Beauty finds refuge in herself
Lovers wrapped inside each others lies
Beauty is such a terrible thing
She is suffering yet more than death

She is suffering
She sucks you deeper in
She is suffering
You exist within her shadow

Beauty she is scarred into man's soul
A flower attracting lust, vice and sin
A vine that can strangle life from a tree
Carrion, surrounding, picking on leaves

She is suffering
She sucks you deeper in
She is suffering
You exist within her shadow

Beauty she poisons unfaithful all
Stifled, her touch is leprous and pale
The less she gives the more you need her
No thoughts to forget when we were children

She is suffering
She sucks you deeper in
She is suffering
Nature's luke-warm pleasure.


Lyrics submitted by ShiverForMe

She Is Suffering Lyrics as written by Edwards Bradfield

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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She Is Suffering song meanings
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15 Comments

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  • +5
    General Comment

    She = beauty. Beauty is suffering. Beauty is torture to those who can never possess it... and of course beauty would be personified as female, but I don't see the song as misogynistic, just a recognition of the darker nature of beauty, the pain and lust and vice it causes among those who "exist within its shadow". she is suffering indeed.

    mayhapson June 24, 2006   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    The she in question isn't suffering but desire. Desire only causes lust sin you can never be pure if u still have desire. The only way to find peace to stop all suffering to get to a better place is to lose all desire. In my opinion without desire we are no longer human to lose all desire would be to be of a different conciousness or to be dead. There is no rest for humanity.

    MissDon August 30, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Richey always stressed that whole desire thing, but it works on a more basic level as well. It can be summed up on this level as having the message that If You Possess Beauty, You Are It's Victim.

    fourgangeron November 14, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I've always felt this song, and the "desire" theme a thin veil for a straight up infatuation of Richey's for someone who wasn't interested.

    ithillionon January 17, 2006   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Richey said that the "nature's luke warm pleasure bit" referred to sex. Disturbing but honest insight into how screwed his mind was before he disappeared...

    Smart Alexon April 26, 2007   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    for me this song ties in with the last verse of keats' poem "ode on melancholy" which talks about the transience of beauty and how it will always die and with that there will always be self hating afterwards because with beauty comes vanity. i also agree with some of the comments that have been made here about desire being the root of sin and of course dissapointment.

    Culture Floweron September 27, 2008   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Beauty = not to be taken at face value, not always a good thing. The buddhist concept of wanting things equalling suffering- if you don't want, you can't experience the sadness of not having what you want. And 'Nature's lukewarm pleasure'- Feel like this is Richey's view on sex. Enjoyable but afterward you regret it, wonder why you did it, it's messy, etc. Disdain for things commonly accepted as human needs, refusal to simply accept that without questioning.

    thisnameplson April 17, 2011   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    "she" is beauty. as any beautiful woman knows, they exist within the shadow. they are a beautiful woman long before they are a human being on any level. and it goes the other way too. one who is ugly will also live within the shadow of beauty, though as something cast aside for a better thing. also the sad beauty that populates noir films. a vine that can strangle the life from a tree. these women are beautiful and because of it have been thrust into situations that suffocate them. beauty is a curse, drawing all attention, good and bad, and also scorning everything around it that's less beautiful, simply by being. i read that the band was unsure of this song and felt it had misogynist tones, but i wholeheartedly disagree. it feels like an objective view (of beauty) which belongs to someone entirely occupied with his own shit and, (this is incorrect, but it gets the point across most easily.) ironically, making himself beautiful.

    comuson March 04, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    amazing song, i like the interpretation of how beauty is suffering, and the interpretation of desiring something you cannot obtain. they both seem to work well

    King of Some Islandon November 18, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    "'She' is desire. In other Bibles and Holy Books no truth is possible until you empty yourself of desire. All commitment otherwise is fake/lies/economic convenience. "Salvation is purity"" (Richey James; THB Tourbook)

    "It's quite a simple song, both musically and lyrically. It's kind of like the Buddhist thing where you can only reach eternal peace by shedding every desire in your body. I think the last line, 'Nature's lukewarm pleasure', is Richey's view on sex. I can't really explain it, but that's the way he sees it." (Nicky Wire; Melody Maker 27.8.94

    manic4manicson September 22, 2012   Link

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