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The Vampyre Of Time And Memory Lyrics
I want God to come
And take me home
Cause I'm all alone in this crowd
Who are you to me?
Who'm I sposed to be?
Not exactly sure anymore
Where's this going to?
Can I follow through?
Or just follow you for a while?
Does anyone ever get this right?
I feel no love
Ain't no confusion here
It is as I feared
The illusion that you feel is real
To be vulnerable is needed most of all
If you intend to truly fall apart
You think the worst of all is far behind
The vampyre of time & memories has died
I survived
I speak, I breathe
I'm incomplete
I'm alive. Hooray
You're wrong again
Cause I feel no love
Does anyone ever get this right?
I feel no love
And take me home
Cause I'm all alone in this crowd
Who'm I sposed to be?
Not exactly sure anymore
Can I follow through?
Or just follow you for a while?
I feel no love
It is as I feared
The illusion that you feel is real
If you intend to truly fall apart
The vampyre of time & memories has died
I speak, I breathe
I'm incomplete
You're wrong again
Cause I feel no love
I feel no love
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Is kind of funny for me that, in my opinion, the best songs in this album are the slow ones. For me, this song is about to feel alone, but not because nobody cares about, but because you just can't love anyone around you.
That is what Josh seems to say in the first lines
"I want to God to come and take me home 'Cause I'm all alone in this crowd" Who are you to me? Who am I supposed to be? Not exactly sure anymore Where's this going to? Can I follow through? Or just follow you...for a while?" We can see that he's full of questions, and don't know where to go, or who to be. He feels alone and thinks tha only God can save him from this questions and his lonely.
"Does anyone ever get this right? I feel no love" That's when he says that doesn't feel any love, and it is like he had said it a lot of times, but people don't understand that feeling.
"You think the worst of all is far behind The Vampyre of time and memories has died I survived. I speak, I breathe, I'm incomplete I'm alive - hooray!" This part is like someone is speaking to him, telling that he had passed through something really hard, and had survived, he speaks, breathes, still alives. And that should be something to "hurray!" for, but that's not how he feels.
You're wrong again 'Cause I feel no love Does anyone ever get this right? So ok, "I'm alive, let's celebrate", right? No, you're wrong again, he doens't feels like "har survived" is something to celebrate for. Because, again he says that doesn't feel any love.
Just had a thought- what if all the undead/vampire imagery in this album and its videos really goes back to the fact that Josh Homme is, technically, "undead"?
He died. He came back.
Based on that, I am ironically reminded of his quip during a performance of "Feel Good Hit of the Summer": "I cannot be killed by ANYTHING." (cue audience freaking out)
Based on that, I am ironically reminded of his quip during a performance of "Feel Good Hit of the Summer": "I cannot be killed by ANYTHING." (cue audience freaking out)
I'm very convinced that this song is about having awful depression. The first time I heard this song, it hit me like a truck. It perfectly describes my entire experience of having treatment-resistant depression for 8 years in three-and-a-half minutes of music. Overall, amazing song by Josh Homme.
I think you're right - it sounds very much like depression. Depression makes you sit around doing nothing.
I think you're right - it sounds very much like depression. Depression makes you sit around doing nothing.
It also links in with the lyrics: "To be vulnerable is needed most of all If you intend to truly fall apart"
It also links in with the lyrics: "To be vulnerable is needed most of all If you intend to truly fall apart"
Depression is linked with memory loss. I hope you're out of it, a horrible place to be.
Depression is linked with memory loss. I hope you're out of it, a horrible place to be.
I personally think it's about a coping mechanism many people employ where they're not actually out of depression but actually manage to get on with life. So they're not just sat around.
I personally think it's about a coping mechanism many people employ where they're not actually out of depression but actually manage to get on with life. So they're not just sat around.
As for does anyone getting it right... no. The foolish...
As for does anyone getting it right... no. The foolish stumble into the easiest paths or leave a trail of devastation in their wake. The arrogant claim to, but they're just narcissists who leave just as much devastation behind them.
@sinisterkidd
@sinisterkidd
I'm with you on this. The lack of feeling thing, I mean, sometimes you might feel bad, but so often you try to describe what your feeling (even to yourself) and you feel nothing - hard to describe if you haven't felt it, but for me, it's like nothing's getting through in either direction, no connection, all alone in a crowd, feeling no love. There's still feeling inside, normally kinda painful, but I can't relate it to the world, it sort of feeds on itself from there.
I'm with you on this. The lack of feeling thing, I mean, sometimes you might feel bad, but so often you try to describe what your feeling (even to yourself) and you feel nothing - hard to describe if you haven't felt it, but for me, it's like nothing's getting through in either direction, no connection, all alone in a crowd, feeling no love. There's still feeling inside, normally kinda painful, but I can't relate it to the world, it sort of feeds on itself from there.
For coping, I tend (lately at least) to just close off. ...
For coping, I tend (lately at least) to just close off. For Homme, being vulnerable sounds like opening up to others and exposing vulnerability as a way to reconnect, and get help to emerge after "truely falling apart". That part, I'm awful at. I think most of us are.
The actual vampyre of time and memory - that I don't know, but the rest feels a lot like me, what I feel when I'm in deep. Disconnected, not just from others, but from me (that "I kinda don't know who I am right now" feeling).
My theory on the Vampyre: I've a feeling the Vampyre is about Homme's time in Hospital under sedation/not with it, having nearly died, not remembering visits, people, what happened, post op meds, confusion. It dies when he's medically better, but he's lost that time that memory and he's trapped in depression, lost connection and feeling with those he loves, alone in this crowd.
This was the first song he wrote after a near-death experience. It is about not knowing what to do with life and how to react to almost dying.
The past is a shitty place to live if your memories are crap and you've been hurt a lot. To stand up and look back and be proud of where you came from and all that you have been through is hard the thoughts will always be there the memries keep hurting you keep wishing for things you cant change. There is no such thing as a perfect life. We all end up with scars. The vampire of time and memory to me is about ending up alone because you cant trust anyone enough to love them or let them in to love you.. sometimes you cant feel love from anyone because you dont know what it feels like when what you see around you isnt love is self serving its cruel its painful.To feel you are not enough not right not fulfilled not satisfied and not worthy is something a lot of people feel. They feel alone surrounded by people who all feel alone and want someone to love them so they dont feel so invisible.They cling on to the nearest thing which often isnt love just to feel.
Anybody else notice the references to previous QOTSA songs in here?
"Who are you..." is sung in the melody of "Regular John," and the "I'm all alone in this crowd" bit calls back to "Better Living Through Chemistry."
100% correct lyrics from the ...Like Clockwork LP:
I want God to come And take me home Cause I'm all alone in this crowd
Who are you to me? Who'm I sposed to be? Not exactly sure anymore
Where's this going to? Can I follow through? Or just follow you for a while?
Does anyone ever get this right? I feel no love
Ain't no confusion here It is as I feared The illusion that you feel is real
To be vulnerable is needed most of all If you intend to truly fall apart
You think the worst of all is far behind The vampyre of time & memories has died
I survived I speak, I breathe I'm incomplete
I'm alive. Hooray You're wrong again Cause I feel no love
Does anyone ever get this right? I feel no love
Not all the lyrics are correct on the Lp, Me and a friend of mine have actually spotted a few wrong lyrics they put in the Heavy weight edition of the Lp.
Not all the lyrics are correct on the Lp, Me and a friend of mine have actually spotted a few wrong lyrics they put in the Heavy weight edition of the Lp.
I'm not saying your wrong, I'm just pointing out the fact that they either rushed the lyric booklet or they didn't care that they got a few lyrics wrong.
I'm not saying your wrong, I'm just pointing out the fact that they either rushed the lyric booklet or they didn't care that they got a few lyrics wrong.
Don't know why, but I immediately thought of the "vampyre" as an alcohol addiction, taking time and memories, that he now has succeeded in losing, but life isn't all fluffy, even after being sober for some time...
The lyrics could describe that feeling imo, any thoughts?
This song was the first song Josh wrote while recovering from a routine knee surgery.
It would have been routine, but unexpectedly he didn't get enough oxygen during the surgery and was clinically dead for a short while. This left him bedridden and incapacitated in the hospital for almost half a year.
He himself has said that while being in this state, it's not the physical damage that is the issue, but the psychological damage. This song really reflects his time in hospital, with all the doctors, checkups and tubes and other probes stuck to his body all while he never knew what would happen tomorrow or even how long he would be stuck in this state.
I can only imagine dealing with this, and the fact that you know you were really dead for a period of your life, and I don't think any sane person would come out of such an ordeal without getting a permanent shift in ones perception of life and what really matters.
This song really shows how depressed he was during this time and how life is while in intensity care with all the sterile and dead environment around you.
It's about getting older, looking back and realizing that you're not who you thought you were, and unsure as to who you are or can be.
One of those moments everyone has at a particular "stage" of life.
Im 50 and I totally agree you could interpret this song that way...however i feel its most likely about being dead, then revived and not feeling great about it...in fact hes depressed as hell as his wife and family are overjoyed he survived...kinda like people that survive plane crashes and can never put together WHY? how come 151 died and i survived?
Im 50 and I totally agree you could interpret this song that way...however i feel its most likely about being dead, then revived and not feeling great about it...in fact hes depressed as hell as his wife and family are overjoyed he survived...kinda like people that survive plane crashes and can never put together WHY? how come 151 died and i survived?