The Hearts Filthy Lesson

you should see the music video for this song. its strange and fantastic. kind of hard to understand it...but its amazingly done. i adore this song and all of the Outside album.

OH! I just thought of this. And it makes sense. But if it has any correlation to the entire 1. Outside album, well then, I simply do not know.

I think person it could be about a guy who has suffered a loss (wife, girlfriend or lover dying) and this song is about how he feels. Perhaps this dead woman is Miranda. And then this Ramona character is the new “interested” lover on the scene. He is attracted to her, but can’t help but feel like he is cheating on his dead partners (Miranda’s) memory. He has perhaps lived in with this Ramona, and she’s gotten into his head and Miranda’s old clothes trying to be her. Thus is he asking his father (I don’t know why, but I call my father “Paddy”) for help and support (“will you carry me, I think I’ve lost my way”) in telling other family to leave him alone in “a fantastic death abyss”?

In the end, he tells Ramona “if only there’s something between us” – as an excuse to run off and away from the situation he has found himself in. Falling in love with another after the passing of a loved one is, in my eyes, the hearts filthy lesson.

“Always a diamond friendly” – there will always be someone other bright gem (person) around for you, even after the death of a loved one.

There. Take that meaning.

Before debating what any of the songs on this album are about, it's probably a good idea to read bowie's short story for it first. Based on that... I'd say your explanations are way off. The album is about a detective investigating the "art murder" of a girl referred to as Baby Grace. Ramona was probably her mother and a dealer in jewelry made from body parts.

The short story the entire album is based on is here: http://hem.bredband.net/stuabr/diary.htm

When I listen to this song, it makes me think of lust. The Hearts Filthy Lesson to me means being with someone that at first you thought could be love but in reality it is nothing more than sex, no deep emotional feelings or connections just sexual pleasure.

Cool song, interesting song title, interesting bowie lyrics as always.

This plays during the end credits of Se7en. You kinda hear it and start dancing on your way out of the cinema.

The Trent Reznor remix is killer.

I think the song is telling you that no matter how you feel or what you think, you can't control your heart when it comes to love and such. I believe that whoever Bowie is in the character of in this song likes Ramona alot, but thinks that nothing will come of it because of his past experiences with women, mainly someone called Miranda (the heart's filthy lesson, which is falling upon deaf ears). He is asking Paddy for help as he believs that by liking Ramona, he is losing his way.

However, in the end he accepts that he loves Ramona, even though he will end up getting hurt. Thus, "What a fantastic death abyss". He hopes getting hurt by Ramona will finally teach his heart the filthy lesson.

I thought of all this as soon as I heard/saw the lyrics, although the line "something in our skies" has completly lost me.

A very,very Strange yet catchy backdrop to the ending of Se7en.The heart's filthy lesson,me thinks,is the dark knowledge of the evil we are cappable of ,as Somerset and Mills tragically dicover in the movie.Can't really say I understand how all the lyrics fit in though especially the lines, "Paddy,who's been wearing Miranda's clothes?" I think I'll understand more when I listen to the album as a whole.

MandyBowie gave a good explanation, yet I don't think David would call it "filthy". There must be something darker in it. I don't think there's much love between Ramona and him, I think it's just sexual, therefore "filthy". ("If there was only something between us, Other than our clothes")

What makes most sense to me is that it's about cheating on your spouse because you find someone interesting and can't let her go, there's something that attracts him to her although he has a wifeúgirlfriend and doesn't want to end the relationship. It's more of a curiosity. Yet in the flirt he still sees his wife ("Are you wearing Miranda's clothes?")

The other part of the song is about fear of death, then conquering death and wanting to let everyone know it's not as horrible as it seems.