9 Crimes

LYRIC: Leave me out with the waste/this is not what i do

leave her behind because she is not worth his time- she is saying “have pity on me and let me pay for my mistake”, and at the same time she is saying and when you leave me behind, know that this is not a usual occurrence- Punish me/accept me

LYRIC: it's the wrong kind of place to be thinking of you

When she is with her lover (whom she is cheating on her partner with), it isn't the right time to think of her partner, but she does, it speaks to the unfinished business between them- This speaks to the unease they have inside- When you are not able to end something with your partner and you get involved in something else, but you are still emotionally involved with your partner- It shows she still loves him, but can't reach inside herself to make the choices that would show love to him-

LYRIC: it's the wrong time for somebody new

This unfinished stuff is tough and she knows inside that getting involved in another relationship so soon before the other is over, is not a healthy way to deal, and she is feeling guilty. It is interesting she says “somebody new” implying it is just “somebody” nobody that special. However, she doesn't refer to it as cheating as he does later. Her way of explaining her involvment with another to herself is that this is “someone new” and that the future is open-She names it “somebody new” which opens herself up to the possiblity that this could be more than just a passing fling to get her out of the relationship-

LYRIC: it's a small crime and i got no excuse

Why say it's a small crime? She explains the crime to herself first, minimizing the action, and then says she has no excuse for it

LYRIC: and is that alright yeah? i give my gun away when it's loaded

She opened herself to someone else and gave them herself because she couldn't put the energy into working it out with her partner and a way to cope with wanting to get out of the relationship was to cheat- She is saying she gives away her power when she doesn't honestly deal with the issues in her relationship and instead goes to someone else-

LYRIC: is that alright yeah? if you don't shoot it how am i supposed to hold it?

She is putting the responsibility on her partner to have been able to communicate to her and when her partner doesn't, she can't hold herself to the relationship- She has to go elsewhere for emotion connection-

LYRIC: is that alright yeah? i give my gun away when it's loaded is that alright yeah, with you? leave me out with the waste this is not what i do it's the wrong kind of place to be cheating on you

Now the partner says the same thing to her- but the difference is that instead of “thinking” after cheating about him, he is saying that he knows that cheating isn't the way to deal with the relationship not working anymore, after he has already cheated-

LYRIC: it's the wrong time she's pulling me through

It's actually the right time for him. He is lying to himself. He is using the escape of being with someone else to get him emotionally through the hard time with his partner- Fill the emptiness with someone else, filling a need that is not being dealt with in his own self-

LYRIC: it's a small crime and i got no excuse and is that alright yeah? if i give my gun away when it's loaded is that alright yeah? if you don't shoot it how am i supposed to hold it? is that alright yeah? i give my gun away when it's loaded is that alright? is that alright with you? is that alright yeah? if i give my gun away when it's loaded is that alright yeah? if you don't shoot it how am i supposed to hold it? is that alright yeah? i give my gun away when it's loaded is that alright is that alright with you and is that alright yeah? is that alright is that alright is that alright with you? no?

Last line. The NO is quite telling of the lies they say to themselves. All along it was alright because they said “yeah” after each question. If it was really alright to do what they were doing to each other, they wouldn't be asking after the cheating. They are looking for each other to agree with their way of dealing with the disconnection. And when they ask, is that alright with you? And “yeah” comes right after....This is interesting because they haven't spoken to each other about what is really going on, so the “yeah” is asking for approval without having the truth. I think that is all they can handle. This song is about a relationship between two people that can't actually talk and be open about the failures and can't deal with the issues together 'face to face'. And they know that, so they are scared. Hence the asking each other if its alright, and the cheating, and the unresolved, unclosed relationship, that unfortunately if they don't deal with it, it will come back in another way, at another time. And maybe that is all they can do.