4 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Papillon Lyrics
All dressed up, no place to run
No car, no girl, no pills, no fun
Nothing to do in this empty room
I gotta get my head together soon
Alone again, no plans, no friends
You come around at half past ten
You say "How are you holding up my friend?
Are you sitting around getting drunk again?"
And I hear the desperation of those lines
Wasted hours, all this wasted time
Uh, yeah, I been just fine!
Then we're out the door in an hour more
We stumble down from the second floor
And we're swaying, braying
We don't know what we're saying
And you grab my shirt, you're always so curt
I swear to God that this doesn't hurt
When you stare like that, you put on that act
You say something and then you take it back
And I feel as though I've done something wrong
Oh, how I miss you when you're gone
And I wish I had the guts to scream
You know, things aren't always what they seem
When you walk away, I want to stay
Don't leave me here to pace and pray
All these nights I burnt, hours I turned
You think that by now I'd learn
That you're only what you pretend to be
I guess that was just lost on me
I can't stand the way you look at me in that dress
Oh, Papillon, I might be alright, I guess
If I wasn't such a mess
I'm such a mess
I'm such a mess
I'm such a mess
I'm such a mess
No car, no girl, no pills, no fun
Nothing to do in this empty room
I gotta get my head together soon
You come around at half past ten
You say "How are you holding up my friend?
Are you sitting around getting drunk again?"
Wasted hours, all this wasted time
Uh, yeah, I been just fine!
We stumble down from the second floor
And we're swaying, braying
We don't know what we're saying
I swear to God that this doesn't hurt
When you stare like that, you put on that act
You say something and then you take it back
Oh, how I miss you when you're gone
You know, things aren't always what they seem
When you walk away, I want to stay
Don't leave me here to pace and pray
You think that by now I'd learn
That you're only what you pretend to be
I guess that was just lost on me
Oh, Papillon, I might be alright, I guess
If I wasn't such a mess
I'm such a mess
I'm such a mess
I'm such a mess
Song Info
Submitted by
hugmecolin On Dec 24, 2007
More The Airborne Toxic Event
Sometime Around Midnight
All I Ever Wanted
Wishing Well
Innocence
Happiness Is Overrated
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
one of my favorites of theirs. i think a lot of this album has to do with loneliness and feeling isolated and disconnected from everyone, even those you care about. it's about the disconnect between how one really feels and the act being put on - the frusteration of a disingenuous world and the tiresomeness of getting lost in drugs and drinking and meaningless sex to replace real feelings and emotion. i just love the sarcasm and hurt in his voice when he sings "i've been just fine" then screaming "if i wasn't such a mess" is just great. i'm not sure what 'papillon' refers to exactly but it does mean butterfly in french and i find some nice imagery there - he is grasping at this fleeting, fragile beauty which doesn't want to be caught.
so... he's talking to his dog?
or he's talking to a "butterfly"?
The lyrics are wrong. At the end, he says, "I can't stand the way you look at me in that dress... oh papillon, i might be alright, I guess."
Papillon sounds like it's just a nickname for the girl to whom, and about whom, he's singing. It doesn't necessarily harbor a deeper meaning. You can search for deeper meaning--like, it means butterfly in French--but I doubt there was much. As brilliant and creative as he is, I doubt he would both use that word in the song and name the song after the word unless it had a meaning that both he and the girl could recognize. I mean, listen to the song. It's angry as hell. He is clearly singing this so that the girl can hear it and feel bad about it. He's trying to remind her of how great they had it by throwing in his old nickname for her.
It's an incredible song. And live, it's even better.
Papillon is not just the name of a dog and butterfly, it's also the name of a semi-autobiographical book (and later a movie) about Henri Charrière, who was convicted of murder and sent to prison on Devil's Island. He tried multiple times to escape, until eventually he succeeded. He was called Papillon because of a butterfly tattoo he had. It's possible that that's what he's talking about when he says "All dressed up, no place to run/No car, no girl, no pills, no fun/Nothing to do in this empty room/I gotta get my head together soon." I feel like he's comparing some sort of relationship to escaping from prison, but I'm not entirely sure what.