Red Hands

This is the Dear Hunter juggling whether or not he can stay with Ms. Leading. He realizes that no matter how much he loves her, he will always have his doubts. He will always suspect that she is cheating on him. He's making himself too vulnerable to heartbreak by loving her so much. He realizes that if they just part ways, he can never catch her cheating on him so he decides the best thing to do is separate.

"Cause you cant be caught red handed if your not red handed My darling I would never say those words to you" the dear hunter is saying that if she actually isn't doing anything, she can't be caught for it. The only way to completely prevent that is to not see her. He loves her so much that he couldn't stand the thought.

"Even if you never strayed from me I�d question your fidelity There�d always be a shroud of suspicion And my hearts a liability"

He knows she's a prostitute, and he figures if she can just have sex with guys as a job, she could just as easily sleep with them because she's used to it. She's a whore and it is expected of her.

"With your hands marooned so freshly red You�d wrap your lips around my neck Try and forced to love the thought of me Simple motions make me ill"

He knows when he goes to see her, that she has been with other guys just before him, "marooned so freshly red". She is just doing what she thinks he wants, to make him feel loved.

"Was it bitter when you tossed and turned On an under covered mattress did it feel so good hope it felt so good Don�t know what I�d do if you lost sleep over little old me Its so much better, their all much better Take off your sweater your shoes and your shirt and get to work"

He's confronting her on her lifestyle. Asking her if she enjoys it, and if she ever thinks about him while she's doing it. And yes, I think he is just being arrogant when he tells her to "get to work"

"Maybe this is just a work of art Scripted players in a play of lust Hope the endings well worth waiting for And everything you wished it be"

He's second guessing everything now. If she can pretend love, maybe everything is all a lie.

"Oh my god what have I done Now my darling put your clothes back on Oh my god what have I done Now my darling put your clothes back on

Cause you cant be caught red handed If you�re not red handed My darling if I ever said those words to you I was pulling out my heart so I could pin it to my sleeve A display for you to see Im on display"

He's upset for getting mad at her now. He regrets saying what he said before. He wants to take it back. He figures its all been in his head that she's been cheating on him.

wow someone has to start something so i'll just put up the first paragraph.

it's really simple, most guys always have the thought lingering in their heads if their girlfriend is cheating on them or not. so even if the girl never did anything wrong, he'd still wonder if she's loyal. and his heart is on the line.

Yeah, I agree with Ferratto.

Also I think when he says "Oh my god what have I done" he's kind of questioning himself being like "What was I thinking being suspicious of you" and then it's pretty simple when he's like "I was pulling out my heart so I could pin it to my sleeve"...

I might be completely off, but... I'm not so sure he knows she is cheating. He saw the other man in "Smiling Swine" and I think he began to wonder if she was cheating on him.

Since then, the question has been eating at him and finally he explodes. He guesses (perhaps because of his mother) that Ms. Leading is a prostitute and has been playing him, so he yells at her and treats her like a prostitute.

Then he stops himself and tells her to put her clothes back on. He feels ashamed for having treated her like that. This time, he takes a calmer approach and tells her that he doesn't know whether or not she is a prostitute and that he would probably have been paranoid no matter what.

He also realizes because of this display of emotion that he is much more in love with her than he thought, and thus more vulnerable to getting hurt. This thought is what leads him down the path of breaking up with her.

the line "oh my god what have i dont/ my darling put your clothes back on" switches between two time periods. one when the boy is having sexy time with Ms leading, (the hooker), and another when he walks in on her with another man. Casey posted that on some forums a long time ago regarding the FIRST version of red hands from the demo's.

ewww i just realized all my spelling and grammar mistakes xD well that was my opinion, so please no one kill me xD

I was fairly certain after listening to this that he is referring to Ms. Leading and his heartbreak at discovering her to be a prostitute. Then, because of his heartbreak and the fact that he feels foolish for ever trusting her, he tries to pretend that he never did love her - "I love you" being the three words I think he refers to when saying "My darling I would never say those words to you". He thinks about the time he spent with her and how her hands were "marooned so freshly red" and refuses to believe that she ever really loved him if she could be unfaithful, when the reality was probably that she had no choice. Unable to see this, He gets incredibly bitter and upset and throws a bunch of insults her way; "Take off your sweater your shoes and your shirt and get to work" being a particularly below the belt comment, I thought.

This song seems to be a turning point on the album; the point when his heart is truely broken. From here onwards, the style kind of changes.

the album version of this can be heard on the new ecard here:

http://ecards.tenminutemedia.net/dearhunter/

This is an amazing song. Definately shows Casey's abilities as a musician and how great Ms. Leading should be. The Dear Hunter is an extremely talented and they leave me breathless.