In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Well, ring the bell backwards and bury the axe
Fall down on your knees in the dirt
I'm tied to the mast between water and wind
Believe me, you'll never get hurt
Our ring's in the pawnshop, the rain's in the hole
Down at the Five Points I stand
I'll lose everything
But I won't let go of your hand
Well, Peter denied and Judas betrayed
I'll pay with the roll of the drum
And the wind will tell the turn from the wheel
And the watchman is making his rounds
Well, you'll leave me hanging by the skin of my teeth
I've only got one leg to stand
You can send me to hell
But I'll never let go of your hand
Swing from a rope on a cross-legged dream
Signed with One Eyed Jack's blood
From Temple and Union, to Weyley and Grand
Walking back home in the mud
Now I must make my best of the only way home
Marley deals only in stones
I'm lost on the midway, I'm reckless in your eyes
Just give me a couple more throws
I'll dare you to dine with the cross-legged knight
Dare me to jump and I will
I'll fall from your grace
But I'll never let go of your hand
I'll never let go of your hand
Fall down on your knees in the dirt
I'm tied to the mast between water and wind
Believe me, you'll never get hurt
Our ring's in the pawnshop, the rain's in the hole
Down at the Five Points I stand
I'll lose everything
But I won't let go of your hand
Well, Peter denied and Judas betrayed
I'll pay with the roll of the drum
And the wind will tell the turn from the wheel
And the watchman is making his rounds
Well, you'll leave me hanging by the skin of my teeth
I've only got one leg to stand
You can send me to hell
But I'll never let go of your hand
Swing from a rope on a cross-legged dream
Signed with One Eyed Jack's blood
From Temple and Union, to Weyley and Grand
Walking back home in the mud
Now I must make my best of the only way home
Marley deals only in stones
I'm lost on the midway, I'm reckless in your eyes
Just give me a couple more throws
I'll dare you to dine with the cross-legged knight
Dare me to jump and I will
I'll fall from your grace
But I'll never let go of your hand
I'll never let go of your hand
Lyrics submitted by Anderson_Council, edited by JohnGoralskiJr
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Man this song is great, that new Tom Waits stuff is great. I can't exactly navigate through all of the metaphor and imagery in this song but it seems basically to be about commitment to unrequited love.
I'd love to hear more about some of the specific lyrics and see what people have to think about them, though.
I'd say its about unconditional love. Well thats the way I like to think about it.
First few times I heard this I took it for a love song. But the music sounds like an old-fashioned hymn. And look at the language - "send me to hell", "fall from your grace". He could be talking to god. A lot of those old hymns sound like love songs & not a few love songs sound like hymns. Whose hand is he holding? Does it matter? A little bit of ambiguity never did anybody any harm.
Waits seems to have a common motif of lover as God, but it does seem to me that he's speaking to an actual person, rather than a divinity despite the Biblical images.
The song to me is about a yearning which lasts beyond all hope or despair. He will hold onto the (metaphorical) hand of the song's subject, no matter what she does or thinks of him. Is it creepy? Certainly. Is it powerful? Yes. Love, especially the hopeless love of Tom Waits, takes place beyond good and evil.
I love the switch, using the same images, from suicide to damnation ("Dare me to jump"/"Fall from your grace"), all in the same context.
I doubt this is about a literal person, though it always could just be exaggeration about the love between two people.
I also agree with the idea of him singing about God, or the World in general, much like Cave did on There She Goes My Beautiful World. The idea seems to be that regardless of what happens to you in life, you refuse to stop living it.
Lyrics like "dare me to jump" make sense in that context: the world puts risks and iffy situations in our path, and Waits is saying every time it tempts him like that he's going to give it his all.
That's the way I prefer to read it, anyway. It is just as likely that it's about God or a specific lover.