Save Me Save Me

Jamie Stewart Says

"Talking about this song will reveal way too much about my love life. It's partially about my obsession with sex and this unhealthy feeling that it's what will make me whole. I need it too much. It's also about a person I have since fallen totally in love with, and who says things to me like, 'It's ok that we feel that way, sex just means more to us than it does to other people.' At the time the song was written we were not in a relationship but having crazy sex -- there was lots of blood. It's also about deep regret and that, sometimes, deep regret is hot."

this is from http://www.stereogum.com/the-gum-drop/issues/2007/09/02-week/

btw the new remix is awesome

Here are my thoughts!

As previously stated by Jamie this song talks about regret in relation to sex, but I also believe it mentions the need for someone despite the guilt and the yearning for death. From the beginning it is clear that the individual this song focuses on wants their life to end, as having "no eyes, no nose, no mind" (all parts of the body which becomes futile after death) is their "strange delight." However, this might not just stand for death, but also the need to be free of the senses and feelings, which might be troubling to them.

I believe this song touches on self-worth as well. If comparing the individual to the fruit as the lyrics hinted, they were never picked, never chosen, they were always the last one remaining. They were left to rot. This might imply that the individual feels worthless and is desperate to be 'picked'.

I also believe this song has a continuing analogy on flies and fruit. The 'fly' is desperate for nourishment to survive; it needs to be saved. There is nothing but rotten fruit, but it's fine because they are naturally drawn to rotten fruit anyway. I believe this analogy explains it well, also when considering my previous point. The 'fruit' is desperate to be chosen, the 'fly' is desperate to be fed. They both want to be saved. However the 'fruit', or the individual this song speaks of, doesn't wish to live on, so they try to give themselves up to benefit the other.

However, I do believe this song has more depth than animal-fruit analogies, which is where the other lines come in. Fruit cannot be cured, but humans can. They know they have a chance, but they still want to be 'saved', anyway. I believe the line '...impressed by the night' and 'pull your shirt down' are meant to be signs of the regret and need for sex as Jamie had mentioned. Night itself can mean different things in this case, but I believe it hints at how night is thought to be when all sin exists. The act of being impressed by it, is the act of having a desire to do such sins. This can also show guilt when considering my next point. I noticed in the song, 'pull your shirt down' was sung noticeably quiet while the 'save me, save me' was sung much louder, almost as if it were trying to combat the previous lyrics. Maybe once the 'night' is over, they experience regret for what happened. The next lyrics show that even with this guilt, they still have the intense urge to be saved. There are many other lines which prove this song isn't a simple analogy, but I enjoy the addition of it as it acts as a figurative way to imagine it for me.

To put it as simply as I can, I believe this song refers to giving up oneself to each other when they need it the most. There are countless emotions and reasons on both sides, but sometimes people do not want to come face-to-face with the struggles of their own feelings, emotions, and senses. No matter what it takes, they just want to be saved.

Note: I wonder if anybody else noticed how this song relates a lot to Portugal? 'Porto' mentioned in the song is a city in Portugal which is known for being grey (and can also further hint how the individual in the song feels their life is 'grey' or dull). Also, I found some other things which prove this relation. I am not from Portugal and I am not very knowledgeable about the country, so whatever I say likely isn't 100% factual and is only from my own personal research. I found out that both apples and melons are extremely common fruits grown in Portugal, both of which are mentioned in the song comparing them to the individual. Also, the mandolin was used in this song, and a variation of the mandolin is a very common instrument in Portuguese music. The violin was also used in this song, and although I have found records of violins being common in Portuguese music, it isn't very prominent from my research. This might all just be a coincidence, or a stylistic choice, but I believe this implies that the individual this song is speaking of is from, or related to Portugal in some way. One of the main ways the "grey light of Porto stays with..." someone is if they had lived there or experienced being there, right? As I said this might be for any other possible reason, or my connections are just me looking too deep into it, but I still think the idea of it is interesting.

I have also looked into the other comments and they all have really good points as well. This is just how I view the song and how I see it! :)

It's about a person who hates and self-injures them self. Somebody else takes advantage of this fact sexually.

my favorite album on the new xiu xiu album!

sounds like he's giving into temptation to have sex with a girl..very kinky rough sex..

Yeah uhh it's definetly not about "rough kinky sex" is all I can speak for.

when all i could understand was the save me save me and the desperation of his voice it was about needing someone to save you from yourself. I just saw the vidio on youtube and reread the lyrics, the vidio starts out with a small boy and an oldman with a gun, their is some uncomfortable sexual tension then the boy leaves, a stork picks up the old man and you see several elderly people being droped into a factory they are turned into babys and flown away in baskets. the old man at the begining fights the stork and the factoy braks down causing the babys to plumit to thir doom. it seems this song may be about an early molestation coming back when abuout to have sex with a much older man...(how can you love a tiny bug impressed) this line however with the withering death and sex brngs aids into view...

okay. so the self mutilation is obvious, but i think the song is more about the current obession with plastic surgery in society. i'm assuming he is referring to matmos' album "A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure", which is an album made largely of sounds sampled from liposuction and plastic surgery.

"your body doomed as the last apple on the tree" meaning no matter what you do to yourself to make it better your going to die and your physical self will rot away like every other living thing.

Jamie is the doctor, speaking to a patient "pull your shirt down" "hand a knife up to me" "so let me hurt you".

i think the video also supports this: the elderly people being turned into babies at a factory. people trying to recapture their youth by going under the knife.

"it would be a strange delite no eyes no nose no mind" referring to the mindset of someone who hates themselves so much they'd spend thousands on cutting their body apart. but where to draw the line? "no mouth no neck no rest" meaning it doesn't stop. the "white poem of self hate stays with you" so no matter what you "fix" next, your going to find something to be unhappy.

i'm new to xiu xiu (last week, actually!), so maybe i'm missing something.

i don't really see the rape and suicide. the self-hatred that is at the root of all these things, i do see, though.

oh how can you love a tiny bug impressed by the night when you cut yourself? save me save me

Wow.. I would totally have fallen for the plastic surgery interpretation.. but just what did 'Swedishwhat?' find.. Wonderfull..

From the interview with Jamie: "..At the time the song was written we were not in a relationship but having crazy sex -- there was lots of blood. It's also about deep regret and that, sometimes, deep regret is hot."

from the song:

"it would be a strange delite no eyes no nose no mind"

I still think the plastic surgery, as Kittensincement pointed out, is there, but it is made for the delight of being cut..

"oh how can you love a tiny bug impressed by the night when you cut yourself? save me save me"

The tiny bug understands your feeling of power when prove you can cut yourself.. how lovely is that..

"your body rotten as the last melon on the vine pull your shirt down save me save me"

Her "Body rotten" is her self hate, which Jamie wants his share of.. propably because he's so used to hating himself, that he needs to fortify the feeling not to feel out of place..

"press my thumb onto your tongue"

Make me make you feel like it's hard to breath and to swallow.. literally. some people do anything to feel, to feel anything at all..

"the white poem of self hate stays with you even though you know a chance to cut is still a chance to cure pull your legs apart"

if one hates himself for wanting to cut himself with a knife, he eventually becomes frustrated about hating something that hasn't happened, then nothing makes one more proud of himself than proving that it can actually be done.. carrying ones self hate in proud scars of the body, may feel better than hating and fearing ones own mind.. "Pull your legs apart" is because she has found out that proving her selfhate gives her pleasure, and found out a new way of hating herself, that is, connecting the knifeplay and sex. the cycle strenghtens and may be dangerous.

The last melon on the vine the last apple on the tree

Suicide runs in jamie's family, and he's saying that he's the last person in the family and he feels doomed to end his life. "Your body doomed as the last apple on the tree" The family tree.