He certainly did earn that reputation.
This is the story of your red right ankle
And how it came to meet your leg
And how the muscle, bone, and sinews tangled
And how the skin was softly shed
And how it whispered
Oh adhere to me
For we are bound by symmetry
And whatever differences our lives have been
We together make a limb
This is the story of your red right ankle
This is the story of your gypsy uncle
You never knew 'cause he was dead
And how his face was carved and rift with wrinkles
In the picture in your head
And remember how you found the key
To his hideout in the Pyrenees
But you wanted to keep his secret safe
So you threw the key away
This is the story of your gypsy uncle
This is the story of the boys who loved you
Who love you now and loved you then
And some were sweet, and some were cold and snuffed you
And some just laid around in bed
Some had crumbled you straight to your knees
Did it cruel, did it tenderly
Some had crawled their way into your heart
To rend your ventricles apart
This is the story of the boys who loved you
This is the story of your red right ankle
And how it came to meet your leg
And how the muscle, bone, and sinews tangled
And how the skin was softly shed
And how it whispered
Oh adhere to me
For we are bound by symmetry
And whatever differences our lives have been
We together make a limb
This is the story of your red right ankle
This is the story of your gypsy uncle
You never knew 'cause he was dead
And how his face was carved and rift with wrinkles
In the picture in your head
And remember how you found the key
To his hideout in the Pyrenees
But you wanted to keep his secret safe
So you threw the key away
This is the story of your gypsy uncle
This is the story of the boys who loved you
Who love you now and loved you then
And some were sweet, and some were cold and snuffed you
And some just laid around in bed
Some had crumbled you straight to your knees
Did it cruel, did it tenderly
Some had crawled their way into your heart
To rend your ventricles apart
This is the story of the boys who loved you
This is the story of your red right ankle
Lyrics submitted by sendthestars
Red Right Ankle Lyrics as written by Colin Meloy
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
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Being as this is my first post, I'm going to go out on a limb with my metaphorical interpretation of this song, most explicitly, the first verse.
I see it being about a boy who is deeply in love with a girl. He "is" her red right ankle in the fact that he is an essential part of her. I would have to say that her ankle is red because she tried to saw it off i.e. she tried get rid of him. (And how the muscle bone and sinews tangled / And how the skin was softly shed) But he's telling her that she can’t do that because no matter what happens, they belong with each other. (We together make a limb.) It’s meant to be.
It’s a very moving song, nonetheless.