Tia Lupe

Eja... People are always so literal. Songs are majoritively metaphors, and this is no exception. My interpretation is thus, to be accepted and believed or refuted:

The singer is identified as a moth, a soft-looking, gentle, and sometimes poisonous insect which depite its similarity to a butterfly is sometimes a creature of fear, probably because it is a night creature, as such is identified with night. This a theme throughout the song, in such spaces as "she breaths beneath my velvet wings" which refers to the singer and the girl making love, that she is also a creature of the night.

"she builds an atrium" an atrium has three meanings, a large empty space inside a building (Not.) microscopic sacs in the lungs (NOT), and the major cavity of a heart where the blood is pumping. this is the form he is referring to. The girl builds her heart and leaves it on her nightstand. Her heart is tied to the bed, meaning that she is a sexual being, whose idea of love is associated with sex, reinforced with the line "she lays to watch her fly". 'laying' being having sex or making love, she feels like flying when she does so, in the same line she is also compared to a moth, thus making them both moths, singer and girl.

The chorus of "If she'd only leave the light on" and "Apaga la luz", refers to her ficklness. Moths are attracted to the light, so by leaving it off, she is keeping the singer away. Additionally, it references infidelity, because people who have sex with the light off are sometimes thinking of someone other than who they are with, drawing back to that fantasy that she "lays to watch her fly".

Her personality is questionable, because at first she holds the singer-moth 'in her harmless hands' but, then later "she takes advantage of every human being". She is a manipulative person who can easily convince people to love her, which makes her treacherous, and makes him question weather she loves just him, which is also mentioned that he "wonders if I'm the only one", and the presence of her heart on her nightstand, open for anyone who wants to take it.

The nature of moths is also brought in near the end, because he mentions how the 'powder' on her wings affects him. Moths often grow poisonous spores on their wings which can cause pain, death, or hallucination, her powder makes him feel like he is her everything, and yet he still finds an old photograph of her being held by another, kept close to her 'atrium' heart and on her nightstand.

The overall interpretation is that she once had a love who she still thinks of in her heart, but though she displays her heart openly for any who seek it, she sleeps with many men, and though the singer feels important to her, he can't help wondering if he is just another one of the faceless men she sleeps with to forget the one who got away, and is jealous of the faded man he knows nothing about who lies in her heart.

I think hes talking about how he loves this girl and shes "all his" but hes talking as if hes the moth and she is the human.

Well...I think this song is about how times change in correspondance to relationships...

The singer is the velvet moth and the girl builds an atrium for the moth, sorta putting the spotlight on her new love...

The moth believes she is his, while the light signifies the love felt by the girl...

Moths are attracted to light and since she didn't leave the light on, the moth didn't fly, so the girl lost interest...

Then the moths sees the picutre of her and her new love and feel jealousy and sorta has a denial thing going...

Yeah...hat's my opinion...

why did they call it Tia Lupe? i knew it meant aunt lupe

yea this is spanish, you can tell by the tía (its means aunt) and "apaga la luz" means "it puts out the light". good idea for a song.

Here is my interpretation: A woman 'traps a moth', meaning she found someone to trick, but he is genuinely in love with her. She builds an 'atrium', I don't think he means what spoofehness is saying (just my opinion). I think he means something similar to an ant farm, to keep the 'moth' in. The atrium and the light are her love. The singer is so in love with her, he doesn't notice he's being cheated and played. She 'loves to watch him fly', meaning she is entertained by how much he loves her. He thinks she is all his, of course, meaning what he says. She lets him know she's cheating, but he still loves her. With the 'powder on the wings' thing, I agree with spoofehness, that is true. I think he is going crazy at that point. He 'loves her with the way he sings', he tries to get her to fall back into love, but she already has another moth.