if we could go back

would we take the same path

if we knew what we know



it feels like the future

is born from the past

but the present we hold



i dangle my feet

off the edge of the bed

and i look down below



there goes the sun again

there goes the time

but where does it go?



at the back of my mind



if i could go backwards in time

before i went wrong

before you went right

if i could go backwards in time

before you let go

if i could start over tonight

if we could give this

just one more try



if i could go backwards in time



could you help me go back?



help me go backwards tonight

before words were spoken

a million wrongs won’t make it right

my heart is still broken

it’s there in the back of my mind

i’m holding on, hoping

help me go backwards tonight

my heart is still broken



if i could go backwards in time

could you help me go back?



Behind the Song:

backwards in time: story behind the song

I didn’t graduate from UCSD, instead I chose to drop out and play music. Nevertheless, my “almost mater” still sends me newsletters and ways to give them money. One of the articles caught my eye- a philosophy professor tackling the subject of time. (I think I remember even his name was time related, like a misspelling of calendar or something) 

It got me thinking: If time is a “stubbornly persistent illusion” what would happen if we were able to journey outside of time? If we could go back, would we take the same path if we knew what we know? Would we make the same mistakes? Or did the mistakes that brought us here give us the insight to even call that decision a mistake?

My understanding of the professor’s insight was that the past, the present, and the future are comprised of the same “truth” even if it looks different to us. And if there is truly a way back, maybe redemption and forgiveness are the only way forward.

We recorded portions of this song in reverse, to give the listener a swimming, floating feeling. After all, reversing the tape might be the only time travel we’ve got.