Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)

I'm on board with those who think it's about a girl who grew up in an abusive home. The lines "See you laughing in a picture, but I know what's out of frame" refers to family pictures of her as a child, where she's seemingly happy, but the singer is saying he knows what happened when the camera wasn't there.

The next part ("You barely cried, but you made it out alive") means she stoically endured the abuse, but when she was finally able to get free, she did.

Then, "And I'm so proud that you're in my hands now," sounds kind of sinister at first, but it's really sincere, it's her husband saying that he really is proud of the fact that she survived her horrible childhood.

The chorus talks about the depression and self-loathing that she has to deal with as a victim. "Bloody Mary" is a game kids play where they lock themselves into a dark room, in front of a mirror, and "summon" the ghost of Bloody Mary. Typically the point is to freak themselves out, like telling ghost stories around a campfire. The keys to that reference are the fact that it's a totally self-inflicted horror - kids do this to themselves and sometimes get worked up into hysterics; and also that the effect of the game is similar to sensory deprivation, where your optic nerve starts playing tricks on you in the darkness, giving the illusion that you're seeing things that you can't possibly be seeing. So the chorus is really saying, "If we dwell on the horrors of the past it leads into self-inflicted depression." In effect, because she gets into these bouts of depression and dwells on her childhood, she's terrifying herself for no good reason, and more to the point, since "Bloody Mary" is just an illusion or trick, it's not real, and can't hurt her, just like her past can no longer hurt her, but she obsesses over the past anyway.

The other verses are expanding on the initial theme. "If we grew up together ... show you what you became" is saying he wishes he could go back into her childhood and tell her that no matter how horrible things are, her future is one of happiness. Then the next verse, "I'll never let them get closer, or shower you with any blame," is him saying he's there to protect her, and that her abusive family can't hurt her any more, while "Now we dance in our own picture where the rules have changed" refers to their wedding pictures (pictures of them dancing at their wedding), and that now that she's an adult and he's there to protect her, the rules have changed, and she's no longer subject to the rules and discipline that were used to terrorize her childhood.

Some of the lyrics are wrong. It should be: "left you with the sounds OF spoiled goodnights." And: "show you A NEW GAME." Correct lyrics for Neck of the Woods are published on the Silversun Pickups webpage.

The song is about helping a friend deal with the consequences of childhood trauma. "Playing with Bloody Mary" equates to facing the bad things from the past. In a nutshell: Deal with the past, start to live a better life.

I think it could just as easily be about the speaker himself, and his own childhood. Bloody Mary is played with a mirror. Looking for too long at your own past can cause you to get lost in it, bringing back all those old ghosts.

Brian has openly commented on this song. Most of these interpretations of it are correct. Someone having grown up in an abusive environment and how they are in better place now.

Brian has said this song is about wish fulfillment, how he wishes he could go back and help this person through all the stuff they had to go to.

The chorus for the song, although seemingly dark because of the nature of the game "Bloody Mary' is actually according to Brian, about how if he could go back, they could be there for each other and just be kids, playing silly games like Bloody Mary, since this person had to grow up very fast due to the bad environment, and never really had the chance to just be a child

Feel like this could be about a girlfriend who grew up in a bad home with fighting etc, and her eventually leaving her home town behind and moving on to better things where she met him etc.

I feel like this song could be about growing up, and then realizing that you want to remain a child. I think the first couple of verses are about being an adult and seeing the problems that people have that they never had as a child, and then remembering when they were younger and playing Bloody Mary. The "we'll stay" thing is pretty obvious with my interpretation - like he doesn't like being an adult and just wants the simplicity and simple thrills of childhood again.

In my opinion it is about someone who is in love with a person who had a rough past and feels bad for them and wishes they could make them feel better then so everything was perfect now. The person seems to live in the past and it makes them feel bad and react to what happened in the past the chorus is getting at that if you stay in the past long enough and interact with dark memories it makes you have those feelings again

One more correction: "planted in your SPACE." Not "spades."

Great song.

The whole Neck of The Woods album is supposed to be based off of Brian's origins. This song is probably about nostalgia and Brian remembering his past and how he could go back in the past. Bloody Mary was maybe something that haunted him during his childhood and he looks back on it all with a smile "I want to jump inside that picture Show you what you became" He's talking to himself and wishing he could go back to his past.

After years, YOU STILL HAVE THE LYRICS WRONG. Just go to the SSPU site. They have lyrics for most of their songs available, including this one. I've tried to correct them before. For starters, the first stanza is wrong. It's not "WE'LL spoil good nights." It's "Of spoiled good nights." And, yes, that is incredibly important in understanding the point of the song.