Then I Defy You, Stars

The apparitions tango To the sound of their heels tapping Procession of prosthetic limbs And mannequins They're all perfect models Of imperfection With marrow made of cellophane

Blur your eyes, bend the lines Oh Juliet, oh Juliet Deny your name, your father Blur your eyes, bend the lines Oh Juliet, oh Juliet Deny your name, your father [[Strap on your ballroom best Breathe in and don't exhale Strap on your ballroom best Breathe in and don't exhale]]

Rearrange the cells that form my skin See them through kaleidoscope eyes Because everybody feigns sometimes times, times..

Blur your eyes And bend the lines Do you like what you see? Oh, romeo [[Romeo Romeo Breathe in and don't exhale Breathe in]]

Where art thou? I've dressed up this canvas skin Painted it something colorful Self-inflicted surgery is now routine It erases all traces of faces

Where art thou? I've dressed up this canvas skin Painted it something colorful Self-inflicted surgery is now routine It erases all traces of faces [[Stretch me over this 2x4 skeleton]]

Might as well blur Isolated

Where art thou? I've dressed up this canvas skin Painted it something colorful Self-inflicted surgery is now routine It erases all traces of faces Where art thou? I've dressed up this canvas skin Painted it something colorful Self-inflicted surgery is now routine It erases all traces of faces Where art thou? I've dressed up this canvas skin Painted it something colorful Self-inflicted surgery is now routine It erases all traces of faces

[[[We have all known We have owned Strap on your ballroom best/stretch me over this Breathe in and don't exhale/2x4 skeleton]]]

I think a large majority of the song is referring to the masked party at which Romeo and Juliet originally met.

The only other reference I can get is self-inflicted surgery - could be sarcastically referring to slitting wrists. After all, romeo and juliet both killed themselves at the end.

Aside from the shakespeareian reference I'm not sure what else the song could mean... if anything else. Romeo and Juliet represents enough in itself to not need to mean anything else.

i agree with cosmetic surgery meaning behind the song. having to do things to your body to look a certain way, or the way someone tells you to look. (the beauty of romeo and juliet). one of the obvious, lines is at the end, "two by four skeleton", looking thin in order to be a model. and the self-inflicted surgery referring to the choice made to have plastic surgery.

We seem to have established this already, but the title, "...Then I Defy You, Stars", is a reference to Romeo and Juliet as well - it's what Romeo says when he finds out Juliet is "dead" and decides to kill himself.

its beautiful.

My interpretation is as follows; Take it for what you will. =)

The apparitions tango to the sound of their heels tapping, A procession of prosthetics limbs and mannequins.

[Everyone seems to be a massive party of identical "robots" or "mannequins" without the will to move/think on their own.]

They’re all perfect models of imperfection, With a marrow made of cellophane.

[They're made to be "perfect models" of human imperfection.]

Strap on your ballroom best. Breath in and don’t exhale.

[This basically seems to be an order for someone (particularly a young lady, with the reference to "ballroom best"/"breath in and don't exhale" (corsets (sp?? o.O)) to prepare themselves to become a part of the mindless majority afore-mentioned.]

Oh, Juliet! Oh, Juliet! Deny your name your father.

[Defy the push to conform to their will, fight to prevent becoming one of them at all costs.]

Rearrange the cells that form my skin. See them through kaleidoscope eyes Because everybody feigns sometimes.

[This could be a plea for someone to see them as they really are: human. They wish to be seen completely and honestly, encompassing even their worst flaws ("because everybody feigns sometimes"), because in order to be human, one has to make mistakes..since perfection is truly non-existant.]

Blur your eyes, Romeo. Bend the line Romeo Do you like what you see!

[Another plea to defy the conformity and to see them as what they really are..They're asking the other if they like what they're seeing in them; their honest, imperfect self]

Oh Romeo Where are thou? I’ve dressed up this canvas skin’ painted something colorful just for you.

[They're asking for them to "come and see" their creation, the work of art they've made themselves to be. They've taken their "canvas skin" (unoriginal, blank self/personality) and "dressed it up", making it "colorful just for [them]"..they've made themselves an individual.]

Self-inflicted surgery is now routine. It erases all traces of faces we have all known; we have all owned. Stretch me over this Two by four skeleton

[Here's where the twist of the song seems to come in..They go from becoming an individual and wishing for everyone to see them as such, to -in a sense- observing how everything seems to be going. Everyone around them is performing "self-inflicted surgery" (changing who they are and erasing what they've been to become part of the accepted majority) and the last lines "Stretch me over this, two-by-four skeleton" seems to say that they're realizing they're doing the same thing and becoming a part of the crowd.. ((Or perhaps they're stretching their new individual "skin" over themselves and in turn becoming unique.)) - Could go either way.]

another side-note I forgot to mention

The title supports all of this in that, in truth, the line from Shakespeare's play, "Romeo & Juliet" - "...Then I defy you, stars!" is literally saying that he defys fate and defys his destiny, which back then, was supposed to be foretold in the stars. Therefore, in this particular song with these lyrics, the subject is defying their own fate, and defying their own destiny -which was to become one of the mindless "mannequins" by whom they're surrounded.

for some reason the cymbals crashing or wahtever they are doing throughout the song sounds like in that game on NES ducktales, where the guy would appear and reappear

As said, the Romeo and Juliette thing is simply a blunt misconcaption they've made it seem like. The actual meaning of the song is how people change to fit in with the crowd. Eg, acting as someone different (not yourself) to be with the "cool kids". They just portray this through the R&J theme.
Genious. Much like the rest of TREOS's music/lyrics.

this is one of the most moving songs i have ever heard.

the metaphors are so powerful and so relevant.

genius.