Coming in as track sixteen on 5 Seconds of Summer’s sophomore album, San Francisco is definitely one of our favourite tracks on the album but the most underrated. It is slowly becoming a fan favourite within the 5SOS fandom, with more and more fans recognizing it’s amazing tune, rhythm, lyrics, and meaning.
One of the reasons why we love San Francisco so much is that it kind of reminds us of Disconnected, but we love how unique they are as two dependent songs.
So do you know what San Francisco is really about? Read on and we’ll tell you exactly what the meaning between the lines are.
I can still taste you like it was yesterday; making plans to rule the world, you were more than I deserved. I see you running in the sand, long hair blowing in the wind, never thought that it would end.
This verse represents the male in the relationship looking back on the good memories that he’s had with his ex-girlfriend. He still remembers they way her lips tasted (because often a kiss is something that someone remembers the most in a relationship) and how it felt like it was the two of them against the world. He felt as though he didn’t deserve her, because she treated him better than he treated her.
He also flashed back to a memory of them on the beach and how it felt like to be together in that moment. How their feet carried them across the sand as they ran, how her long hair blew in the wind. Details and feelings like that, that made him the happiest.
Leaves fall from the tallest trees, even mountains crumble into the sea. Holding on to memories, and I can’t let go.
The beginning of the pre-chorus is a metaphor about how even the things that last longer than others, still have their end. Leaves that fall to the ground in the autumn season die eventually, and the ocean that he and his girlfriend shared memories at is now gone.
He’s broken, fragile, and weak; unable to move on from what he thinks is the best relationship he’s ever had.
I wanna get back to where we started to the summer night, you know (x4) we got it right. Yeah I wanna get back to San Francisco, in the fire light you know (x4) we had it right.
The chorus symbolizes the male wanting to go back in time to where it all began with his ex-girlfriend. He wants to relive the relationship from the very start; the start being in San Francisco, where it is assumed the couple was on a camping trip when it happened. The fire light is something he especially remembers from that night.
Remember that weekend when we got out of town? Drove into infinity, I held you ’til you fell asleep; without you, the smell of your perfume. Reminds me of when we were free, I swear that it’s still haunting me.
Still reminiscing on a distant memory, he recalls the time that they went out of town on a road-trip and how it felt like to hold her as she fell asleep in his arms. It felt as though the world stopped existing and it was just the two of them in their own little world.
He still remembers the smell of her perfume, which in turn triggers more monumental times that they shared together. It haunts him because he’s currently unhappy and all he wants is to feel free and be happy with her again.
We don’t gotta say anything, don’t gotta say anything, don’t say a word at all, don’t say a word at all (x2). I wanna get back to where we started to the summer night, you know (x4) we got it right.
This symbolizes how they don’t need words to describe the way they feel; their mouths don’t need to move, because their chemistry and their love speaks for them. He knows how badly she wants to relive their romance again; they both know how right it felt and how they got it right.
Summary
Overall, this song is about a relationship and different moments that happened throughout the romance. Memories that both the male and female reminisce on and how happy they were when they were together.
They had an epic romance and a great love story which began one night in San Francisco and took off from there.
Let us know what you think San Francisco is about by tweeting us @CelebMix and @CelebMix5SOS.