Leaving the worst behind
Seeing the best is right in front of me
Caught in the chains that bind
Running away from anything that breathes
Of all the things I've said and done
I've burned a bridge and then some
There's no one else I trust to come through

You and me
Will get it done eventually
When all the world will burn
To the point of no return
I know it's true
I found it all comes down to you

Given this frantic pace
Just having a friendly face to share my pain
Well gimme another go
Just giving it one more show for one more day
I've come to think of all the friends I thought I could depend on
No one else can do what you do oh

You and me will get it done eventually
When all the world will burn
To the point of no return
I know it's true
I've found it all comes down to you and me
Oh, you and me
Falling down the rabbit hole with me
Oh, you and me
Will get to there eventually

You and me
Will get it done eventually
When all the world will burn
To the point of no return
I know it's true
I've found it all comes down to you and me
Oh, you and me
And all the world will burning

According to US

Ah, it's us against the world. Again. I'm such a sucker for romance that I don't care that this subject is covered on practically every album. This combines my favorite topic with my favorite type of RS tune - a slow one. :) Don't you agree that Rick should get back to writing some ballads? Ok, maybe it's just me. That's fine, I can be the sole ballad lover of the group. I'll wear that badge proudly.
I love that he's on a stool, playing acoustic on the stage for this one. There's just no other way to convey the essence of this song. I can imagine him sitting at home, in the kitchen on the stool at the counter singing this one. Because you know, that's what I'm picturing going on at his house. The wife is cooking a meal, the kids are watching tv or playing video games, and Rick is doing what Rick does. Singing and playing guitar, writing songs such as these. (My review, my head, deal with it.)
I can't even quote lyrics for this one, because they’re all sigh-worthy for me. I'd just be copying the damn song over again. <---- look over there, there they are. I'd just like someone to write a song about me with words similar to these someday. Tell me I'm your everything. Tell me that we are strongest when we fight together. Tell me I'm beautiful (wait, that's another tune). I know it's true, I'd just like some male figure affirming my beliefs in a beautiful song like this one here.
So if the word had ended in 2012, and this was the last song I'd heard, I'd be okay with that. Thankfully that didn't happen, and there's more to come. Hopefully another us against the world ballad. I can't seem to get enough of those. - Michelle
I really like this song, but I'm having a hard time finding much to say about it. It's kind of a perfect little love song. Nice music, nice lyrics, nice voice. Love the voice. But if I were to guess, this just feels like it has Matt's touch all over it, and that's one of the things that makes it hard to review these songs. You're not quite sure who to give the credit to. And this song has a 3rd writer - Ron Cohen, who is he and what was his contribution? I really liked the way this song first came to us, released as a "mystery artist". Of course we knew right away, but I really do think this song could be on the radio. I was in the balcony once when Rick performed this song, the audience wasn't typical, it was a fund raiser, and they were there to party, so there was a lot of talking during the performance. He wisely skipped My Father's Chair which was to come after this because I think he knew that was not the audience for that song - rlh

Sorry for the delay in sending this review: major drama at my house. Well, not major in the catastrophic sense, just major in the "Calgon, take me away" sense. Sigh...I WILL make it one more  week until R and I go on another adventure!
So, where were we?
Ah, yes, You & Me.
I absolutely love the intro to this song. Very nice guitar work, lovely singing, nice little bass line...it is just beautiful. (I also secretly LOVE the way Rick sings the word "right" as in "right in front of me." I don't know why I like that weird lispy, over-enunciating thing he does, but I do! I really, really do!)
I like the songs that highlight Rick's singing voice, and this one truly does. He sounds like a singer who also plays guitar, as opposed to what he most likely is: a guitar player who can also sing.
Another thing I like is that the song brings to mind Ordinary Girl in the sense that it sounds like an ode to Barbie. Specifically, lines like "friendly face to share my pain" show that same "ordinary" quality. He's not telling her that she's an amazing goddess, but rather, he's being brutally honest - she is a friendly face, and ordinary girl.
That, on the surface may sound insulting, but I don’t think it is. Generally men who tell women that they are princesses or queens (pick your noun) are being either A) insincere for some reason (because they want something?) or B) overly dramatic (because it is easier than expressing a real feeling.) Regardless, I think it is a beautiful sentiment – a man telling a woman that he loves her because she's his "friendly face to share pain" or his "ordinary girl" who "opens up his soul."
So, right, this song certainly seems to be about his wife and their relationship.
HOWEVER
There is certainly an argument to be made that it fits in with my little idea that this album is all about the great fight between good and evil. How so? I'll tell you...
The good/God/nature = His references to "seeing the best is right in front of me" and "trust to come through". Best and trust are good concepts, often associated with Christ and/or general contentment.
The nature theme is seen in his use of "world will burn." Fire (sometimes a bad thing) is also sometimes a very good thing. Fire cleanses, it destroys the bad and leaves a fresh pallet on which new images can form.
Bad/Satan/Evil/War = He is still talking about those "chains that bind". Bind? Like Satan binds, like prisoners are bound, like tight bindings around us that keep us from freedom...all baddies, in the conventional sense.
"Leaving the worst" – self-explanatory. The worst is, well, the final stop on the bad spectrum. It’s bad 2.0.
And, he is talking about “burning bridges” AGAIN. Burning one’s bridges, in the figurative sense is often a bad thing. You can’t call your boss a dick the day you quit your job and then expect him to give you a good reference. You’ve burned that bridge!
Burning bridges in a literal sense is often used in war in order to cut off the enemy's ability to follow, attack, or get supplies. Either way, bridge burning = bad.
And Humanity? The "friends he thought he could depend on", the "friendly face", and the most obvious reference, the "you and me" - can't really get more human than him addressing himself.
As for the deadly sin, I see it in the line, "running away from anything that breathes." When we run away from something (unless it is chasing us with a bat) we are often being emotionally lazy. We don't want conflict or intimacy or Jehovah's Witnesses on our doorsteps, so we run rather than stand and "fight." That emotional laziness is a form of sloth-– and that, my friends, is indeed a deadly sin.
Now, before I move on, I want to address one more line: "falling down the rabbit hole with me." All the fans of Alice in Wonderland will know that the rabbit hole led to a very strange place. Many have used that whole rabbit hole thing as a reference to either drugs or some other "vice." (Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit, for example. Also, the Matrix movies.) And what is a "vice"? It's an addiction. So, for me, this reference could be his nod to his "bad thing" that keeps torturing him. (See the I Hate Myself review for more on the addiction concept.) As such, this could also be viewed as the deadly sin of gluttony. The rabbit hole is a place of great excesses - Alice eats the cake and gets huge, then she eats more cake and gets small - - cake, cake, cake - -  gluttony at its finest.
So, at first glance, You & Me could be a beautiful tribute to Rick's wife.
But, it could also be part of the album’s bigger picture...
YOU AND ME ... YOU could be his addiction, evil, good, Satan, Humanity, God...
Think about it...You and me, we'll get it done eventuall...…what will be done? The relationship, as in you and me will be done? That allows room for the bad things.
He could be saying, "HEY Sex/Depression/Addiction, you bastard, we will get to there (the end of our time together?) eventually! The world (my depression?) will burn, and I'll be shed of you for good!"
Or...
He could be saying, "HEY, God/Mother Earth/My fellow humans, we will get there (peace/happiness/general GOODNESS) eventually. Hang on! This world will burn (like those figurative bridges) and there will be cleansing/healing, and we will get it done.
Or he could be saying that he really likes using pronouns.
Who knows? But ain’t it fun to speculate? - Ann Tolar Davis