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"
Dead as dead can be
From what the doctor tells me
But I just can't believe him
prefer the optimistic one?
I'm sure of your ability
to become my perfect enemy
Wake up to face me
rise up and show me
someday I'll say you're vacant
and maybe you're better off this way
Leaning over you here
cold and catatonic
I catch a brief reflection
of what you could and might have been
It's your right and your ability
... My perfect enemy
Wake up again to face me
rise up and show me
Someday I'll say you're vacant
and maybe you're better off this way
Maybe you're better off this way
People better off this way
You're better off this way
you're better off this
you're better off this
Maybe you're better off
Wake up again to face me, come on and
Rise up, why can't you show me, show me
Some day I'll say you're vacant
and maybe you're better off this way
Go ahead and play dead
I know that you can hear this
Go ahead and play dead
I know that you can hear me
Why can't you turn and face me
Why can't you turn and face me
Why can't you turn and face me
You fucking disappoint me
From what the doctor tells me
But I just can't believe him
prefer the optimistic one?
I'm sure of your ability
to become my perfect enemy
Wake up to face me
rise up and show me
someday I'll say you're vacant
and maybe you're better off this way
Leaning over you here
cold and catatonic
I catch a brief reflection
of what you could and might have been
It's your right and your ability
... My perfect enemy
Wake up again to face me
rise up and show me
Someday I'll say you're vacant
and maybe you're better off this way
Maybe you're better off this way
People better off this way
You're better off this way
you're better off this
you're better off this
Maybe you're better off
Wake up again to face me, come on and
Rise up, why can't you show me, show me
Some day I'll say you're vacant
and maybe you're better off this way
Go ahead and play dead
I know that you can hear this
Go ahead and play dead
I know that you can hear me
Why can't you turn and face me
Why can't you turn and face me
Why can't you turn and face me
You fucking disappoint me
Lyrics submitted by Llan2193
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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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First of all let me just say the live version of this song is awesome...but the whole aspect of Tapeworm appeals to me more....I mean, c'mon, it's Maynard and Reznor together in the same band...WHO DOESN'T LOVE THAT? And I think (at least one aspect) the song is about someone ignoring him to the point he's just sick of it...can definitely relate to that.
awesome, and yeah, i think youre right, its about someone who is blind to you, or blind to themselves and their own faults
AMAZING SONG!! I love it, could be very sussesful as a studio track.
This band is gonna rock very hard, didnt Maynard do vacant on the last Tool or APC tour?
ive heard apc's version "passive" and it was good... never heard tapeworms version tho... or really anything much of tapeworm at all... weird... but its maynard... so id deff wanna hear more
tapeworm died out
i've been listening to it alot, it was written by Keenan, so maybe it was based on how Trent was so hard to work with during recording. it sounds like Keenan is pissed about how Trent keeps trying to fashion tapeworm into what he wants, as opposed to listening to what everyone else has to say. i think Keenan performing (only) Vacant pissed off Trent to the point where he did'nt want to work with Keenan anymore.
well actually the chorus was written by Trent verses by Maynard music by Danny Lohner
so i doubt Maynards verses are about Trent possibly though. more than likely what the first two people said.
sucks that Tapeworm didnt work out, wouldve been a great project.
this is Passive by A Perfect Circle good though
no, its not Passive by A Perfect Circle, but yes it is good