This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
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.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Your gross fabrication of pretext could bore.
Yet still I fall victim from syntax and omitted.
Just shy of something I could understand.
So blissful, I press on to the sound of the organs
Playing their most convincing tunes
As they serenade to the parade of paid off parts.
And the only thing left to discuss
Is the details of this armistice.
We’ve come to this agreement…
Check my vitals.
The truth is vile but vital to this cause.
I’ve been held hostage a captive of this passive shell.
Give me gravity, give me clarity. Give me something to rely on.
Tell me who’s pulling the strings;
Tell me who’s that move for.
We’re all puppets;
We’re all marionettes.
These body parts of plans.
Passed by my hands, my hands shake through handshakes
Forsaken by my limbs.
My limbs sing the hymns, the hymns of a tyrant
In a crumbling pantheon
As inhabitants will raise their fists and bid him disarm.
Tell me who’s pulling the strings;
Tell me who’s that you move for;
We’re all puppets
We’re all marionettes.
Oh, how I’ve been teething in light of your misleading.
You’ve caused this collapse between
The heart and the synapse.
Yet still I fall victim from syntax and omitted.
Just shy of something I could understand.
So blissful, I press on to the sound of the organs
Playing their most convincing tunes
As they serenade to the parade of paid off parts.
And the only thing left to discuss
Is the details of this armistice.
We’ve come to this agreement…
Check my vitals.
The truth is vile but vital to this cause.
I’ve been held hostage a captive of this passive shell.
Give me gravity, give me clarity. Give me something to rely on.
Tell me who’s pulling the strings;
Tell me who’s that move for.
We’re all puppets;
We’re all marionettes.
These body parts of plans.
Passed by my hands, my hands shake through handshakes
Forsaken by my limbs.
My limbs sing the hymns, the hymns of a tyrant
In a crumbling pantheon
As inhabitants will raise their fists and bid him disarm.
Tell me who’s pulling the strings;
Tell me who’s that you move for;
We’re all puppets
We’re all marionettes.
Oh, how I’ve been teething in light of your misleading.
You’ve caused this collapse between
The heart and the synapse.
Lyrics submitted by x_melancholy_x
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If you check out the interview AbsolutePunk.net has with Casey, you'll find out exactly what this song means. Basically: it's about how the mind (full of synapses and brain matter) is controlling the body without paying attention to the desires of the heart. It's ruling over every action of the limbs, like a dictator or a tyrant, going through the motions of life. The heart wants to come to an agreement, an armistice, so that it can give some meaning to life, but it falls through. There's a collapse of the mind's empire to make way for the vengeful heart. Or something like that. It's about the heart taking control, about doing things with purpose and reason.
vile but vital has it right up there ^
It is worth mentioning that this song and its theme are the central theme of the whole album. Obviously the title is in there, but this idea of the mind versus the heart is what they were going for with the whole cd. Listen to the rest of the album, and you will understand what an excellent job they did of it :)
"Oh, how I've been teething in light of your misleading..."
Hey, Music4aNurse, it's cool and all if you want to think that this album is about Christian beliefs, but If that really was the case, they'd have the genre listed as "Christian Rock" "Religious" or something to that extent. They wouldn't put it as "Experimental." Sure, if you want to stretch this within your own perception to apply better to yourself, that's fine, but I honestly find that anyone can grab any old song and find some fucked up way to link it to God. I myself am a devout Christian, but I believe that If these guys wanted to put out a Christian message, they really would've put out a Christian message. No offense, but your no better than the countless others who go to every other song on Song Meanings and post some comment about how this song is totally about God. If you think that it can be related to God in some form or fashion, then that's great, but make it expressly clear that it's your interpretation, and not what the band intended unless you personally know Brendan or Casey or anyone else in this band, or for any band whatsoever. Also, maybe I haven't been listening enough, but in BTHATS and TESMiFaMi I hear not a single reference to God even existing. Maybe they were smart and decided to up their appeal to a larger audience by leaving out the controversy of religion overall for the better of their music? If I was an atheist and I saw your comment, would I not lose some appreciation for this band because of the misinterpreted ideas of a shallow and presumptuous religious zealot? In conclusion, while I believe you may have worked very hard on your... presumptions... I find them overall to be entirely superficial and based on the false belief that The Receiving End of Sirens is a Christian band.
Personally, I'm going to agree with Casey, and the comments that vile and blc had to say. What they put is sufficient, I believe, to get the point of the song.
I agree with most of the points but there are lots of bands who's meanings could be interpreted as christian without the label of a "christian band", bands like blessthefall and emery are not labelled as christian bands but oftentimes write songs that sometimes seem to be christian, and he did say that it was his opinion. I'm still sure it's not a about christianity though because why would an artist lie in an interview about the meaning of their song?
have you even heard the song? i wish more people would put what they think of this song. sweet.
I like this song. Not sure what it's about though.
not only is this band amazing musically, but fuck man they are intelligent and sophisticated as well. ORGASIM
===== This Armistice
The gross fabrication of pretense could bore Yet still I fall victim to syntax omitted You're just too shy of something I could understand So blissful I press on To the sound of the organs Playing the most convincing tunes As they serenade to the parade of paid off parts
Now the only thing to discuss is.. The details of this armistice We've come to this agreement
Check my vitals The truth is vile, but vital to this cause I've been held hostage A captive of this passive shell Give me gravitiy, give me clarity Give me something to rely on
We're all puppets, we're all marionettes We're all puppets, we're all marionettes
[[Tell me who's pulling the strings Tell me who's that you move for]] [[[These body parts]]]
Are parts of plans [are parts of plans] Passed by my hands, my hands, my hands shake through handshakes [handshakes] Forsaken by my limbs My limbs sing the hymns The hymns of a tyrant In a crumbling pantheon As inhabitants will raise their fists and bid him to disarm
Check my vitals The truth is vile, but vital to this cause I've been held hostage A captive of this passive shell Give me gravitiy, give me clarity Give me something to rely on
We're all puppets, We're all marionettes We're all puppets, We're all marionettes We're all puppets, We're all marionettes We're all puppets, We're all marionettes [[Tell me who's pulling the strings Tell me who's that you move for Tell me who's pulling the strings Tell me who's that you move for...]]
Now the only thing left to discuss is The details of this armistice We've come to this agreement
For now I've been teething In light of your misleading You've caused this collapse Between the heart and the synapse Oh, how I've been teething In light of your misleading You've caused this collapse Between the heart and the synapse
[[[Tell me who's pulling the strings Tell me who's that you move for Tell me who's pulling the strings Tell me who's that you move for We're all puppets We're all marionettes]]]
These strings and joints will join us together These strings and joints will join us
The guitar work in this song is fucking disgusting.
In a good way.
this song is amazing, it is one of those songs that grows on you The first time i heard it i thought it was OK but now im addicted
Yeah, NightPride911 has the acoustic version's lyrics up. Both versions are amazing.