This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Mr. Howell: The dinner was fine until she opened her mouth.
Oh, Candy! Oh, Candy! Behind her teeth 15 rats started screaming and sobbing. Candy girl! Candy girl!
When we were kissing in the car
those rodents smoked cigars in her throat, blowing smoke.
(You turn on the lights and look a bit closer... there's shutters on her eyes, there's a door on her thigh.)
Candy: These rats are not living inside my hotel face.
They're just sick and they need a bed lined with fine lace.
Mr. Howell: You know that pity's got an ugly price tag.
Rats: Our fur feels like it's on fire. There's thorns growing on our bones.
Our hunger is x-rated.
Oh, mother, we love you so!
(Candy invites you upstairs, you say it's getting awfully late, but she yanks your hand through the door. Her clothes fall off and she presses into you. But those rats have chewed a hole straight through her navel and nipple.)
Mr. Howell: Oh, Candy. I've got to go.
Candy: Oh, won't you stay the night with me Mr. Howell!
These rats are not living inside my hotel face.
They're just sick and need a bed lined with fine lace.
Mr. Howell: You know that pity's got an ugly price tag. [x2]
Rats: Our muscles have turned to cement.
We're coughing up needles and nails.
Our veins are flowing barbed wire.
Oh, mother, we are so frail! but wait!
We've got a trick for him.
We twist tears into shit eaten grins.
(When you wake up in the morning you find yourself alone in Candy's bed. And everything is gone: paintings, jewels, songs. Candy's blowing in the breeze; those rats devoured her up in her sleep. Her skin's tied to the bed post like a flag on a ship of ghosts. You read the letter on the dresser; the sick brown sun rubbing in your soul).
Reading letter: Oh, mother, you should have known.
You should have seen through our fake broken bones.
Our tears that we razor-sharpened were calculated to rob you blind.
Mr. Howell: Three weeks later from that day,
I saw those rats on a bicycle.
They crept by me and started balling,
their eyes turned to icicles.
Crying, "We need a vacancy!"
Oh, Candy! Oh, Candy! Behind her teeth 15 rats started screaming and sobbing. Candy girl! Candy girl!
When we were kissing in the car
those rodents smoked cigars in her throat, blowing smoke.
(You turn on the lights and look a bit closer... there's shutters on her eyes, there's a door on her thigh.)
Candy: These rats are not living inside my hotel face.
They're just sick and they need a bed lined with fine lace.
Mr. Howell: You know that pity's got an ugly price tag.
Rats: Our fur feels like it's on fire. There's thorns growing on our bones.
Our hunger is x-rated.
Oh, mother, we love you so!
(Candy invites you upstairs, you say it's getting awfully late, but she yanks your hand through the door. Her clothes fall off and she presses into you. But those rats have chewed a hole straight through her navel and nipple.)
Mr. Howell: Oh, Candy. I've got to go.
Candy: Oh, won't you stay the night with me Mr. Howell!
These rats are not living inside my hotel face.
They're just sick and need a bed lined with fine lace.
Mr. Howell: You know that pity's got an ugly price tag. [x2]
Rats: Our muscles have turned to cement.
We're coughing up needles and nails.
Our veins are flowing barbed wire.
Oh, mother, we are so frail! but wait!
We've got a trick for him.
We twist tears into shit eaten grins.
(When you wake up in the morning you find yourself alone in Candy's bed. And everything is gone: paintings, jewels, songs. Candy's blowing in the breeze; those rats devoured her up in her sleep. Her skin's tied to the bed post like a flag on a ship of ghosts. You read the letter on the dresser; the sick brown sun rubbing in your soul).
Reading letter: Oh, mother, you should have known.
You should have seen through our fake broken bones.
Our tears that we razor-sharpened were calculated to rob you blind.
Mr. Howell: Three weeks later from that day,
I saw those rats on a bicycle.
They crept by me and started balling,
their eyes turned to icicles.
Crying, "We need a vacancy!"
Lyrics submitted by decodethemoans
Rats and Rats and Rats for Candy Lyrics as written by John Whitney Cody Votolato
Lyrics © MOTHERSHIP MUSIC PUBLISHING
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
I think it's interesting that nobody has mentioned the line "you know that pity's got an ugly pricetag."
Candy is showing pity on the rats, and she pays for this with her life, as well as all of her belongings.
I don't think this song has anything to do with disease, at least not in the literal sence. I also doubt that Candy is a prostitute, or a slut, or anything other than a kind person who makes the mistake of showing pity on the wrong people (or in this case the wrong rodents).
After taking all that Candy has to offer them, the rats move on to find a new victim. Mr. Howell sees the rats riding a bicycle (he is not riding it) and they are screaming "we need a vacancy!" They are looking for someone else like Candy who will show pity on them and ultimately be consumed by them.
This is exactly it. It is a portrait of America, the ticks and the people who let them. (Read a lot of Ayn Rand so makes sense to me)
This is a very clever song with many layers of metaphors and it isn't about Candy at all, the song is about Mr. Howell.
In one metaphor, Candy is a sex doll and the rats are both literal rats that have eaten "a hole in her navel," but they also represent Mr. Howell's self pity. In a deeper metaphor, Candy is a prostitute and the rats are her STDs.
"Candy Girl" is the name of a high end Japanese sex doll. "a door on her thighs" refers to the openings built into the doll that are used to clean it.
Mr. Howell is lonely and craves human interaction. Full of self pity, he buys Candy (the doll, or the hooker). The ugly price tag is the $7,000 (according to Wikipedia) that the doll costs, and the STDs you get from having sex with a prostitute.
In both metaphors, Candy is used up, in poor shape, and has little value other than as an object to have sex with. Mr Howell recognizes that Candy is not the deep human connection that he craves. Howell want more than sex, and struggles with an internal conflict in which he chooses meaningless, superficial (and potentially dangerous) sex over the pain of loneliness.
The lines about the rats "not living inside her face" allude to the fact that he doesn't truly desire Candy, but he is settling for her/it temporarily.
The rats are not calling Candy "mother." When they say "mother" they are referring to Mr. Howell. Everything that Candy is, exists only in Mr. Howells imagination. The imaginary dinner he is having with this doll so that he can feel less lonely, for example.
The shit eating grin refers to the face one makes during orgasm.
After the imaginary date is over, he's satisfied his sexual urges, wakes up the next morning and everything he'd imagined the night before is gone ("the paintings, the jewels, the songs") and he is back in reality.
His regret and disgust are alluded to in the letter the rats left for him to read the next morning (addressing him as Mother again). We know the letter is for him because Candy is essentially gone at this point. In the other metaphor, the Prostitute robs him.
Three weeks later he starts to feel the same desires and self pity. This is when he sees the rats on a bicycle, screaming for a vacancy, or in other words, someone or something he can direct his superficial desires towards. This is when the cycle continues.
That is why Candy is both a Prostitute and a sex doll. It's a cycle of loneliness and lust that Mr. Howell is going through. One week he uses an old ragged doll, another week he uses a prostitute.
i love their storylines too fucking much.
Seems to be about a heroin addict, or some skanky ho.
While it could very well be about a heroin addict, or a prostitute, my initial thought was that it's just a weird, creepy story. I'm not saying I think I'm right or anything, but that's just what I think about it.
i'm thinkin perhaps the rats, since they come from inside her, are a metaphor for her having a bad spirit (being bad on the inside). what do ya'll think?
I think it's just a really fucked story.
Maybe it has some deeper metaphorical meaning...but maybe not.
i'm doubting there are really any metaphors at work here. it's just a story.
this song might be my favorite on the new cd. i cant decide what i think the rats are, if anything. if its just a story like some people think, its an awesomely creepy story. i love it.
Thegreatcreator: It was all of Candy's stuff that was stolen, not Mr. Howell's: "You find yourself alone in Candy's bed. And everything is gone. The paintings, jewels, and songs."