Wrapped in Piano Strings

this song is fucking brilliant. i want to go drive somewhere far away and blast it on repeat.

He says on a youtube video from 2012 that the song is about a husband who kills himself. Now he's stuck in the house and has to watch his wife move on with her life.

I agree, its a brilliant song of loss and has this mix of some sort of life after death no matter how sad it feels time moves on.

i think the first part is a failed double suicide. he dies, but she lives.

then the next part is him watching her going about her life (i think the 'apple from my eye' part is about vowing to stay with her/watch over when he's gone so she doesn't forget him).

he watches her second suicide attempt ('blood ran into the kitchen sink, your hands and lives are running pink'), which also fails, because the next part is about her getting psychiatric treatment ('they cut your eyes wide open, and pour into your precious head'). she's being treated as if something's fundamentally wrong with her, which he doesn't want her to feel ('my reach don't go that far dear, but please, oh please, don't let them in').

so, she's still alive and miserable, and he's dead and miserable because he's without her ('few words could open me, but you knew them all'). his only comfort is that despite her "letting them in" with treatment and remaining alive ('i've seen the end, i've lost the war'), she will die one day like everyone else and finally be with him again ('one day you'll join me here just like the rest').

that's my take.

the line where he says, "one day your 20 years just like the rain" is actually, "one day youll join me here just like the rest" rest could possibly be rain i dunno, but i know its not 20 years.

I saw your father in the hall His ghost is living in the walls I heard him crying while you slept I heard him breaking things after you left

I watched you crawl into my bed With curses spilling from your head You said "We're just the walking dead" So I pulled the trigger and we floated off

Into the air Into the air Into the air Into the air Up in the air We're in the air Up in the air Up in the air

The narrator is lying in bed while he hears his wife arguing with her father. He tries to comfort her as she gets into bed. The father doesn’t seem to approve of the relationship between the narrator and his wife. "We're just the walking dead" suggests that, since she’s in this relationship, she doesn’t mean anything to her father.

I used to worry about the time That I lost my teeth along the line So I carved the apple from my eye And gave it to you before I went away

He’s worried that he’ll lose her when he dies so he let her know that she’s the apple of his eye.

Blood ran into the kitchen sink Your hands and lives are running pink I sat and watched you as your ring Slipped off and rolled across the kitchen floor

The blood is the vitality of life; pink seems to suggest that she is nearing the end of her life. He means less to her: “your ring slipped off and rolled across the kitchen floor.”

They cut your eyes wide open And pour into your precious head My reach don't go that far dear But please oh please don't let them in

“They cut your eyes wide open” and “pour into your precious head” seems to suggest that her family is trying to persuade her after his death. Since he is dead, he cannot help protect their love.

I sank into the sea Wrapped in piano strings Few words could open me But you knew them all

He’s losing the love of his life, but he is unable to stop it. She was the only one who really understood him. He doesn’t want to lose that, but she’s starting to forget (“you knew them all”).

Now I just sleep beneath your floor My ghost just tries to keep you warm I've seen the end, I've lost the war One day you'll join me here just like the rest

He has lost her, but he still loves her. Even in death he is devoted to her. He’s waiting for the day when he will be able to talk to her again.

I hear the engines They're roaring in our mouths The smell of creatures Are falling tooth and nail to get out

He seems to be musing on the interconnected idea that goes with the idea of ghosts sticking around after death.

I see the airplanes They're pouring from your chest They fill the air And burn and bury you just like the rest

This world will eventually take your life as well.

i know songs mean what you want them to... here's my take.

her father isn't happy, the romeo and juliet aspect... a murder, suicide "we floated off".

You said "We're just the walking dead" So I pulled the trigger and we floated off

• he want's the two of them to end together.... -

the matter of this being together, he's dead, they are working on her. "cut your eyes wide open, and bore into your head".... doctors doing what they can to save her...... he's watching that from an outside position, he wants her to come with him into death.... "My reach don't go that far dear But please oh please don't let them in".... when/if they fix her she's still alive and he's stuck alone....

• she's alive, they saved her, and he's stuck alone... -

"I sank into the sea Wrapped in piano strings Few words could open me But you knew them all"

• he's stuck as a ghost, loves her to death, and shows. -

Now I just sleep beneath your floor My ghost just tries to keep you warm I've seen the end, I've lost the war One day you'll join me here just like the rest

Ben Cooper, who is the writer most of their songs and the vocalist, mentioned about how the theme of the album is ghosts and how when you live in a house you leave a ghost of yourself behind. I think this works also in how if you feel attachment to a person, you leave a ghost of yourself in that person and how we're all a part of everyone we feel a connection with. Also, i don't think you have to live in a house to leave your ghost in it either. I think when he says ghosts he means memories, so if you have memories inside of a house you have a ghost in that architecture.

These lyrics are fairly intense but an awsome song none the less. Bring on more Radical Face! This guy is amazing.

I believe it's "bore" and not "pour" in the fifth verse

Ghosts are definitely a common theme in this album, and they're mentioned here again with the ghost of the father, who seems angry at the daughter, who I'm going to guess is "you" in this song. This song is so all over the place I can't really understand what's going on, I get that they die (at least metaphorically) in the beginning of the song (" I pulled the trigger and we floated off"), but I don't get the cutting of the eyes, the blood, the rings, the piano strings, etc. Any ideas, anyone?