inside where he can see
What makes it all worthwhile
His sadness makes him smile
Lyrics submitted by xJoeBoothx
Brief Candles Lyrics as written by C. White
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Great version of a great song,
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The title of Brief Candles comes from Aldous Huxley's collection of stories Brief Candles.
Basically, telling a story about a break up...
and the love that burned in them went out...and as time passes, hopefully he'llc ome realize that it wasen't meant to be.
The title also refers to the "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'.
an amazing song...
A LOVE THAT'S FADING...AND A GIRL REALIZING SHE'S ENOUGH STRONG TO BEAR THAT PASSING FEELING.
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I think the song is a bit ambiguous than previous posters would have it, the relationship has ended, but is it really for the best?
They'll believe they are 'better off this way', but are they? really? That 'better off this way' feels like use of a deliberate cliche to indicate all is not what it seems, and that there's a degree of ambivalence there.
The harmonies on this track are amazing.
@potbelliedfool sorry meant 'bit more ambiguous'