What does Goodnight Goodnight mean?

Maroon 5: Goodnight Goodnight Meaning

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Album cover for Goodnight Goodnight album cover

Song Released: 2008


Goodnight Goodnight Lyrics

You left me hanging from a thread we once swung from together
I’ve lick my wounds but I can’t ever see them getting better
Something’s gotta change
Things cannot stay the same

Her hair was pressed against her face, her eyes were red with...

  1. anonymous
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    Aug 2nd 2020 !⃝

    Being the depressing person I am, I always interpreted this to be about a suicide. The melancholy and bittersweet tone of the song makes it sound like it's grieving and regretful. Maybe about a boy feeling guilty about his girlfriend's suicide, evident by "it's beyond me, I cannot carry the weight of the heavy world". Plus, "the room was silent as we all tried so hard to remember the way it feels to be alive the day that he first met her" Funeral. "I wake up every morning wishing one more time to face her" Guilt.

  2. anonymous
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    Apr 4th 2020 !⃝

    Lmao no guys. After listening to it again after 8 years, it's definitely a DDLG relationship that spiraled into pushing the 'girl' too far or the boundaries have been pushed. Hurting both.

  3. anonymous
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    Jul 19th 2018 !⃝

    I heard this for the first time yesterday while driving not sure how it ended up downloaded on my phone but I think it was probably on a list I looked at... I guess I must be morbid or lower than I thought because for the most part, all it reminded me of was suicide. Mainly the chorus but other parts too... Made me cry a little but thankfully my mood was pretty damn okay lol idk what itwas actually written about but like every other song there's always room for more than one and all depends on the person. But it definitly hit the subject of suicide for me, especially being a mom to two toddlers it sumed up the racing thoughts when I get down... Right in the feelers..lol

  4. anonymous
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    Jan 21st 2017 !⃝

    He was in a relationship with a girl and she left him hanging. She moved on and doesn't seem to want to take him back. He doesn't think he'll recover from the wounds of the break up. He hopes things work out ok with her. He tells her goodbye. It's a relationship that won't work out because he caused too much pain for her.

  5. Inna Fan
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    Jan 14th 2017 !⃝

    based on the video and lyrics; I think he was in a relationship with a younger girl. She liked him a lot and embraced him, but as time went on, her feelings for him stopped. He unintentionally hurt her somehow. There's a woman with short black hair in the video, but she had long hair, so either he cheated on her, or they were together that long. The main chick is on the phone in the next scene, and then she's upset, and yelling at Adam. I think she confirmed the affair was happening and leaves him. He ends up alone. He shows up when she's not expecting it, but she has a hurt look on her face, and almost like, "Please go away." Goodnight good night is a metaphor for goodbye.

  6. anonymous
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    Sep 22nd 2016 !⃝

    It's about a divorce and the father apologizing for what he put his daughter through.

  7. anonymous
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    Sep 15th 2016 !⃝

    This song, always makes me cry

  8. anonymous
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    Feb 23rd 2016 !⃝

    I feel like it might mean he's apologizing to a daughter (this gives me the idea from "I'm so sorry, I did not mean to hurt my little girl") for hurting her mentally and physically. Mentally = Probably getting a divorce and/or blaming her for the divorce.
    Physically = He gets drunk a lot and yells at the daughter, hits her and even threatens to kill her. Once the daughter is old enough to leave, he tries to apologize for all of the things he's done. The daughter kind of does and does not forgive him, and leaves. I think the name "Goodnight, Goodnight" means that he's been thinking of committing suicide because he hates himself for doing these things.

    I feel like this could be possible. "Harder to Breathe" WAS about burying his girlfriend alive, so who knows what the hell this is about.

  9. anonymous
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    Jan 28th 2016 !⃝

    I imagine my dad singing this song to me about my mom, as an apology. As morbid as it sounds, I daydream that this is how he would have expressed his regrets to me if she had not survived raising me, which she kinda didn't. They are both terribly broken people that I outgrew by 18. My dad tried to dedicate "The Reason" to me at my wedding and the DJ said it had already been dedicated to me by my mom. Get the picture? When having me wasn't enough to keep him, she pushed him away, and he has always been too weak to fight for me. So the happy songs remind me of my husband and children and the sad songs are always about my parents. It's the only way I have of soothing myself.

  10. anonymous
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    Oct 29th 2014 !⃝

    I just feeling a young girl (maybe less than 18 years old) in love with a old man (maybe older than the girl for 20 or more yrs old).
    This young girl recall his previous gf (maybe his girl friend is dead or leaving him) feeling. Finally,He know he cant stay with this girl like this anymore. So he has to leave to let her to find a better boy for her.
    How do you think?
    I love this song very much when I think like this

  11. anonymous
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    Jul 30th 2013 !⃝

    The man has separated with his wife.
    He felt sorry for the daughter.
    It hurts her and their live.
    He knows he can't replace her mom's place
    as a mom.
    But he promise that he will
    always there to reach her,
    for her happiness...

    Is this right? :)

  12. anonymous
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    Jul 27th 2012 !⃝

    I think it's about how his wife/girlfriend left him [they argue in the video] and he is apologetic and regrets his actions. He tells his daughter this story about him and her mother...and notes that the daughter resembles her mother but she can't replace her [which I think is rude but I may be wrong]. I'm not that good at interpretation but it's my best guess. I'm probably wrong.

  13. anonymous
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    Jul 18th 2012 !⃝

    I'm going to interpret this song line by line because I'm a fearless bastard, but generally, I get the feeling that this song is about a man who cheated on his girlfriend and is not as apologetic as one would expect.

    "You left me hanging from a thread we once swung from together
    I’ve lick my wounds but I can’t ever see them getting better
    Something’s gotta change
    Things cannot stay the same"
    She is so angered by his cheating that she leaves him to think about the scars in their relationship

    "Her hair was pressed against her face, her eyes were red with anger
    Enraged by things unsaid and empty beds and bad behavior
    Something’s gotta change
    It must be rearranged, oh"

    Pretty self explanatory,
    "Things unsaid" There's something he's not telling her
    "Empty beds" He leaves in the middle of the night to have sex with someone else;in the morning he's not there
    They can't keep going on like this

    "I’m sorry, I did not mean to hurt my little girl
    It's beyond me, I cannot carry the weight of the heavy world
    So goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
    Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
    Goodnight, hope that things work out all right, yeah
    Whoa"

    He's sorry and he didn't mean to hurt her by cheating on her, but by his nonchalant tone he doesn't really sound all that apologetic.
    So he's telling to relax,mull things over, and hopefully everything we'll work out alright.

    "The room was silent as we all tried so hard to remember
    The way it feels to be alive
    The day that he first met her
    Something’s gotta change
    Things cannot stay the same"

    They both try to remember how it felt when they were first in love, but they can't seem to recall the feeling anymore.

    "You make me think of someone wonderful, but I can’t place her"

    Burnnn. Anyway, the person she is now reminds him of the same girl he used to love; things have changed so drastically that he doesn't know who she is anymore.

    "I wake up every morning wishing one more time to face her
    Something’s gotta change
    It must be rearranged, oh"

    I guess now he starts to realize the effect of his actions and is waiting for her to return so that he can make things right

    Then the chorus repeats and we've gone over that

    "So much to love
    So much to learn
    But I won’t be there to teach you, oh
    I know I can be close
    But I try my best to reach you"

    She gathers her strength and leaves, he realizes that she's not coming back, but he'll continue trying because he realizes he really did love her

    And then the chorus repeats, woo!


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