The Start of Something

No offense, but I think you people are way off base here. This is my interpretation:

A guy (the narrator) was infatuated with a woman (Marianne?), presumably his ex-girlfriend. When they were dating, he could call her up at "this time of night" and there wouldn't be anything wrong with it, but when they had first separated and she wanted nothing to do with him, she would curse at him when he called her at that hour. Still, her angry words ("gutter prose") couldn't dissuade him from loving her... when he says he would "break common laws in twos and threes", he probably means he would go to her house after hanging the phone up and cause a ruckus on her front steps, bang on windows, shouting to her from her front lawn, waking up all her neighbors ("I'm sorry everybody knows") etc... anything to get her attention. Bear in mind, that was all immediately after they had broken up. Now, some time later, he is still in love with her and still watches home videoes of the "good times" reminiscing on the days when they were together ("When I could feel your heart"). He wishes that she would come visit him, and even promises that, if she DID, he wouldn't gush over her and tell her how much he still wants to be with her, unless of course that's what she wants ("Come by and see me... I'd break your name before I'd say 'I really love you'). Instead of sending a love-letter ("I'm just a love-letter away"), however, she sends him a letter telling him that she's getting married and even describes how massive/luxurious the ring is ("the ring it nearly weighs her down"), almost as if she was rubbing it in his face. She goes on to say that poetry, the only thing the narrator has ever given her, is NOT a luxury. It IS, however, how he intends to break up her marriage, by writing her love poems that he hopes will remind her how happy they were together. As if to evoke sympathy from her, he asks "When I'm really ill, will you cradle me?"; a question which is answered later in the song. With the third verse, we get a better understanding of why she left him in the first place. He was apparently over-protective and possessive ("eager to shut [her] eyes" to the world outside of their relationship), and she felt trapped. Plus, there's a good probability that he cheated on her ("man is not a noble animal" and possibly what he meant when he described breaking "common laws in twos and threes").

The Break-Up Scene (aka verses 5 and 6) The narrator is apparently at her house when she breaks up with him. When she says "You never really live until your back's against the wall", she means that nobody ever makes life-changing decisions, voluntarily leaving their comfort zone, unless it is absolutely necessary, i.e. no longer comforting. That was her reason for breaking up with him. He, on the other hand, would have been perfectly happy continuing with things as they were, unhappy as they were (his "scarred" reflection is, I believe, a metaphor for the unhappiness and sense of rejection he feels when she breaks up with him). At that, she says "I think its time [for you] to go home now". Before he leaves, however, he asks "Tell me your thoughts on liberty (i.e. the single life). I think it seems pretty boring" (that's a place where I sink to sleeping"). To this question, she replies "My vote is as red as my blood", meaning she's liberal, open to the idea that the single life might be nice/exciting. It would be a nice break from his possessive ways. Trying to eke out just a few more minutes with her, he asks if she will join him for another round and give him time to share his thoughts on their relationship, but she's not interested and kicks him out of her house ("Godspeed", aka goodbye).

I'm a little unsure about the first two lines in the last verse. I believe that when he says "This just makes me ill, your name is dripping from my pen, still you're not around to curse", he is lamenting the fact that he can't seem to forget her, whereas she has clearly moved on, which is even more frustrating because he can't even curse at her for making him feel so miserable. In his despaeation, he picks up a gun and contemplates killing himself, but remembers her words... "Only when you feel like you have no other options do you truly live" ("you never really live until your back's against the wall"). If she really meant those words, then this point in the narrator's life just might mark the start of something beautiful (LIFE ITSELF in its truest form), despite the fact that it may not seem like he is getting what he wants. In the end, he accepts the fact that the relationship is unsalvagable and that he can't do anything to make her love him again. He even admits, albeit indirectly, that he WAS over-possessive... recall that, in the beginning he said he didn't care if she thinks he's eager to shut her eyes, almost as if he were denying that it were true. In that context, it was "shut your eyes and let me guide you into the future (i.e. dictate your life for you) Yet, here, at the end, he says "shut your eyes and burn the past", as if to say "shut your eyes and forget about me.

Thoughts???