Moth's Wings

I'm listening to this song at ungodly volumes, and it's definitely

"Your mother's gone missing" "You're just like your father" "buried deep under the water"

Interpretation: It's from the perspective of the subject's spouse.

The first stanza sets the stage.

Dear friend, as you know Your flowers are withering Your mother's gone insane Your leaves have drifted away But the clouds are clearing up And I've come reveling Burning incandescently Like a bastard on the burning sea

The narrator reaffirms that he is a friend, meaning she only wishes to help him and the rest of the song isn't some kind of angry accusation. She says that his luck has gone sour and he's wrong about something. As a result, she is victorious in some kind of argument. She takes pride in the anomaly that is her victory, and "lights on fire" with smugness. The purpose of "your mother's gone missing" is still lost to me. Maybe it's just another way to state that he isn't in control of his life.

The refrain is the ensuing argument.

(Wife) You're just like your father Buried deep under the water You're resting on your laurels And stepping on my toes

(Husband) Whose side are you on?

(Wife) What side is this anyway? Put down your sword and crown Come lay with me on the ground

The wife is pleading with him to calm down and stop acting as if he had authority ("put down your sword and crown"), and join her, romantically, in peace as a common person ("come lay with me on the ground"). She adds that his pride is really starting to make her uncomfortable. "You're just like your father" clues us in that the subject is male and the narrator is his wife.

You're just like your father Buried deep under the water These lines are especially symbolic. Water symbolizes baptism and renewal of self. This couplet means that at some point he forgave himself for his faults and decided he wasn't going to be like his father. But his wife knows him well enough to see that under that renewal, he's still like his father. The succession of traits from father to son also adds to the royalty motif found in this song; the sword, crown, and laurels are all references to this.

The second stanza is very dramatic

You come beating like moth's wings Spastic and violently Whipping me into a storm Shaking me down to the core But you run away from me And you left me shimmering Like diamond wedding rings Spinning dizzily down on the floor

The subject gets violent in the face of such cutting, true, hurtful words. He batters his wife a little bit and throws his wedding ring on the ground, then runs. "And you left me shimmering" means that the narrator was crying from such a display of violence toward her, the woman he is supposed to love. The specific use of moth's wings (as opposed to butterfly wings or another bug's wings) is unknown to me, but it seems as it would have significance. Maybe if I were a bug expert I could identify the subtle differences between the wings and the way the bugs use them.

Motifs:

• Royalty; laurel wreaths were put on the heads of those who won victory, or who were otherwise royalty, in Greek and Roman culture. Imagery of "sword and crown" reinforces this. "You're just like your father" references the succession of kings.
• Conflict; "who's side are you on," "you come beating like moth's wings," once again "sword and crown" all give credit to the theory that the subject is violent and likes to start conflicts with others, like some sort of warring king.

Themes:

• relationships
• confronting your issues
• pride