Suha

gorgeous.

to me, "watching her twin want to die" means that she is looking at herself in the mirror and can see what a wreck she is. in the second or third chorus, you can hear him say "i'm gonna cut my wrist / when will i be going home?" also, more instruments come in after that chorus and i feel adds to the whole "being overwhelmed" idea of the song. feeling like you dont know your own body and longing for the feeling that you have an exit to a situation are all parts of anxiety. this song is simply beautiful and is definitely one of my favorites.

"Watching her twin want to die" What an incredible line.

The song is about a person trapped into prostitution, and it has given them this total self loathing.

She wants out, but she just can't. She hates her family, because without them, she wouldn't have to do this (meaning that she has to support them, not that they're forcing her).

i love love love it!

I agree with Drealoth's interpretation except that I think the prostitue is a foreinger or illegal immagrant, like a mail ordered wife or something, and they want to go home, away from their awful life.

my initial thoughts were: suha is the name of yassir arafat's widow.

"i hate the desert...i hate my husband." rather than live with her husband in ramallah, she was usually living in a cushy pad of hers in paris. and she was often criticized for distancing herself from her husband and the PLO cause which would give meaning to the "i hate my husband" part.

finally, "black hair got you down tonight." though her natural hair color is black, she has it dyed blonde.

this seems to make a lot of sense, but to be honest, i like drealoth's interpretation a lot better. some of the other lines would make a lot more sense that way, and i'd think it a lot more "jamie stewart" to be singing about a prostitute than yassir arafat's widow.

also, "hump a cop" is just totally baffling otherwise.

it could be about suha arafact

i love xiu xiu. theyre so consistent.

i think this song is definitely related to forced prostitution. she is doing it for her family obviously. she is stuck in a position she hates and just wants to go home and die. i love the warbucks remix of this song.

This song is absolutely heart wrenching.

I've definitely always thought of it as being a prostitute.

I thought of the line "watch my twin want to die" as her imagining herself being raped/prostituted as if she were someone else. people that suffer trauma often deal with it by imagining that they it is happening to someone else (this is how multiple personality disorder usually starts).

however jamie sometimes substitutes the word "son" for twin in this line when they play it live. suha arafat once said that she would sacrifice her son for the cause of palestinian liberation. so who knkows?