Closet

At first I thought this song was about a secretive gay relationship. Now I have a different take on it. I believe it is about an abusive relationship that has ended and either the man is hiding in the closet or she is in the closet hiding from him. The "I lost control" part totally sounds like the "I'm sorry, I'll never do it again" phrase that comes up in an abusive relationship. Also the fact that he keeps saying "I want you to say my name again" gives me this creepy image of this guy going through Billie's house searching for her while he is saying this appology, and she is huddled in the closet. Ugg

My take was, it's definitely an obsessive nut job, a man, who was beaten as a child (and clearly, very scarred) He met a woman named Bilie (i have a woman friend of the same name and spelling- so I immediately mapped that right over! lol). Perhaps she shared that she was beaten as a child. Perhaps he just stalked a 12 step group for survivors of abuse.

But he's sick, inappropriate and waaaay over obsessing about her. and now he has "lost control"- he's broken in to her home, wanted to be near her, even literally walking around her closet - hell, he's so creepy he's definitely been through the undies drawer!

Actually, with the above construct, the "walking around your closet" is even better fit for a metaphoric construct. Dude's so far gone, he's sure to be presuming he just KNOWS the object of his obsession so well, he can mentally walk through all her hidden secrets... or, wait, is that just another aspect of his overblown imagination? The don't stop, don't turn around is just even more of the stalking behavior (be spotted would blow his cover and his twisted fantasy).

in short: NO boundaries!

It is so well written and constructed: it's anxiety inducing to read, while blissfully just rocks out, played very loudly in the car!

HA! :o)

oh yeah- last thought, if the name was spelled Billy, I would equally change all the pronouns around, including same sex construct(s)- that says a lot about how well Yorn writes dark lyrics, and tells great tales of the human condition (crazy naked apes!)

my friend and i have this theory that this song is about a girl that's gay. and he's "walking around" her "closet" ya know? like he's trying to be her friend but he keeps getting pushed away by other people.... hmm...

On a Pete Yorn chat, someone asked him what "Closet" is about. This was his response: "Closet," to me, it's just a power pop song, kind of fun, but with dark lyrics. And I believe it's about some sort of an obsessive person.

oh that's a boring response pete... lol

pete does a good job there of saying something but then nothing at al at the same time - well done haha

i have visions of this song being sung by some psycho-hose-beast literally inside some dood's closet. Maybe they broke up or had a fight, and then she went psycho, and now she's stalking 'Billy'. yeah.

Billie is a girl.

does anyone notice he says fuck you at the beginning during the distortion

i dont think he would say that I thought he said bliss you