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?
What we learned here is love tastes bitter when it's gone
Past yourself forget the light, things look dirty when it's on
Funny how it comes to pass, that all the good slips away
And there's no one around you can remember being good to you
Shame, shouldn't try you, couldn't step by you
And open up more
Shame, shame, shame
What we lost here is something better left alone
Second steps been forgotten, will you tell me how they go
Set yourself, situate, like a fool try again
There's no one around you can remember being good, for you so
Shame, shouldn't try you, couldn't step by you
And open up more
Shame, shame, shame
Shame, shouldn't try you, couldn't step by you
And open up more
Shame, shame, shame
We never thought we'd getter so troubled
We could never think that much
It should never get this bad
So let the wind blow ya across a big floor
But there's no one around who can tell us what we're here for
Funny in a certain light, how we all seem to look the same
And there's no one in life you can remember ever stood
For you, so
Shame, shouldn't try you, couldn't step by you
And open up more
Shame, shame, shame
Shame, shouldn't try you, couldn't step by you
And open up more
Shame, shame, shame
Past yourself forget the light, things look dirty when it's on
Funny how it comes to pass, that all the good slips away
And there's no one around you can remember being good to you
Shame, shouldn't try you, couldn't step by you
And open up more
Shame, shame, shame
What we lost here is something better left alone
Second steps been forgotten, will you tell me how they go
Set yourself, situate, like a fool try again
There's no one around you can remember being good, for you so
Shame, shouldn't try you, couldn't step by you
And open up more
Shame, shame, shame
Shame, shouldn't try you, couldn't step by you
And open up more
Shame, shame, shame
We never thought we'd getter so troubled
We could never think that much
It should never get this bad
So let the wind blow ya across a big floor
But there's no one around who can tell us what we're here for
Funny in a certain light, how we all seem to look the same
And there's no one in life you can remember ever stood
For you, so
Shame, shouldn't try you, couldn't step by you
And open up more
Shame, shame, shame
Shame, shouldn't try you, couldn't step by you
And open up more
Shame, shame, shame
Lyrics submitted by punkmebabygal
Shame Lyrics as written by Rob Thomas
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
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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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
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This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
I agree this song is about a relationship, but it goes beyond that. It's about being disappointed by people in general. It reminds me of when my parents got divorced nine years ago. I was more mad at them for not being honest and making it work than I was sad they were apart. When you reach that time of disappointment and despair, it doesn't matter who still loves you: you feel completely isolated in the world. The worst is when it's your fault, and you know it's your fault, and you feel that personal sense of shame and regret. This is such a beautiful song. It really defined and fulfilled my early-adolescent need for abject depression. Funny, but true.
Hi, LittleBriddie. I wonde if you could help me understand what they mean with "big floor" in "So let the wind blow ya, across the big floor." I'm brazilian and sometimes I misunderstand meaning in expressions like these. Thanx.
This is such a great song, great beat and the lyrics are sweet too. I love the first verse of the song and the chorus is great. Matchbox 20 is great!
I love this song. Not only are the lyrics great but the guitar in this song is wonderful. I love to listen to it when I'm going to sleep.
The sadness at the end of a relationship that is failing and going nowhere.......but for no real reason
He's been burned in a bad way by people, and now he can't help but look at everything in a negative light. He feels that people are all the same, and he's lost his belief that people, life, the world is good. He's basically saying it's a shame that he has this view on the world. Very depressing, but then again, it's Matchbox Twenty.
I wanted to say, Unconquered Sun, not everything about MB20 is depressing, some lyrics are inspiring, uplifting and relieving. To me, this is one of them. I haven't particularly heard of what this song is about, but I always thought it was about a relationship you cared a lot for, going bad. It's one of my favourites, actually. It reminds me so much of how my best friend and I screwed up our relationship by hooking up. I always regretted giving in, because after that our friendship was never ever the same...And so the lines "shame, should't try you, couldn't stand by you and open up more..." really tell about my own dissapointment and sadness about it... And I say to myself: "We never thought we'd get so troubled...it should never get this bad..." :'(
Gabigs, I got the same thing goin' on with this song...I've never really had a "best" friend before, but I met this girl, and I swear to God she and I were...she was the best friend I'd ever had. She ended up really liking me a lot, and for months I knew I liked her too but I wouldn't admit it to anyone, even myself...when I finally decided to give it a shot with us two, I screwed us both over. We were never the same either.
Fantastic song. I love the "Funny in a certain light, how we all look the same, and there's no one in life you can remember ever stood for you." It's sort of the idea that he knows that deep down, we're all the same with the same intentions, and it feels like those intentions are all against him. He feels he's best on his own, because he can't remember a time when anyone's ever really stood for him.
The other reason I love this song is because it basically describes me to a "T."
This song makes me think of a lot of things I've done that I'm ashamed of now, things I did because I was hurt or lonely and did for no other reason but that.
It kind of makes me think how I was at this time in my life a few years ago... this guy that I'd loved for YEARS upon years pretty much screwed me over and I was so completely devastated... I had no one else to turn to, so I ended up sort of getting back with an ex of mine for a while, because there was no one else around... it was very shameful.
Pretty much all the lyrics describe that situation... "We never thought we'd get so troubled/ We could never think that much/ It should never get this bad."
I love this song to pieces though, as unpleasant as the memories are it recalls, it's happy to sing.
“about the bitch that threw me out of the house and gave all my clothes to Good Will.”
Another break up song? A really bitter break up?