Beyond The Pale

I think he just meant that he remembers starting to have sexual desires at age eight.

I've gotten much different vibes off this song than just "he wanted sex when he was 8", this song is the climax of probably their most emotional album, and is tied into several times from the rest of the album, from the main theme which we hear in chain sling, to the lyrical content of fandango "We will always be so much more human than we wish to be"

I've never been able to figure it out completely, if at all. I've always felt it more desiring the warmth of another human to quell loneliness and distance. He's trying to fill the void with it, but it won't do it, there's no love, it's just desperate attempts to feel human contact.

Daniel explains it as a journey to discover what freedom truly is, and he wrote it at a time in his life when he was struggling in his relationship. The romantic notion is to stay with someone through thick and thin, but this is not easily done for we are much more human than we wish to be. Numerous alternate scenarios are explored: What if he chose to go down remedy lane and leave his wife? what if he pursued his own selfish desires in lieu of hers? What if he allowed his anger to gain the better judgement? often couples are hesitant to explore sex after such a traumatic experience, the male blaming himself for what occurred, which can result in the wife feeling inadequate and isolated, perhaps seeking the company of someone else to fulfill her needs. these are all selfish, base desires, but they are a part of human nature, and this is what Daniel is getting at I think. The ages he speaks of don't point to pedophilia or underage acts of coitus necessarily, they are aspects of human sexual awareness, his and hers. Obviously, he and his wife were able to overcome this obstacle as they have had children since, so I don't think everything he speaks of actually took place, they are dramatic licenses the author took in order to better deal with his grief.

Based off of an interview Daniel made right after the release of In The Passing Light Of Day on spotify he mentioned the year 2001 as being a particularily rough one. If I were to be fairly specific about what happened in this song I guess his wife cheated on him several years prior "i remember when you said you've been under him - and all those years of being faithful to you despite the hunger flowing through my veins", and during perhaps touring The Perfect Element the following year brought him back to Budapest and one night his bitterness almost took over. In the end though he didn't do it based on the line "she's so young so why don't i feel free now that she is under me?". If you look in the booklet this song is set in 2001 (i think, been years since i looked it up, if I'm wrong then my mistake I guess).

Well, like said before, the main subject here is not the fact that the protagonist remembers having sexual urges back at 8, but it is rather a confession.

To me, the most important thing here is his own evaluation of choices during his life. He keeps looking and remembering the past in order to understand himself better now, or at least, to comprehend why he's such a mess, what have led him to this very moment. I believe the comparison made is quite clear on the first two stanzas, being the first about Sex, and second about Love.

Personally the Love stanza reminds quite much of Romanticism on Literature, the perfect ideal woman, yet, unattainable, intangible, which somehow explains "watching them turn to flesh again", thus, giving in to (her) own sexual urges.

I understand this album as a non-linear (chronological) story about a man and woman, both very young and presumably alone in life, who love each other, start living together, she gets pregnant, loses the child, something happens between them (this point is not really explicit to me, perhaps I am missing something. Probably she has had sex with another man), and then he runs away, leaves her due to the fight and probably because she did something really unforgivable to him.

That's why he says "Budapest I'm learning / Budapest you're burning me", it's probably where they used to live or where he ran to.

"Undertow" is probably a "prequel" and it is about him breaking free of the relationship, now he can do whatever he wants, no more restrictions (specially sex related), and it can explain his thoughts on these verses:

This is not who I wanted to be / This is not what I wanted to see

Like I said, he is thinking about his choices, and when the next verses come up, he's actually having sex, with a young hooker or regular girl, but at the same time, he still feels guilty about it, and not free at all...

Then, he goes on... he is quite desperate and lost, I guess he really doesn't know how to proceed with his life from now on, the days seem empty and eternal, time passes by and he doesn't really follow it. That's the Remedy Lane he mentions. Of course, a lot of that is just empathy and assumptions.

What he really says is that he still "hunts" for women, he thinks it is fun, and it is delightful to him, but the sex sounds like torture and at the same time necessary, he can not hunt and not finishing it, it is disrespectful, to the women. That's the hunger he mentions, his sexual urges and needs.

Truth is, he wishes he was not such a human man. It is a paradox, because he has many human wishes and needs, and when he fulfills such desires he feels inhuman, dirty and an exploiter.

The verse "Seeking freedom I've touched the untouched / It's too much / I'm Beyond the Pale" is about all these mixed feelings, this paradox. He is beyond salvation, there's no remedy which can heal him, he will have to bury it deep, all these feeling and questions, and live on. A very desperate song. And my second favourite on this amazing album.

Sorry if I have not made myself very clear. English is not my mother-language, and somehow it is really complicated to talk about such abstract subjects as feelings.

Cheers.

Why has no one commented on this song yet? I believe many many people can relate to this song. Daniel's voice is just... wow.

this is a rad song this band deserves much more credit and comments than what it has ..PoS

Well here's a comment: Can an eight-year old male even have sex? I wonder what percent of human males reach puberty by age eight... probably extremely low, if not zero.

But also, yeah. Good song.

Yes, technically, an eight year old can have sex. Prepubescent males can achieve orgasm but cannot ejaculate until they reach puberty. So they can still "feel it" and yet not dispell any semen. Does that answer your question?

Anyways... I guess Danny is/was a pretty messed up guy. Oh well, doesn't matter as long as he keeps putting out songs like this.