Lyrics
Take Back the Night Lyrics
Intro: Establishing the song's title
Chorus:
Chorus: Rejection of ownership or control over the night, a sense of impossibility to reclaim it
Take Back The Night, Yea Right
-It will never be mine
-Take Back the Night, Yea Right
-It will never be mine
-Verse:
Beginning of the verses
Take Back the panic stricken fear
Desire to overcome panic and fear, seeking peace to sleep without the constant struggle for survival
Or just have it for the year
-Maybe then I could
-Sleep through the night
-Not praying for flight
-Staying alive is the fight
-Explain to my eyelids why they close so rarely
Struggle with insomnia despite attempts at sedation, feeling like barely existing
Despite heavy sedation
-This is living barely
-Take back the unsung shame
Wanting to confront and reclaim hidden shame, acknowledging a lack of familiarity with the source
That’s still hiding in the darkness though
-I never knew your name
-Chorus:
Reiteration of the chorus, emphasizing the impossibility of claiming the night
Take Back The Night, Yea Right
-It will never be mine
-Take Back the Night, Yea Right
-It will never be mine
-Verse:
Request to retrieve genuine joy and happiness, questioning the expectation to smile despite internal struggles and pain
Take back your laugh, your teeth
-Serrated edges of a knife and in the balance hangs my life
-Why don’t you hold it for a while
-Explain the neverending sinking when you tell me to smile
-Baby, why don’t you smile, play it safe for me
Desire for an authentic emotional expression, questioning the authenticity of a smile in the face of suffering
Why don’t you smile so I know for sure
-What is looks like when you cry
-Chorus:
Restating the futility of reclaiming the night
Take Back The Night, Yea Right
-It will never be mine
-Take Back the Night, Yea Right
-It will never be mine
-Verse:
Desire to reverse the impact of stress on loved ones, questioning the fairness in dealing with emotional distress caused by someone else
Take back the wrinkles from my mother’s face
-The look of utter shame I could never erase
-You owe me money for the shrink
-It’s only fair to split the bill if you think
-Take back the meds that are supposed to relax me
-From the fact that you exist
-Chorus:
Reiteration of the impossibility of reclaiming the night
Take Back The Night, Yea Right
-It will never be mine
-Take Back the Night, Yea Right
-It will never be mine
-BRIDGE:
Reflecting on whether deserving love or experiencing violence, feeling trapped in a body not truly felt as one's own
Do I deserve the love or the violence
-Though I live in silence in a body that’s not mine
-Chorus:
Repeating the chorus, emphasizing the unattainability of claiming the night
Take Back The Night, Yea Right
-It will never be mine
-Take Back the Night, Yea Right
-It will never be mine
-You are nowhere to be found
Sense of the absence yet pervasiveness of an elusive presence
Yet you are all around
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