Signs of the Zodiac

Okay, normally I'm not one to say someone is specifically "wrong" in their interpretation, but seriously, you guys basically have it completely wrong. Not that your interpretations aren't neat. :)

List in your head various signs of the zodiac. Pisces. Virgo. Libra. Taurus.

CANCER.

This song is about someone who's found out they have cancer, and the singer is speaking about it in obtuse and metaphorical ways. In the instances where bloodletting is referred to, I believe it's a metaphor for chemotherapy. Both are horribly painful with huge detriment to ones health (with cancer, though, the detriments are outweighed by the benefits, or at least that's the hope).

Chemo is obviously not working for this candidate, though, as is made evident in the following statements:

"Have you tried everything, anything All to no avail?"

"I know what you need. This will really work."

"Look all around you and notice you're not alone. We want to give you the courage to Go a different way."

In my opinion, the chemo is failing, and the singer is giving support to the subject of the song. Support to try nonstandard methods to fight the cancer, like holistic or eastern treatments, even though it seems like neither of them actually believe it will work.

The singer is trying to put on a smile and tell their friend that everything will be okay and they really do have a chance. "This could really work. We want to give you the courage to go a different way."

Anyway, that's my two cents.

I think this song addresses sickness or possibly bereavement. The affected person believes their sad fate was predestined: they've given up on getting well or getting over their grief. While their friends try to show support, their words ring hollow ("this will really work" has an aura of desperation). They can't make the pain disappear, and sometimes make it worse. In the end they can only know it hurts.

It's interesting that people have interpreted this song both as supporting unscientific medicine (astrology, bleeding, etc.) and as a renunciation of it. I think that kind of gets to the heart of the matter as this is a really ambivalent song. The line, "Haven't you found that the systems for planning always fail?" seems to indicate a skepticism about the existence of intelligible order in the universe, which the system of astrology takes for granted. But then, what was the unavoidable entity that gave daddy his heart attack? I'm assuming the expected answer is not obesity or heart disease. That question seems to imply a fatalistic mindset in which there IS order in the universe, and which WOULD allow for a predictive system like astrology to make sense.

The speaker then introduces the idea of blood-letting as a form of medieval medicine, inhabiting an ancient motherly persona: "Oh, honey I know it hurts." Does she really think "this will really work"? Or is this another jab at outdated attempts to understand and control our environment?

I could see a reading which reduces the whole thing to a sarcastic tirade against (specifically bogus) human atempts to understand the world, the "systems for planning" which inevitably fail; but I think the line, "Can you avoid what gave daddy his heart attack?" seriously undermines this reading.

i can't believe no one has commented on this song..

without explaining everything i mean, i feel that this song is about a general someone who is upset about a general problem and the narrator thinks they should chill out (the chorus) because you can't control everything in life.

this song is like suicide sadnes....

This song in my opinion comments shows alot of skepticism about superstition brought into a stronger visual, kind of saying don't just believe what everyone tells you, search the facts out for yourself! I may be wrong but I'd say that's a fair assesment!

i think it's about someone who self-mutilates.

"I know what you need. This will really work. In ancient times, if you were sick They make you bleed. Oh, honey I know it hurts. "

it's also trying to show the person that they're cared about. maybe also trying to encourage the person to stop

"Look all around you and notice you're not alone. We want to give you the courage to Go a different way. Think of the love and attention we all have shown."

it also tries to show the person that some things are unavoidable.

"Can you avoid what gave Daddy his heart attack?"

it's a wonderful song and i love it mucho

i love this song, it was the first rasputina song i heard. I love that. "Do you believe in the Signs of the Zodiac?"

God, this song is amazing. Prehaps the song could be analyzed as a questioning of conventional methods, as they used to leech people of their blood as a cure in olden days. Then the person questions the estoreric, as in "do you believe in the signs of the Zodiac?"

The song could also be about someone introducing someone to the method of self-injury, or bleeding.

Forsure this song is about a coven of sorts- shun orthodox medicine and "go a different way" they say, temping the subject into taking up the olde ways to aid her plight. Leeches and blood-letting were used "in ancient times when you were sick"; the idea that the illness was in the blood and these act would purify.

During the 14th and 15th centuries, astrology played a vital role in the medical practice. Patients would be positioned on a phlebotomy (bloodletting) table designed to show the relation of each body part to the signs of the zodiac. Surgical procedures and bloodletting were only performed when the planets were in a certain position. Therefore, bloodletting would only be performed at certain times for certain body parts.