Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
I would rather not go
Back to the old house
I would rather not go
Back to the old house
There's too many bad memories
Too many memories there
When you cycled by
Here began all my dreams
The saddest thing I've ever seen
And you never knew
How much I really liked you
Because I never even told you
Oh, and I meant to
Are you still there or have you moved away?
Or have you moved away?
I would love to go
Back to the old house
But I never will
I never will
I never will
Back to the old house
I would rather not go
Back to the old house
There's too many bad memories
Too many memories there
When you cycled by
Here began all my dreams
The saddest thing I've ever seen
And you never knew
How much I really liked you
Because I never even told you
Oh, and I meant to
Are you still there or have you moved away?
Or have you moved away?
I would love to go
Back to the old house
But I never will
I never will
I never will
Lyrics submitted by Idan, edited by Mellow_Harsher, pookiepieaaron
Back to the Old House Lyrics as written by Johnny Marr Steven Morrissey
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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 Spy
Doors, The
Doors, The
Fortnight
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
The song 'Fortnight' by Taylor Swift and Post Malone tells a story about strong feelings, complicated relationships, and secret wishes. It talks about love, betrayal, and wanting someone who doesn't feel the same. The word 'fortnight' shows short-lived happiness and guilty pleasures, leading to sadness. It shows how messy relationships can be and the results of hiding emotions. “I was supposed to be sent away / But they forgot to come and get me,” she kickstarts the song in the first verse with lines suggesting an admission to a hospital for people with mental illnesses. She goes in the verse admitting her lover is the reason why she is like this. In the chorus, she sings about their time in love and reflects on how he has now settled with someone else. “I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary / And I love you, it’s ruining my life,” on the second verse she details her struggles to forget about him and the negative effects of her failure. “Thought of callin’ ya, but you won’t pick up / ‘Nother fortnight lost in America,” Post Malone sings in the outro.
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
it's about holding a strong connection to one person..
..in the start of the song he states that he obviously does not want to revisit the place of bad past memories..
..then he gets into the thought of this one person, making it seem like he/she was the only comfort he really had over there.. and this thought of them is strong enough to actually make him want to go back just to see if they're still there..
..but inside he knows he could never conjure up the strength to actually do it.. althought he would want to, just for this one person
this song in sense can be very sad, yes.
but really, i have never ever thought a smiths song was sad. beautiful yes. but never sad or depressing. just morbidly humorous.
Having mixed feelings about your past, whether you want to revisit them or not. and thinking about someone you had feelings for and wishing you would have told them and if that person still lives there or moved away. A very sad song.
I know that many Smith tunes are melancholic or whatever but this one is just too much. There are no uplifting guitar parts to make it bearable either. The whole thing is sad...to be reserved for sad break-ups, death and other serious issues.
ive been to the house of the boy i once loved, and il never go back again. its a shame but i dream about him from time to time. but il never go back to the old house
This is literally the saddest song i've ever heard.
I've had similar feelings about someone from my past. It may be a universal experience.
The electric version was the B-side of the 7-inch single of "What Difference Does It Make" (the 12-inch also included "These Things Take Time").
Many of the songs on Louder than Bombs were collected from earlier singles. Though I think it might be a US-only compilation, while in the UK the Smiths' singles compilation was called The World Won't Listen (with similar but not identical tracks, and a different running order).
I still regret selling (for pre-eBay-era prices) all those precious 12-inches I had, after I'd bought Louder than Bombs on CD. "How Soon is Now" sounded great on 12-inch vinyl. (Having put it on the B-side of "William It Was Really Nothing", Rough Trade evidently didn't anticipate what a defining moment for the band that track would be.)
This song comes across to me as one of the only songs by The Smiths that Morrissey sings in a completely sincere way, without a hint of sarcasm. I think it is beautiful and one of their most moving songs. I prefer the Hatful of Hollow version.
I heard the acoustic version from hoh first and it's spoiled the electric one for me really.
Hey, you guys from the 'this charming man' page! There's a bicycle on this one as well!
R E G R E T. i dont think i should feel so much at 16...