My Good Deed

First off, what an amazing band. I'm so lucky to have stumbled onto their music.

Anyway, I'm gonna start off by making the assumption that perhaps the girl in this story is dead. Why else would her parents be "crying over things they can't tell her?" She most likely committed suicide, encouraged by a mixture of the breakup and her refusal to take her pills (which were most likely anti-depressants.) Johnathan then goes into the past to explain their love.

So the father does not approve of their marriage, or their love... Perhaps he even forbids it. Jonathan (assuming he wrote this based on his experiences) has some sort of understanding of this... Which is why he believes that he'd be crazy ("Who should be slapped into a straitjacket") if he were to act on his feelings.

"The fire by which we both were almost killed, glowed so beautiful, don't doubt it." I think that the fire he speaks of is metaphorical. I believe their chemistry together is hazardous to the lifestyles set for them. This would explain why the dad forbids their relationship, and why Jonathan subconsciously agrees.

He tries to create a role in which to fit into her life, but it doesn't seem to work, and he is deprived of his need to be needed... He then goes off into explaining how this eventually turns into a bitterness which is bad for the relationship, but he isn't clear as to whether or not this has anything to do with why he wasn't good for her in the first place.

And so he breaks off the relationship, and we're back to the first verse of the song.

I personally have friends who've dealt with similar struggles. Being in a relationship with someone who takes anti-depressants is extremely difficult. How would you feel if you knew that you weren't enough for the woman you loved? That she could never be happy even with you, because she would always have a need for the pills?

What a beautiful, but sad song.

The music, especially the ending, is so damn beautiful.

I can't get over how much I still love this song even after 3 years. Absolutely amazing.

yes.. i love this song too.. but, the meaning.. lets get to the different meanings it could have! basically, i had sort of a hard time figuring out what this meant.. like the story itself. so i asked a friend. she said, basically.. its about this guy and girl who i guess were going to get married. the girl had some sort of problem.. perhaps..besides that her father wouldn't bless their choice of getting married.. and so he wanted to help her.. but somehow he didn't and he never thought of hurting her.. or betraying her.. but now he does? eh. im not too sure. i'll have to discuss this again sometime. :] although, yes it is very very beautiful. one of my favorites! XD

i completely understand this...but just cannot explain it to anybody...

just get this, we are all flawed, in the most perverse ways...

I've been listening to this song a lot and i know it's a little far-fetched but i think it makes a lot more sense if all the "us" and "we" means himself and his evil intentions.

So every time it comes around I just let it die inside me You said, "I only come around Because I just need you to hide me"

in this part his evil intentions are basically saying "i only exist so you can hide my existence" because that's what the first two lines of that part make him feel like he's doing.

when he says "we knelt in those dead weeds" he is again talking about himself and his evil self.

I'm not going to make you take the pills Though you should really think about it The fire by which we both were almost killed Glowed so beautiful, don't doubt it

In this part maybe his pills are suppressants so he tries to convince his evil side to take the pills. the second half might be his evil part talking back

"There's a space I tried to fill But I'm seeing now I never will You fly around while I stand still Until I slowly just get smaller and smaller"

Here he could be seeing his evil part become the dominant one

"we both found out that I was dreaming Of the day I thoroughly could hurt her"

Here it's both of himselves finding out, which I think makes more sense than him and her.

"I once felt a feeling fully through Though I knew I shouldn't feel it"

This "full" feeling is obviously bad. Probably something evil he wanted to do to the girl.

"Feeling the fullest moment of my life Slowly shrink away from me "

And I think in this part he actually did it, and as he walks away he's loosing his adrenaline rush, that's why it "shrinks away"

This is completely different from what your first impressions might tell you but if you listened to the other songs sung by Will Sheff like "For Real" or "Westfall" in his current band Okkervil River, this seems much more true.