Pigs That Ran Straightaway into the Water, Triumph of

I think you guys are giving this guy too much credit. The protagonist. I think this song is about denial. Even when he's in the big bus headed southeast from the courthouse (to prison, or the rehab center), he's in denial. "You" refers to authority of any kind: God, drugs, law enforcement, the judicial system.

Then with the chorus he seems to both know he's screwd but at the same expect to triumph... Based on nothing, really. It's like the pigs, possessed by demons, running off the cliff, and how they do exactly what they have to do.

The title probably comes from the story in the bible where Jesus casts the demons out of a man, and into some nearby pigs, who in turn run off a cliff, falling to their death in the river below.

The title in mind, this song could be sort of a challenge to either God or the demons that haunt this person (or both, if you read a lot of william blake). It's also a shout-out to Chino, which is a pretty harsh city, but growing up in cities like Chino (or nearby Garden Grove) make you a much stronger person if you rise above all the bullshit, hence his sense of entitlement over God himself.

I never thought about the whole possession/possession angle -- I love it!

I generally assumed that the narrator was being taken from court to prison after being found guilty. I interpreted "Big bus headed southeast from the courthouse/But I'm not headed southeast from the courthouse" to mean, essentially, in the narrator's mind, "no, this isn't supposed to be happening, I'm not suposed to go to jail." He's been convicted and all that jazz, but he had other plans for himself.

He is talking to his own demons, which are the temptations of drug use. He is trying to convince the temptations to stay away.

He tells the drugs that he, in fact, has the upper hand because he has seen and lived through the negative effects of drug use. He uses Chino to represent the tragic results of drug dependency, because lots of people there (and possibly him) have suffered through it on the streets of Chino, which is indeed a rough place.

He has seen the worst of it, and that is what will make him strong enough to avoid the temptation.

"And even if I have to go to Claremont Well I guess I'll just have to go to Claremont"

Claremont is a rehab facility outside of Chicago...he is saying that even if he has to go to rehab to resist the temptations, he will.

He's been through life with drugs and seen the consequences, and he has grown strong enough to resist the urges and the dark messengers (dealers).

Going back to the biblical reference of the title, the triumph of the pigs was that they killed the demons that had haunted the men before jesus cast them out, which is what he wants to do to his demons.

As the last song of an album centered around drug addiction, it's the inevitable final descent for a life that's been swirling around the toilet bowl for 12 songs. Some of his companions are still circling the drain, others are already gone; one way or the other, but here he is on the edge, about to be sucked through. A madcap swan song, with the protagonist still unable to believe or trust in salvation and optimistic that he will be saved from it.

I feel like "Pomona" should be somewhere in this tune. That damn bus can go either way from Pomona. My memory is a bit fuzzy though... Does "CRC" Stand for Claremont Rehabilitation Center or is that vice versa? Great song.

This song is the aftermath of quito and against pollution, meaning that he no longer has a drug problem and has come to appreciate life. However, the inner problems are always waiting for you to come back and tempting you, and he basically says, "Fuck you, I'm going to do what i need to do"

This song is about triumph. The meth demons that haunted the character in the earlier song are gone, he is no longer possessed by his addiction

To be perfectly honest, I think he was picked up on possesion and he made bail and skipped out.

The whole: "You're gonna send me back to where I came from Please don't send me back to where I came from"

Indicates he might have been in prison before.

The: "Please don't fit me for that orange jumpsuit" Is so obvious, prisoners wear orange jumpsuits.

What makes me believe he skipped out on bail was the "Big bus headed southeast from the courthouse but I'm not headed southeast from the courthouse" and "Let me lie low".

Id interpreted the prison references as a methaphor for addiction. Still, I like your link between the pigs and getting caught for possession and the pigs. Its clever, made me laugh :)

Who then would be being sent to tempt him? "And you send your dark messengers to tempt me" Ive taken that to be a challenge to meth itself, "Im above you now, you dont attract me anymore" Instead of heading back to the old prison of addiction (going to court and taken to jail) he is heading off in a new free direction.