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 I'm back in the full effect / I can't even hold myself erect
I got nothing that I want to say / I'm gonna say it anyway
I know you think that I've lost it, baby
I know you think that my star is fading / Used to be a contender
Now you're just a pretender / Psychic karaoke every weekend
You don't fit those clothes anymore
Why don't you take them back to the charity store
While you're there you could always hand yourself in
You're into green issues - start recycling
You hide behind your woman when you're out in your town
Show her up and blame her for holding you down
Holding you down, holding you down
You're the only one who's holding you down
You're only ever polite when you're out of your box
Cocker's short for... sucker / Sucker of... / Oh, oh
La na na na / Oh, oh / Sucker of... / Oh, oh / La na na na
Oh, oh / When I got up today I had that feeling again
Everything was OK, then the world started shaking
Now I'm trying to sleep it away / Oh but I can't sleep it away
Can you answer this question, can you answer it right:
Have you ever done anything good in your life?
Have you ever done anything that wasn't just for yourself?
Are you capable of giving? / Are you capable of giving just for the sake of it,
without expecting anything in return?
I'm only trying to give you what you've come to expect
Just another song 'bout single mothers and sex
Single mothers and sex, single mothers and sex
Just another song 'bout single mothers and sex
OK, you've heard it before, it's nothing special
But it's a living, can't you see / I'm a professional
Oh, oh / La na na na / Oh, oh / I'm a professional
Oh, oh / La na na na / Oh, oh / Sleep on my darling
Sleep on, don't wake as I leave / I've been rehearsing this scene so long now
Don't interrupt me as I do it for real / The bedroom floor is treacherous
A teacup could be disastrous / ''cause it'll mean I would have to say
What was written on the letter I posted yesterday
So that it would get here / When I was gone / And you awoke
Oh, she'll meet me from the train / And she'll never know a thing
About how I talk with my mouth full / And only bath once a week
How I'm nicer the first time you meet me than the next
And I'm rapidly losing interest in sex / Yeah, I'm rapidly losing interest in sex
What's the point in making it over-emotional? / You can do it the hard way
Or you can be a professional / Oh, oh / La na na na
Oh, oh / I'm a professional / Oh, oh / La na na na
Oh, oh / Sleep on my darling / Sleep on my love / Sleep on my darling
Sleep on my love / Sleep on my darling / Sleep on my love
Sleep on my darling / Sleep on my love
I got nothing that I want to say / I'm gonna say it anyway
I know you think that I've lost it, baby
I know you think that my star is fading / Used to be a contender
Now you're just a pretender / Psychic karaoke every weekend
You don't fit those clothes anymore
Why don't you take them back to the charity store
While you're there you could always hand yourself in
You're into green issues - start recycling
You hide behind your woman when you're out in your town
Show her up and blame her for holding you down
Holding you down, holding you down
You're the only one who's holding you down
You're only ever polite when you're out of your box
Cocker's short for... sucker / Sucker of... / Oh, oh
La na na na / Oh, oh / Sucker of... / Oh, oh / La na na na
Oh, oh / When I got up today I had that feeling again
Everything was OK, then the world started shaking
Now I'm trying to sleep it away / Oh but I can't sleep it away
Can you answer this question, can you answer it right:
Have you ever done anything good in your life?
Have you ever done anything that wasn't just for yourself?
Are you capable of giving? / Are you capable of giving just for the sake of it,
without expecting anything in return?
I'm only trying to give you what you've come to expect
Just another song 'bout single mothers and sex
Single mothers and sex, single mothers and sex
Just another song 'bout single mothers and sex
OK, you've heard it before, it's nothing special
But it's a living, can't you see / I'm a professional
Oh, oh / La na na na / Oh, oh / I'm a professional
Oh, oh / La na na na / Oh, oh / Sleep on my darling
Sleep on, don't wake as I leave / I've been rehearsing this scene so long now
Don't interrupt me as I do it for real / The bedroom floor is treacherous
A teacup could be disastrous / ''cause it'll mean I would have to say
What was written on the letter I posted yesterday
So that it would get here / When I was gone / And you awoke
Oh, she'll meet me from the train / And she'll never know a thing
About how I talk with my mouth full / And only bath once a week
How I'm nicer the first time you meet me than the next
And I'm rapidly losing interest in sex / Yeah, I'm rapidly losing interest in sex
What's the point in making it over-emotional? / You can do it the hard way
Or you can be a professional / Oh, oh / La na na na
Oh, oh / I'm a professional / Oh, oh / La na na na
Oh, oh / Sleep on my darling / Sleep on my love / Sleep on my darling
Sleep on my love / Sleep on my darling / Sleep on my love
Sleep on my darling / Sleep on my love
Lyrics submitted by life_aint_chess
The Professional Lyrics as written by Jarvis Branson Cocker Candida Doyle
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Jarvis' voice is so sexy in this song!