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Rasputina – Transylvanian Concubine Lyrics 14 years ago
Just a correction:

"Their dead, their sighs, and their songs"

should be:

"Their dead Messiah's their song"

submissions
Gillian Welch – Scarlet Town Lyrics 14 years ago
Just a correction: It's "Look at that deep well, look at that dark grave."

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PJ Harvey – Broken Harp Lyrics 14 years ago
Correction: The first point should say this:

-Her life is empty except for her lover, but he's bored with her and wants her to entertain herself rather than solely living off her relationship with him

submissions
PJ Harvey – Broken Harp Lyrics 14 years ago
I think this song is about a deeply unhealthy relationship. Polly's character has fallen in love with someone monstrous and/or evil.

"Please don't reproach me
For how empty my life has become."

-Her life is empty except for her lover, but he's bored with her and wants her to entertain herself rather than relying on her

"I don't know what really happened"

-She "doesn't know what really happened" because she can't keep track of the awful things she's done for him out of love.

"I watched your disappointment
At being misunderstood.
I forgive you."

-Because she loves him, she forgives him his horrible traits; he isn't bad, just "misunderstood."

"Oh something metal
Tearing my stomach out
If you think ill of me."

-This is a metaphor; she's so infatuated with him that the thought of disappointing him is like "something metal tearing [her] stomach out."

"Can you forgive me, too?"

-She did disappoint him and begs for his forgiveness, reminding him of how she has forgiven him.

"I tried to learn your language,
But fell asleep,
Half-undressed,
Unrecognisable to myself."

She tried to live his life with him ("learn [his] language") but at some point she lost track of her own morality ("fell asleep") and had her identity stripped from her ("half-undressed") to the point where she doesn't even recognize herself anymore.

This is just the way I read the song, and it's heavily colored by my watching both Let the Right One In and Let Me In recently; the song could perfectly summarize the way Eli/Abby's older "companion" feels about her.

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