It's All Been Done

The speaker imagines meeting the same person across different eras, but each encounter ends in separation or disappointment. The repeated claim that it has “all been done before” gives the song a playful, weary mood: romance may feel exciting, yet its familiar patterns can also seem predictable. The speaker wonders whether even a new attempt to express love will receive only a bored response.

The references to “the fall of Rome,” “the west was won,” and a “thirtieth century night” stretch the relationship across vast stretches of time. They suggest that the same emotional story keeps repeating, rather than describing a literal shared history. “The same three chords” can mean a simple, familiar love song, while “yawn” implies that the listener has heard the declaration many times and is no longer impressed.

The lyrics leave open whether the speaker is joking about romantic clichés, feeling genuinely tired of repeating them, or doing both at once. The imagined future meeting on “The Price is Right” is deliberately odd and humorous, making the speaker’s loneliness less solemn. The song’s refrain may express resignation, but its lively, repeated delivery also makes repetition feel entertaining rather than entirely hopeless.