Rose

this is what i hear:

"my beds are always empty if you don't count the ghosts cause i have those aplenty and his name is rose its name is rose

so dear rose, is home this sack of skin? or is home somewhere i've been so i can trace back my tracks i can trace back my tracks

romance in me is dwindling should i be wanting it back? so i can trace back my tracks i can trace back i need some of that wonder bread my blood, dark red some things not said, not said"

its hard to tell what this song is about. at first i thought he was someone haunted by the ghost of rose, but after listening to it again i think he might be the ghost. he could be recalling that his name was rose, but since ghosts walk outside of their body he refers to himself in the third person (his name is rose). the second time he says its name is rose, as if confused at trying to remember who he was in life.

wonderbread represents the normalcy (sp.?) which, as a ghost, he craves. the part about dark red blood could be a memory of his death or a longing for being mortal again. i think instead of meaning romance literally, since no one else is mentioned in the song, he means that he is becoming disenchanted with his existence and watches his interest in his life fade while wondering if he should pursue it.

some things not said= regrets. he is asking rose, or himself when he was alive, what home is, whether his existence lay in his physical body, or if he returns to the places he lived, could he recapture what it meant to be alive? sry for the long explanation. this is an amazing song, especially the second verse.

Not positive on all the words, especially towards the end, but hopefully i transcribed it correctly.

Please its a great song, by a great band, and as for the meaning i think it is realitivly self explanatory

This band is amazing.

I particularly like the line "is home the scent of skin or is home somewhere I've been?" It brings to mind the question of whether or not home is a concept - a combination of things, or a place.

Some possible lyrical corrections.

I like "scent of skin" as lyrics too but if you listen there's definitely a "ck" sound at the end. Sounds like "sack of skin".

Last verse: "Romance In me Is dwindling Should I Be wanting It back I can trace back My track I can trace back I need Some of that wonder bread My blood Dark red Somethings Nuff said Not said"

That's my take on it.

yea those are definitly the right lyrics aoeuhnts has got up there.

i think the song questions whether home even exists altogether. for a ghost, there is no sack of skin. so home must be a place of retreat you can trace your steps back to. home is where everything begins possibly?

i think there's more to this girl rose thats not in the song. i think menomena likes to leave lyrics open ended like this so theres more that the mind thinks up, theres more to interpret, and interpretations are more widely ranged.

these lyrics are so full of intangible, abstract thought, its hard to analyze. but it sounds so cool

right after the first set of 'i can trace back my tracks' - thats my favorite piano riff in the whole world.

menomena rocks

Minor thing...I am almost positive he says "his name is rose", at least the first time. Not sure what the significance is...or if the ghost thing is siginificant at all. The song is great and they could be singing in hopelandic for all i care...

yeah I agree, I heard a "his name" in there. Male ghost named Rose? What?!

another aproach is trying to figure out were your home is... lets ask the ghosts (old memories/ forgotten whatevera) to try and recall therefore we trace back out lives to find our origin (home) also home is were the heart is and if there is no one to love is there no home? finaly my favorite part is the wonderbread and i dont know about you but when i here that i emediatly think back to were my mum would get me to eat wonder bread n penut butter for nutrition or wutever kinda a home like memory

i don't think the "wonder bread" part is correct... i hear... I need someone that won't regret...

Even though one might probe deeper into the meanings of the songs, the band is adamant about not revealing any lyrical significance. "[We] usually don't even discuss the meanings of our songs amongst ourselves. We all trust each other enough to assume that whatever we may be writing about is important enough to accept at face value. Brent once offered a sincere explanation of a song he had written ('Rose') to Justin's mother upon her repeated requests. It sounded so awkward to hear him stumble to explain himself that I think the three of us silently vowed that day to never force ourselves to place concrete meaning on what could be merely abstract thought. Oh, and by the way, 'Rose' is about dislocation," Seim chuckles at his own sly joke.

https://web.archive.org/web/20040405204313/http://www.bandoppler.com:80/3_F_Menomena.htm