This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
She had nut painted arms
That were hers to keep
And in her fear
She sought cracked pleasures
The passion of lovers is for death said she
Licked her lips
And turned to feather
And as I watched from underneath
I came aware of all that she keep
The little foxes so safe and sound
They were not dead
They'd gone to ground
The passion of lovers is for death said she
The passion of lovers is for death
The passion of lovers is for death said she
The passion of lovers is for death
She breaks her heart
Just a little too much
And her jokes attract the lucky bad type
As she dips and wails
And slips her banshee smile
She gets the better of the bigger to the letter
The passion of lovers is for death said she
The passion of lovers is for death
The passion of lovers is for death said she
The passion of lovers is for death
The passion of lovers is for death said she
The passion of lovers is for death
The passion of lovers is for death said she
That were hers to keep
And in her fear
She sought cracked pleasures
The passion of lovers is for death said she
Licked her lips
And turned to feather
And as I watched from underneath
I came aware of all that she keep
The little foxes so safe and sound
They were not dead
They'd gone to ground
The passion of lovers is for death said she
The passion of lovers is for death
The passion of lovers is for death said she
The passion of lovers is for death
She breaks her heart
Just a little too much
And her jokes attract the lucky bad type
As she dips and wails
And slips her banshee smile
She gets the better of the bigger to the letter
The passion of lovers is for death said she
The passion of lovers is for death
The passion of lovers is for death said she
The passion of lovers is for death
The passion of lovers is for death said she
The passion of lovers is for death
The passion of lovers is for death said she
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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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.
Just A Little Lovin'
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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:
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Head > Heels
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Deather girls unite! Sing the passion of lovers :P
On the surface level, an orgasm is known to the French as "la petit mort" or "the little death".
On the not so surface level, a true merging of lovers means the death of themselves as individuals. Their boundaries become blurred. They care for each other over their own egos, or false sense of selves. They become part of something larger and more natural (hence allusions to the natural -- feather, nuts, foxes, ground). By becoming part of something larger, she gets "the better of the bigger to the letter". Love cares nothing for boundaries, egos, definitions, class, race, orientation, status, age; all these are terms we use to define ourselves and others. To have passion, this is a fuel that drives one to this state of the undefined and the death of the known.
Bauhaus were always enigmatic when they wrote songs. The song could be about a girl who tried to seek pleasure and passion, but in the end, it became an allegorical death of sorts.
Passion kills.
@PreiSamhain Not really. But it helps to be read up on Thelema and Kabbalah.
Dear god, I love this song. It's dark and deep and that's only describing the sound.
I don't have anything to add to what it means, though. I just love this song.
I love the line 'The passion of lovers is for death'. To me it means that the end result of true passion is the death of the relationship because the passion is so powerful. What do other people think?
Amazing song. It's got to be one of the best love songs ever. Yes, I agree with Iris. Passion kills.
I agree with you Iris, mostly because it's happened to me.
yes, when passion is gone, people are hollow i guess... brilliant song, bauhaus are amazing
Interesting analyses there, Iris. Also, I wonder what is meant with "as I watched from underneath I came aware of all that she keep" and "she gets the better of the bigger to the letter". "cracked pleasures" (see my nickname :p) is a synonym for 'forbidden joys', the sort of pleasures one should not really like and should keep well hidden from the public eye.
God, this song is brilliant. I agree with Iris and Cracked Pleasures on the meaning. God, I want to marry Peter Murphy.