This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
She finds him by the fire
His clothes have got him dripping from his crimes
He beckons her, "Sweet daughter"
The voice who once avenged her younger life
He's got the voice of a con.
The same one
Who cut down in the name of his god.
Who took on the robe of a judge
Without a license to kill without a cause.
He's not worth it!
He's not worth it!
He's not worth it!
Remember what he did to make you question all the words he said
And from the book-
The same book that's reeling you home after so many years of silence.
And the daughter watches father,
As he sleeps and dreams she brings the knife to light.
'Cause she knows he can't go farther
And he'll never wait to see his daughter cry.
Don't lose control or you will long
To go back to this time and rewrite your thought.
'Cause you're about to choose what's to come.
So ironic-
It's ironic-
It's ironic
That you're contemplating murder while I'm educating you in mercy.
You say you want-
You say you want
The means to believe.
Then don't change who you are
'Cause who you are is who I made you to discover Me.
"The steel marries his skin!"
No, it's not worth it!
It's not worth it!
"Cut him down, I cut him down!"
He didn't have to fall!
It's your fault!
It's your fault!
You lost control!
And now you long to come back and rewrite your thought.
But I won't let you slip away!
Not this time, not this time!
This time you're gonna learn what it means
To receive the very mercy that you denied
When you denied
The means to believe
I keep feeding you the fruit that you need,
But you spit it out to further your doubt
And now he can't go farther
Cause he'll never wait to see his daughter cry.
His clothes have got him dripping from his crimes
He beckons her, "Sweet daughter"
The voice who once avenged her younger life
He's got the voice of a con.
The same one
Who cut down in the name of his god.
Who took on the robe of a judge
Without a license to kill without a cause.
He's not worth it!
He's not worth it!
He's not worth it!
Remember what he did to make you question all the words he said
And from the book-
The same book that's reeling you home after so many years of silence.
And the daughter watches father,
As he sleeps and dreams she brings the knife to light.
'Cause she knows he can't go farther
And he'll never wait to see his daughter cry.
Don't lose control or you will long
To go back to this time and rewrite your thought.
'Cause you're about to choose what's to come.
So ironic-
It's ironic-
It's ironic
That you're contemplating murder while I'm educating you in mercy.
You say you want-
You say you want
The means to believe.
Then don't change who you are
'Cause who you are is who I made you to discover Me.
"The steel marries his skin!"
No, it's not worth it!
It's not worth it!
"Cut him down, I cut him down!"
He didn't have to fall!
It's your fault!
It's your fault!
You lost control!
And now you long to come back and rewrite your thought.
But I won't let you slip away!
Not this time, not this time!
This time you're gonna learn what it means
To receive the very mercy that you denied
When you denied
The means to believe
I keep feeding you the fruit that you need,
But you spit it out to further your doubt
And now he can't go farther
Cause he'll never wait to see his daughter cry.
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By analyzing the album cover, the symbol.
"He" refers to as the father, blinded by satan in the name of God.
He manipulates her daughter to deny God, by bringing in the doubts although the daughter believes in God as she feels "Home".
The daughter then kills her father, as a punishment for him denying God's mercy.
Is it just me or does it seem God is still around at this point? The concept follows that God has simply dissapeared after Satan's fall from The Finisher and his ultimate demise in Endseekers... God says "So long all you children..." These couple lines lead me to believe God is still around, sitting back, and here in this song He speaks up "That you're contemplating murder while I'm educating you in mercy....Cause who you are is who I made you to discover me." I only see God "educating" one in mercy, and one only discovers God or as it's simply put here, "I made you to discover me." Then there's also "I keep feeding you the proof that you need..." God feeding her the proof that she needs?
Micah said in the interview that this girl has been an athiest her whole life and saw the final battle between God and Satan, and now the gears are turning in her head and she seems to believe her life was wrong... Also her father, a strong believer giving his life to God, has now lost faith due to God's disappearance... Keeping that in mind, I think that this is really still "true" in the sense that it is still part of Revelation. Looking and reading deep into the book of Revelation, and doing some other studying and reading, you'll see that there is a point in time that after the battle between "good and evil" all God's people who followed Him would be in heaven, while Satan is bound to chains in the abyss, but once Satan is released, he will get one last chance and eventually people who called themselves "Christian" and "followers" of God that were false followers will eventually fall. Then there's those that were left behind on earth that either fall to temption, or turn to God... However those that turn to God will have hardened hearts and question many things. I think here God has departed, for now, and the girl was one that was left behind and has now turned to God, and the father was the so called "Christian" that has since fallen from grace...
I could be far off, but that is one thought I have in mind. Have a couple other thoughts in mind... I'd like to see if Micah continues this story in the next album.
Here is Micah explaining Children of Fire and he goes pretty in depth about this song<br /> youtube.com/watch
Oh yeah, I've seen that already. I was just stating, maybe there's a hidden meaning that Micah didn't realize he had done. Him being a Christian there's that belief that God does things that we don't realize or does something through us that we don't intend, and I was thinking that maybe God made this more that what Micah though it to be.
So this is my first post here and first attemp at giving an interpretation so if im wrong feel free to correct me. Here it goes...
Basicaly, in Endseekers, this girl's father stood strong along side god but witnesses god and satan disappear and loses his faith and hope from the abandonment. Then in "The Marriage of Steel and Skin", his daughter is raped and in his pain and anger he seeks revenge and eventualy kills the man who took her innocence. In this song, the daughter realizes her father has lost all control and has taken judgement upon himself. Out of fear and pain, she too loses control and takes his life but falls into regret from the choice shes made but god wants to show her the mercy that she's denied for so long (for she was an aethiest) but she's still in fear and doubt.
And so thats my interpretation.
She finds him by the fire, His claws of God are dripping from his crimes, He beckons her, "Sweet Daughter," The voice who once avenged her younger life.
He's got the voice of a con, The same one who cut down in the name of his god, Who took on the robe of a judge, without a license to kill without cause, He's not worth it.
He's not worth it, He's not worth it, Remember what he did that made you question all the words he cited, From the book, the same book, That's reeling you home after so many years of silence.
And the daughter watches father, As he sleeps and dreams, she brings the knife to light. Cause she knows he can't go farther, And he'll never wake to see his daughter cry.
Don't lose control or you will long, to go back, To this time, And rewrite your thoughts, Cause you're about to choose what you called, So ironic, It's ironic, It's ironic that you're contemplating murder while I'm educating you in mercy, You say you want, You say you want, The means to believe, Then don't change who you are, Cause who you are is how I made you to discover me.
The steel marries his skin
No! It's not worth it! It's not worth it!
I cut him down, I cut him down!
You didn't have to fall, It's your fault, It's your fault!
You lost control, And you long to go back and rewrite your thought, But I won't let you slip away, Not this time, Not this time, This time you're gonna learn what it means to recieve, The very mercy, That you denied, When you denied the means to believe, I keep feeding you the fruit that you need, But you spit it out to further your doubt.
And now he can't go farther, Cause he'll never wake to see his daughter cry.
This comes straight from the lyric book that came with the album, with one exception.<br /> <br /> The last line "Cause he'll never wake to see his daughter cry," is different in the booklet.<br /> <br /> In the book, it reads: "Cause he'll never wake to hear her daughter cry."<br /> <br /> I think this shows that his daughter is pregnant from the rape. I assume that the band only included the line in the book to give the people who took the time to read it another interesting plot twist to think about.
I'm probably was off base with this thought. For some reason the lyrics make me think of the movie Mr. Brooks. The daughter coming back into his life and whatnot.