Song Meaning
Mike Posner's lyrics, though sparse, cut to the bone of relationship regret. The opening lines function as both apology and desperate plea: "Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry / You don't know how lovely you are." It's a familiar post-breakup posture, that desperate attempt to rewind, to recapture the initial spark. The narrator acknowledges a deep misstep, a failure to recognize the other person's worth until it's too late. The repeated desire to "go back to the start" isn't just romantic longing; it's an admission of profound error, a wish to undo the choices that led to the present pain. The almost childlike simplicity of the lyrics belies the complex emotional undercurrent, that universal ache of lost love.
Posner’s lyrics also explore the frustrating chasm between logic and emotion. The lines "Running in circles, coming in tales / Heads are a science apart" suggests an intellectual understanding of the relationship's failure, yet an inability to reconcile that understanding with the heart's persistent yearning. He grapples with the futility of analysis, acknowledging that "questions of science, science and progress / Don't speak as loud as my heart." The heart, in its irrationality, drowns out any logical explanation, trapping him in a loop of longing.
The refrain, "Nobody said it was easy / It's such a shame for us to part / Nobody said it was easy / No-one ever said it would be this hard," is a stark acknowledgment of the painful reality. It's not just about the difficulty of relationships in general, but the specific, agonizing difficulty of *this* particular parting. The repeated phrase takes on a weary, almost defeated tone, underscoring the depth of the narrator's despair. Ultimately, the song meaning of Posner's contribution is about the enduring power of regret and the human tendency to romanticize the past, even when that past is fraught with difficulty.
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