Called to see if your back was still aligned
And your sheets were growing grass out of the corners of your bed
But you've got too much to wear on your sleeves
That has too much to do with me
And secretly I want to bury in the yard
The grey remains of a friendship scarred
You told us of your new life there
You've got someone coming 'round
Gluing tinsel to your crown
He's got you talking pretty loud
Berate, remember your ailing heart and your criminal eyes
You say you're still in love
And it's true what can be done
It's hard to leave all these moments behind
Called to see if your back is still aligned
And your sheets are growing grass out of the corners of your bed
And you've got too much to wear on your sleeves
It's too much to do with me
And secretly I want to bury in the yard
The grey remains of a friendship scarred
You tested your medal of doe's skin and petals
Kissing the lipless and bleed all the sweetness away
And your sheets were growing grass out of the corners of your bed
But you've got too much to wear on your sleeves
That has too much to do with me
And secretly I want to bury in the yard
The grey remains of a friendship scarred
You told us of your new life there
You've got someone coming 'round
Gluing tinsel to your crown
He's got you talking pretty loud
Berate, remember your ailing heart and your criminal eyes
You say you're still in love
And it's true what can be done
It's hard to leave all these moments behind
Called to see if your back is still aligned
And your sheets are growing grass out of the corners of your bed
And you've got too much to wear on your sleeves
It's too much to do with me
And secretly I want to bury in the yard
The grey remains of a friendship scarred
You tested your medal of doe's skin and petals
Kissing the lipless and bleed all the sweetness away
Lyrics submitted by doobeydoobeydude, edited by smallwonderrobot
"Kissing the Lipless" as written by James Russell Mercer
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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What about this (one of I'm sure many interpretations):
The narrator is the lipless. He is the one who doesn't want to be friends with her. He is the one that likely broke it off with her (why else would she have an ailing heart? He is cold in this song to her, while she is the one who is "still in love"
Possibly scenario:
The narrator is in a relationship with a woman (not mentioned in the song). He has a friend who is a girl and they either have an affair or a one night stand. He breaks it off, even though he still has feelings for her and the girl is still in love with him, so she moves away to try to get away from her hurt that he wouldn’t leave his wife/girlfriend for her.
He calls to see if she is single, ok, sexless, etc. She's got a lot of problems (sleeves) and it has a lot to do with him because he created the and the hurt inside her. He feels bad that the friendship is ruined and wants to stop talking to her, but feels guilty.
She tells him (and possibly his wife? Maybe they were all friends? Hence the "told *US*" line) about the new guy he's got and everyone is right on with these lines, so I won't elaborate.
She gets down on herself, her broken heart, and her 'criminal eyes' which refers to the illicitness of the affair.
It's hard for him to have broken it off with her, as well. He doesn't say it's hard for *her* to leave all the moments behind.
"tested" is used in the PAST tense, referring to her past involvement with him. She (inadvertantly) tested her strength (metal), because she thought she was strong enough, by getting involved with a man in a relationship, and he realizes now she was soft and vulnerable (doe's skin and petals). He was lipless because his lips belonged to another woman. He bled all of the good things out of the girl he was having the affair with.
I think the last 4 lines are directed at her; "don't mess with the bull, you'll get the horns" kind of thing. "don't get involved with things like this, you're too vulnerable, stay away from people who can't kiss you back"
This song is really sad.
I adore it.
It's apparent in several lines:
..."But you've got too much to wear on your sleeves
It has too much to do with me"
The person is covering up their arms to cover their scars
"The grey remains of a friendship scarred"
"You tested your metal
Of doe's skin and petals
While kissing the lipless
Who bleed all the sweetness away"...
The metal explicitly refers to the blade, which is euphemized with "doe's skin and petals" to refer to that fact the the person doesn't realize how destructive their habit is.
I found that the diction and metaphors strongly point towards the meaning of someone cutting themselves.
Called to see
If your back was still aligned
And your sheets
Were growing grass
All on the corners of your bed.
Called to see if you still had a spine
and you sheets were growing on grass
all on the corners of your bed is a metaphor
for a grave as he goes to say
But you've got too much to wear on your sleeves
It has too much to do with me
And secretly
I want bury in the yard
The grey remains of a friendship scarred.
He's basically saying.. You're dead to me.
He's saying that though there were good things going on in their relationship, he would rather bury it all and forget about it. "secretly, i want to bury in the yard, the gray remains of a friendship scarred."
I agree the intro is him taking an intrest in her sex life, to see if even though she still professes love for him, if she's sleeping with the guy she's with now. I agree with subterranean with the statement that she's cheapening everything they had together by 'bleeding the sweetness away'.