Omerta

Yes, this one is definitely about mafia, and someone who broke the omerta. Think about it. The entire song, every single sentence, could have some kind of meaning behind it. It's rather cinematic in my eyes.

Come by you have come far
All I had I lost in the flood

He meets an old acquaintance, probably from the Mafia. An old companion, I assume. He informs said ex-companion that he has lost all he once had (could be his former life, and could be what he had since he left it)

Come sit with me at the bar Tell me of progress strengthen my blood

Quite simple. He's polite and friendly, since this is an old friend, and he still has feelings about his former life, wanting to know how the family and business goes. If they're happy news, it "strengthens his blood", making him feel better.

No one here knows my name I have traded my memories for things But I remember you clearly Do you remember that I used to sing

He has moved to a place where no-one would recognize him. "Traded my memories for things" is a direct metafor for informing the police, getting some kind of payment or perhaps getting out of a punishment for telling on someone else. He also keeps up the polite-ness, remembering his old friend clearly, and exchanging some old memories.

Come by you have come far Long since I saw you so how have you been Come sit with me at the bar How long since they told you that they had found him

More polite, friendly talk, but the subject inevitably changes to what he has told the police (or other enemies of the mafia), as evidenced by "How long since they told you that they had found him".

No one here knows my name I gave up my worries for one good thing But I remember you clearly Do you remember that I used to sing

More evidence to support him breaking the omerta, giving up all worries and the danger of mafia life for 'one good thing', which I assume is some kind of new life, moving to a new, safe place far away from the mafia.

Was it because I never told you I was going away That you waited so long Was it because your fucking dreams Meant nothing to me That you waited so long

He wonders why it took so long time for them to come for him. He has always known that he was going to be found and murdered, but he thought it would happen sooner. Was it because he left unexpectedly, they simply didn't know how/where to find him?

But the second half, "was it because your fucking dreams~", indicates that he tells this old friend about why he did it, why he broke the omerta. Their dreams of expansion, and their methods, never appealed to him.

The last part is about his death, and final words. His companion must've put some kind of poison into his drink, slowly killing him (the poison runs from the top of his fingers, into his hands). His final words indicate that he regrets telling, and asks his old friend to inform everyone he ever knew and loved back home, that he still loves them, and that he has always missed them.

Incredible song. I apologize for the long post, but I've been thinking about this one for quite some time.

Omerta means a code word for silence in certain circles of organized crime. Add that to the rather unsettling way that the song abruptly ends as if with the final words of the narrator (not to mention the referrence to a numbness and something in his drink) and it becomes apparent that the song is about someone having been poisioned to death.

its funny cause on the official Katatonia message board we always get threads from noobs saying asking "Omerta cuts off, is there something wrong with my copy of VE?" ....

I agreed with mellanslaget but actually I think Omerta ends up a whole history told in the album since the beggining: I don't know exactly what history, but something envolving a big crime, an escape, guilt, an arresting and a 2nd character (besides the narrator) who have a strong relationship with the main narrator, maybe a friend, a partner, a lover or a brother.

i don't know why but i really think that none of the songs have a woman as a character so i guess the whole album deals with men's relationships of trust, fellowship and maybe love.

I think that the song meaning is about a final self dialogue with oneself, between the two aspects of owns character (maybe good vs bad choices). Probably the first person is the bad current part and the second person the good old part.

-Come by you have come far

He talks to the other part of himself, the good one, that although it was oppressed, a part of it still managed to survive till the current moment.

-All I had I lost in the flood

He has some remorse about what was lost when he decided to let the bad side of him rule over his life.

-Come sit with me at the bar

He is trying to reunite the two parts of himself that have so much diverted from each other.

-Tell me of progress strengthen my blood

At this point he may even be a bit ironic about the outcome of his choices and the choice to hold the bad part. The progress is what the choices led him to. And he is being sarcastic about choosing the bad self which should had made him hard, but he is still in desperation.

-No one here knows my name

Probably to let himself meet with the part of him that he left behind he is doing so in a place he used to be when he had taken that path of his life yet.

-I have traded my memories for things

Once he used to chose the good part of him, so whatever memories he had up to that point he left behind when he changed to become the bad him, so he can have more material goods.

-But I remember you clearly

But he still have the sensation of how his life was while being good

-Do you remember that I used to sing

He even remember some good things of this past, being evolved into noble things, as art, singing.

-Why have you waited so long

He wonders why it took so long for the good part of him to re-represent itself to him so he can remember and maybe revert to it.

-Come by you have come far

Stating the fact that it was so difficult for his old good part to be uncovered and resurfaced once more.

-Long since I saw you so how have you been

He is once more stating that he haven't been good for a long time now

-Come sit with me at the bar

He is trying in a last effort to reunite the pieces of himself

-How long since they told you that they had found him

Here is that the true meaning of the night starts to unravel. With him he referees to hiss material existence, his body. They have found him indicates that his body was found in a weird state. Probably dying.

-No one here knows my name

He makes clear that where the body was found he made sure for nobody to remember him. Maybe choosing a place from his older self made sure about that.

-I gave up my worries for one good thing

He revisits the thought about exchanging the memories he had from his good part for something material, or he even hints that the only good thing that being his bad part could be is the current moment (that he is probably dying).

-But I remember you clearly Do you remember that I used to sing

He once more try to speak about how he was before all that changed.

-Was it because I never told you I was going away

He probably speaks to the good part of himself that he left behind suddenly when he changed so he had no time to properly adjust for the change.

-That you waited so long

He thinks that the sudden change was the reason that his old good part stayed covered so well all this time.

-Was it because your fucking dreams Meant nothing to me That you waited so long

He also visits the thought that maybe some dreams that his old good self had were so violently murdered when he changed that he could not easily resurface. Or maybe the dreams he had at one point he though they could only be achieved by being his current bad self but then when he changed he saw that he did not care about them anymore.

-It runs from the top of my fingers Into my hands What is it I have been drinking I do not understand I thought I'd lost you my brother I'm so glad you came My regards to the ones that I love I miss them Tell them I love them I miss them

Here is probably the other old good part of himself that talks, he is trying to understand why he feels the shivers all over the body, which probably come from some drug that the bad current self took to end his life (suicide). But as they share the material body he now, that he surfaced back can too feel it. He wonders what is the poison he is drinking in a way showing his desperation about what his other part is doing to them... And then as a last sentence before they are both gone as the body dies, he express his last wish, to tell the people that were left behind when he changed to the bad self, that the old one is missing them and loves them. But they never have this time as then he dies immediately in the middle of this awakening.

...exactly what i thought. it makes perfect senes now.

I find that most (modern) Katatonia songs have a "European mafia" feel to them. It's like a world of concrete buildings and gang loyalty.

That's an interesting interpretation. Thinking about it just now; "Nerve" and "For my Demons" have the same kind of dark mood.

I always though Omerta meant Death... so this song might not be about organised crime... just the murder of an old "friend".

I always though Omerta meant Death... so this song might not be about organised crime... just the murder of an old "friend".