Catherine Wheels Lyrics
Bad moon is rising again
Dice rolls and you burn
Come down I fear
As that cold wheel turns
I know what I know
Sad Claude's been sleeping around
To stroke the right nerve
Whose needs do I serve
As Catherine's wheel turns
She's got her Catherine wheels on
Always the first to say gone
To his blind apparition
Whose face creases up
With age gone grey
You'll be back here one day
She's got her Catherine wheels on
Always the first to say gone
She's got her Catherine wheels on
Wheels on
Catherine wheels
Catherine wheels
Catherine wheels
Broke off the logic of life
He woke tore the covers back
Found he was empty inside
So they were told when the moon would rise
The best time to leave with your soul
She's gone but towards the light
Watching her whole life unfold
Bruises come up dark
Regarded by some as his slave
He spoke as in a stranger's tongue
To spare us and drive you away
Bruises come up dark
i love this song its a favourite ,i have no idea what its about .?
It's about a relationship gone wrong, possibly a abusive one. He's cheating it eludes to 'Claudes' sleeping around. she leaves, either through death or some other means.
The Catherine's wheel was a medivial torture device. That seems to fit the idea that it's about a relationship gone wrong. By saying 'She's got her Catherine wheels on', it's implied that she is suffering.
Neil Finn is the master of songwriting.
I do also think it's about an abusive relationship from which she escapes. How? I do not know: suicide? running off? But the lyrics are breathtaking, so poetic. "She's gone, vanished in the night; broke off the logic of life" I want this to be my epitaph!
I would agree that this song is about a messed up relationship where the female partner has been abused and she's finally broken free. My take is that she commits suicide as it is the only way she can see to escape.
On a side note, this song goes back to the days of Split Enz and was written by Neil and Tim Finn and then resurrected during the "Woodface" sessions with help from Nick Seymour.
Tim's harmonies on the chorus are breathtaking.