Black Nurse

I got the idea that this song is about knowing someone who would be perfect for you but they are in a relationship and how cruel that feeling can be. I feel a "black nurse" is a good term for someone like that, someone who has the ability to heal you but won't

See the lines: The last man in was the first to take the vow (the last man she was with married her) Destined to be obscured/Beyond right in your offset eyes (she doesn't seem him) I'm afraid you'll want me to go without/Return what I've given out (afraid his love won't be returned)

Easily the best song on Coloring Book. And what? No replies yet? I don't quite get the meaning of this song, but I think this is some of their best songwriting to date.

well daryl, its too damn cryptic, what's this song about

very cryptic indeed, it's hard to understand. I've got a lot of ideas, but I just don't know. But the way it's put together is just outstanding. The entire ep is just mind blowing!

Cozen i think you are on to something.

"Return what I've given out"

Is that a plea or a demand? Song ends there quite abruptly.

i can't help but think it's 'The last man in was the first to take the BOW' and i'm also not so sure on that 'Does he bow when you're around?'.. not that i have any significantly better suggestions, although maybe something to do with ground, and it sounds like the same thing before the last stanza is repeated again.

generally, i like the idea that this is a black nurse who has the ability to help, but doesn't. it fits.

Let me begin by saying this song is amazing. Darly Palumbo is a poetic genius for me.

I interpret this song to mean there's a woman, who could either be a hooker (beyond poor, beyond ostrasized) or she's having an affair. She does it because she thinks she's 'healing' the men she's with (black nurse, where 'black' implies darkness), although she's obtaining benefit at the same time (she's the one on 'dominus ground').

On some ocassion it ended badly when she may have either gotten caught or someone beat her up (police down at the motel). So she's loved several men by now or had numerous loves. She treats them all as if they were her husbands, but she may not actually have one, or he's irrelevant (Beyond right in your husband's eyes... what I say isn't true). Daryl is able to read into her by her behaviour (Does he bow when you're around?... I'm aware, I see, yes I do).

She's ended up devoting herself to whoever pays her the most (kiss and no tell, the last man in was the first to take the vow). Daryl finds it disgusting that she's had a history of relationships without devotion but has just landed herself another man who's taken the vow without knowing her past.

The act of 'reaching down' could be interpreted to either be a physical sexual act, or the act of entering his psyche. I think it's the former because she is too shallow for the latter. She gives him some kind of healing through sex, although, he knows she will never love him purely, (I'm afraid you'll want me to go without), he never realised that until it was too late that he was not her only lover, hence the bitterness (Return what I've given out).

OT82

I think you have some good ideas and there is definitely aspects of marriage going on here.

However I think this song like most on the Coloring Book EP and The Singles EP has to do with drug/alcohol addiction.

Beyond poor/beyond ostracized makes me think of a drug addict, who really has no connection to this world whatsoever.

Instead of a man married to a whore (a typical GJ theme) I think the man is dealing with his wife who is drinking/doing drugs. "If what I say isn't true..." refers to him lying to her simply to get her to leave this place/mental state and get help.

The chorus is her POV: "I'm afraid you want me to go without."

However "dominus" means owner and there is plenty to suggest prostitution. It might be a combo.

I forgot to add what I think it all comes together as meaning:

Since the world inevitably becomes more progressive, and more conscious of what we've done, how are we going to feel about all of that? It seems like in order for us to not face our past, we just oppress again.

I say we because I am a white hetero-male, I'm just not old yet. I don't know at what age I begin the oppression of all who are not me.

When I listen to this song, I imagine, for example, a frightened, frustrated and angry man caught within an affair involving a troubled, indecisive, confused and married woman. He's "the other man," who's been hopeful to win her love. He feels deserving of her heart. After waiting, as she's lead him to wait for her to become his, he now doubts that she will ever belong to him. He wants her to see that they belong together, but she's caught in the trap of her own confusion. He fears she's slipping away.