Shallow

Nytstalk, generalizing an album like deadwing is worthless.

Anyways, this song is in the perpective of a person who, like many, had a bad experience with male-to-female interactions in their childhood (Did something in my past create a hole?) which left them desiring sexual pleasure in the place of brotherly interactions with other males. In modern society, its much simpler and easier to communicate with females via the PC (It's easier to talk to my PC). This particular person, though, is, along with being only particularly attracted to females, extremely shallow. He wants to have relations with women only if he is impregnating them (No good to me, not if you bleed). Also, this person is so good at manipulating women that he is practically surgical (Scissors cutting out your anger). This comes at a price, however, and this person doesn't have any real male friends, likely because he considers them a distraction to his relationships with women. (No friends to mention, No distraction, nowhere to go). I can't be positive that this is the correct interpretation, because you never can with PT, but it fits the lyrics extremely well.

I think the meaning is similar to the "Evey home is wired". It is about people who spend too much surfing on the internet, chatting in chatrooms more than meeting real friends.

"Don't use your gender " - this must speak of the chatrooms, where you really can't be sure what's the gender of the person you're speaking too, and where you cannot "use" the attributes of genders.

"The millions pain me It's easier to talk to my PC" - one more example. Guy doesn't like people, probably he is too scared of real life, so he just chats via internet.

After painfully trying to decode to Deadwing story, I've learned that this song is pretty simply laid out, compared to the ambiguity of something like 'Glass Arm Shattering". And though I really try not to be one of those people who believes they identify with a song more than others, I think I've nailed this one. Someone tell me if I'm way off. This song, to me, sounds like the words of a girl I know. Socially damaged, trying to rationalize why not to enter into a relationship. This character seems to grown to hate the general public, and is trying to pass of pessemism as realism, by telling themselves they're better off alone. If all they allow themself to want is shallow then they can't be hurt by someone. I could go on in length, but to me, it just sounds like at this point in the story the character is rejecting the concept of a relationship with the other. Whether this be told from the male, or female's perspective.

Social phobia. That's the main theme of 'Deadwing' album.

Nytstalk, generalizing an album like deadwing is worthless.

Anyways, this song is in the perpective of a person who, like many, had a bad experience with male-to-female interactions in their childhood (Did something in my past create a hole?) which left them desiring sexual pleasure in the place of brotherly interactions with other males. In modern society, its much simpler and easier to communicate with females via the PC (It's easier to talk to my PC). This particular person, though, is, along with being only particularly attracted to females, extremely shallow. He wants to have relations with women only if he is impregnating them (No good to me, not if you bleed). Also, this person is so good at manipulating women that he is practically surgical (Scissors cutting out your anger). This comes at a price, however, and this person doesn't have any real male friends, likely because he considers them a distraction to his relationships with women. (No friends to mention, No distraction, nowhere to go). I can't be positive that this is the correct interpretation, because you never can with PT, but it fits the lyrics extremely well.

I think that this song is about a guy who is suddenly forced to live on his own for some reason.So he is alone in a big city with no real friends just his PC and the internet to communicate with.This fact makes him wander about his past make him pessimist and anti-social.But generally I think that Porcupine Tree are referring to a lot of lonely people all over the world who are lacking of social skils and they are afraid of the world around them so they live in a fake cyber world.BADASS song by the way Steven Wilson HATED IT i LOVED IT

Hello, please, could you help me to identify distorted words in bridge part? In my opinion, it is reversed sound.

Here you can listen it (first normal, then reversed):

youtube.com/watch

I disagree. I think the line "Don't use your gender to drive a stake right through my soul" Means that he is depressed that his girlfriend/wife left him, and he withdrew into cyberspace. "Scissors cutting out your anger" Means he's cutting, and this "This city drains me Or maybe it's the smell of gasoline The millions pain me It's easier to talk to my PC" Just re-inforces what I thought in the first place.

I think this song is about the character in the film Deadwing, who is "socially damaged in some way" (I think that was SW's words). Or possibly about the creep on the train with the laptop.

If Mirror is right, this song is about me.