(Singing:)
Picture yourself in a nightmarish scene of such
Grotesque complexity that you'd kill to be dreaming
Your body's been dying while your mind has been trying to make you
Picture a life where you'd kill for your lover
And a song in your head, the deaths of countless others
Will set up the lyrics for your symphony
That's where you'll find me

(Speaking:)
Something awful has happened here
This is so much worse than I ever could have imagined
I knew all along that this man should not have been released my care
Oh god, what's happened here
He's completely torn his entire apartment apart
The smell is overpowering, a fowl, pungent odor
Rotten food or... I don't know... Possibly something worse
But there's something else that's almost overpowering that...
I think it's a woman's perfume
Oh no, no..
I found the patient, he's lying on the floor in the center of the living room
Completely naked, emaciated, deathly pale
It appears he hasn't eaten anything at all for weeks
The infection has spread up his arms, it must have reached his brain
There's bulging bright red veins all the way up from his wrist to his neck
There's empty bottles everywhere of alcohol, medication...
My god the smell is sickening
There's blood coming from his mouth, nose, ears
He's not dead yet, but he's close
I failed, this is my fault
And somehow, he's smiling at me
I think he's whispering something
No, not just whispering, I think he's singing......

(Background singing:)
This is the end
This is death
Now, place your ear to my lips
Trace these notes with your fingertips
They dance alone on my last breath
This is the end
This is death

(Singing:)
The lines I wear around my wrist are there to prove that I exist (20x)
(someone call an ambulance, 'cause something's not right)
(the smell of her perfume struggles to cover everything)

We were inseparable (6x)


Lyrics submitted by horrible22, edited by HDS

Dying song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

15 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    This is a concept album. Which means that the entire album tells a story. Each song is a different installment in the story of the nameless patient. Somtimes the perspective is switched from the patient to the doctor to the deceased wife. My interpretation of the story goes as follows.

    Introducing - The doctor is talking about how he has released the patient from the hospital again, indicating it's not the first time he's been released. The patient was hospitalized because he suffered from violent horrible nightmares and killed his wife whom he loved very much in his sleep. The patient is catatonic, which is just a state of non-responsivness, almost.

    Dreaming - This song is about the night that the Patient kills his wife. He suffocates her while having a nightmare.

    Waking - The Patient wakes up to realise what he's done. He calls the police and turns himself in and he is waiting for the ambulance. He can't believe what he's done, he wants to take it back. He covers the house with her perfume.

    Sentencing - The judge and the doctors decide whether to charge him with murder and send him to jail or decalre him mentaly instable and send him to the hospital. The doctor thinks he shoudl be hospitalized.

    Medicating - The Patient is in the hospital and tries to convince the doctor to release him. He wants to go back to his life and he thinks that the hospital is just making him worse. The doctor agrees and releases him from the hospital.

    Purging - The Patient hsa been released and is returning into society. Everyone is shocked at his quick return into society/work considering what he did. The guilt becomes overpowering inside of him and he cuts off his hands so he won't ever kill again.

    Relapsing - The Patient is back in the hospital after cutting off his hands and he begins to hear his wife's voice in his head. He begins trying to fill his emptiness by writing a song inside his head.

    Recovering - The Patient is on medication since he is catatonic and he is also obviously on painkillers due to his lack of hands. He begins taking more pills than necessary and all he can hear is the song inside of his head. He takes more and more pills to keep the song playing.

    Composing - The Patient convinces the doctor he's getting better and requests to see his friends and family because he thinks it'll help him recover. He has everyone over for dinner and poisons them all, killing them. He is "composing" his song by killing people and he thinks that he can see his wife. The song in his head keeps her alive in his mind.

    Disintegrating - The Patient is completely isolated with the song inside his head. He is abusing alcohol and drugs and in a state between the living and dead. He's thinking of everyone he's killed and needs a finale to his song.

    Healing - The Patient has called the doctor and he feels the song in his head coming to an end. By this time he's barely even alive and he has made a choice to get better, that's why he called the doctor. He is waiting for the doctor to arrive and take him to the hospital. The song in his head is what is keeping him alive.

    Dying - The Doctor finally arrives for the Patient and finds him close to death lying in his apartment. He can smell the odour of the bodies that are most likely still in the apartment and he can smell a woman's perfume, the Patient's wife's perfume. The Patient knows he is dying and he knows what he did. He is finally responding and I think he is happy he is dying cause he will be with his wife. He is looking back at everythign that happened and he is just giving up on the song and on living.

    Of course this is all just my interpretation who knows if I'm even close. Hahah oh well let me know what you think.

    wishfulthinking167on December 05, 2005   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example: "'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Album art
Blue
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.