The Funeral

Ok, i know that songs mean different things to everyone, and sometimes it's easy to think that a song is specifically about something you personally understand or have been through.

In this case, however, I am almost sure I understand this song.

My girlfriend of 6 years became addicted to heroin a good few years back. She was intelligent, beautiful, and had the best sense of humor, but her self-hatred brought about on her by her father was absolutely crushing to her soul. I knew after about a year of knowing her, that she would in fact somehow die from something she did to herself. At first I thought suicide, but as she slipped into heroin addiction I realized what really was going to happen.

I talked to her mother about this time and time again, as we tried to find a solution but nothing worked. We always said that we were just "waiting for the funeral" as we cried and tried to cope with the situation. We knew it was coming, and it was something we had already accepted in a weird way before it even happened. The more and more I see this happen to others, the more I see there story is the same, and these lyrics are just so dead on. Before I ever heard this song, these events transpired and when I heard the song for the first time it almost put me to tears and I could have sworn it was written for me (yeah right I know, but I do think it was for people in my situation) Heroin kills many people who are full of self-hatred and recklessly abuse the dangerous drug because they do not care about themselves or their life.

"Really too late to call So we wait for the morning to wake you That's all we got"

The door is locked. Is she dead? Or has she just OD'd somewhat and is so passed out she is not awake or cannot hear the phone or door. These are the worst mornings, nail biting as you assume the worst. Always ready and thinking of that goddamn funeral that is so imminent.

"I'm coming up only to show you down for I'm coming up only to show you wrong"

She is making a mistake, I've tried using the drug myself to get on her level and try to explain, or at least understand more so I can help... I've tried everything.

And in the end, the funeral still comes as you knew it would. And it's a billion day funeral because the sorrow is still so strong as you realize how naive and upset everyone around you is. You thought you were ready for this day, but as it turns out, you re-live all the sorrow a million times each time you see someone cry and want an explanation for how this all happened. Longest day of my life, and the one I had anticipated the most.

Throughout it all, at every occasion, we were ready for the funeral. But it didn't make it any better. Very sad song.

I could be totally wrong. But my experiences made this song mean a lot to me, and it almost seemed too coincidental, but then again who knows?

i don't think it has anything to do with teasing someone you're obsessed with...

from what i gather, it's a lament; waiting for morning to wake the ones you love is all you've got left. It's too late to call, so we'll trust that in the morning that the people we care for will still be alive. but at every occasion, and at any time you're prepared for a funeral, prepared for the age when your loved ones start to die off.

Actually everybody, if you go to www.triplej.net.au/mel/ there is a Program Highlights section which has an interview with the band where they talk about the meaning behind The Funeral. It's about dreading events like Christmas and birthdays because of all the pressure and stress which leads up to it, and feeling like maybe a funeral wouldn't be much worse. Anyway, follow the link and have a listen to the interview, it's pretty good.

Always be prepared for the worst possible outcome? Just a random thought...

I have always interpreted this song to be as if a family were holding an intervention for a family member who is addicted... drink, drugs, whatever.... They've been in silence about it, and swept it under the rug until now, hence "i'm coming up only to hold you under, i'm coming up only to show you wrong"... they are only speaking out now to convince the family member that they need change.... all along they have not known the addicted person's true personality, only the drunken, or high behaviors "to know you is hard, we wonder".. and all along they have been wrong about them. "it's really too late to call so we wait for morning to wake you, it's all we've got" meaning, they should have done something or said something earlier, but didnt, and now the addiction is stronger than they are, and they dont know how to intervene, so they wait each day hoping and praying that the person will get better, change their life, but in the meantime, they have no control, and all they can do is pray the sun wakes them in the morning, and they are still alive. and the chorus, "at every occasion i'll be ready for the funeral" is knowing that any day, at any time, that family member may overdose, or die, and so every birthday, christmas, holiday, they wait for the phone call that the family member has died, and are already ready to accept that a funeral may be the only end to their addiction.... Such a sad song for those of us who have lived through this....

I also recently lost someone very dear to me to suicide, and interpreted the song through that lens. The first two verses simply illustrate how wrong the victim was to take their own life and that there are many people that care for and love them I think the chorus is describing the process of grieving that one must go through after any loss. "At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral Every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral Every occasion, know I'm ready for the funeral At every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral" I look at this "funeral" as the depression and heartache that follows loss, every single day seems like a struggle, and your mind keeps replaying the fateful events of the death and the funeral. The "one billion day funeral" is just describing that grief is a long journey, and the pain will go on for what seems like forever.

Overall, I think this is an absolutely beautiful song that can be interpreted in practically any situation, which is part of what makes it so great.

i think the song isn't lamenting over how you're ready to accept your loved ones' deaths. rather, i think it addresses the fact that we can't control our own death and when it happens, and that it is inevitable to all of us. i think it's a song about realizing your own death and being comfortable with the fact that death is imminent and can happen at any age and place. it sounds as if the singer has done all he has in life, and is ready to face death whenever it chooses to appear. it has a joyous approach to death somewhat, as if death is the process of being liberated. also, the song brings up points about family members when he mentions the "dead leaves" and the "tree." think of it as a family tree, where our own dead relatives may be dead, but their hearts live on in the rest of the family, just as the dead leaves are alone as they have fallen down from the proverbial "family tree."

I agree this song can be interpreted according to individuality. Being a believer in God and the soul, it appeals to me in a spiritual way:

I'm coming up only to hold you under (I'm coming to your funeral to bury you)

I'm coming up only to show you wrong (I'm coming up only due to social formality, the real you is not there, just the body)

And to know you is hard we wonder (To really know you as a spirit rather than the body I could always see is difficult for most mortals)

To know you all wrong we were (We who knew you, incorrectly viewed you as a human, but your true identity is spiritual, beyond the dead body left behind for burial)

Really too late to call So we wait for morning to wake you That's all we got (You died late in the evening, so its too late for others to gather. We wait for morning to begin your wake)

to know me as hardly golden Is to know me all wrong, they were (People think the same mundane way about me, they don't see that beneath the surface is the soul, my true self)

At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral Every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral Every occasion, know I'm ready for the funeral At every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral (But I'm ever ready for that day, when my day comes to die. I know I will go on living on that special day of liberation. It could be any day, any occasion, at any moment... but I'm prepared in a spiritual sense)

To the outside the dead leaves, they're on the lawn Before they died, had trees to hang their hope (To the outsider that witnesses death, they only see the dead body, not knowing the faith the individual had, the hope they clung to throughout life, given by God whom they leaned on)

And every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral And every occasion once more It's called the funeral And every occasion (I'm ready)

I believe this song is about a sick parent, whether it be alcohol or some other substance. The person telling the story has grown up and separated themselves from their parent, but at holidays or other occasions when they see their parent, they are reminded of what a bad place they are in and that, due to their destructive behavior, there will inevitably be a funeral, it's only a matter of time. The quote "To the outside The dead leaves, they are alive\For they don't have trees to hang their hearts" is referring to the parent messing with their emotions and breaking them down as a child (parent=tree, child=leaves). He would rather be apart from the parent than feel emotionally broken and abused.

So, yeah. That's what I think.

To me this is pretty simple. It's about preparing for the worst outcome.