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Sweet Smell Of Success Lyrics

You've got to be the one
Smile of porcelin
Bullet holes in your tounge
Plexiglass bones
Dough of angels breath
The eyes of a mannequin
Put on a hell of a show
Solid gold
Fresh young face
King of a lovely place
Cynical life
Wash your face
Tryin' to make it better
And we've heard this song before
And the needle skips again
Playin' dominoes with tombstones
Found a graveyard in your drawer
Go and get yourself buried
'Cause your dead, you're dead, you're dead, you're dead
You're skin melts in wax
Woven silk eyelids
The arms are sewed on last
You got your moneys worth
Soul hangs in the closet
Papier mache heart
Put on a hell of a show
Solid gold
Your hate crime
Wasn't loving me
Cynical life
Wash your face
Tryin' to make it better
And we'll never make it better
And we'll never make it better
Song Info
Submitted by
yubal On Jan 08, 2002
10 Meanings

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Cover art for Sweet Smell Of Success lyrics by Tomahawk

Song is about Carl Tanzer. A guy who tried to save a woman he was obsessed with from death. When she died he stole her corpse and tried to preserve it using glass eyes and some sort of embalming material. By the end the body looked a lot like paper mache. The song is about trying to make the corpse better and preserve her fresh young face. By the end he seems to realize that she's dead, and to move on and stop trying to preserve it before reverting back to the delusion of trying to 'Keep her alive'.

Song Meaning
Cover art for Sweet Smell Of Success lyrics by Tomahawk

this song is a direct slap in the face for all the Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne's, Ashlee Simpsons who were promised a million magazine covers and a million more hearts. Fames a devilish thing. Beautiful song.

Cover art for Sweet Smell Of Success lyrics by Tomahawk

Bitter, unrequited love

Cover art for Sweet Smell Of Success lyrics by Tomahawk

I always thought this song was Patton feeling sorry for, if not sympathising with a prostitute. At first glance I thought it was a type of love song but look closer at the lyrics.

What leads me to believe this whole protitute meaning are that the lyrics "Smile of porcelin" & "The eyes of a mannequin" refer to the girl faking it, as with "Put on a hell of a show". I always thought that "Bullet holes in your tounge" was referring to STDs as well.

What leads me to believe it the most though are the lines "Your hate crime Wasn't loving me", meaning that what a woman might do out of sheer desperation, neglect or poor self image is not as demonic as some people make it out to be, that there is a reason women get(/are forced) into this and that it's not just their fault for being slutty.

Cover art for Sweet Smell Of Success lyrics by Tomahawk

Very similar in my view to Yes by The Manic Street Preachers:

"Theres no lust in this coma even for a fifty Solitude, solitude, the 11th commandment The only certain thing that is left about me Theres no part of my body that has not been used"

No?

Cover art for Sweet Smell Of Success lyrics by Tomahawk

I've read this album is a concept album about a serial killer, so this song is probably like a ballad to one of the first victims.

Cover art for Sweet Smell Of Success lyrics by Tomahawk

yeah, sounds like maybe he's trying to make her look pretty before killing her? It's not very clear. The music kinda reminds me of bungle's Retrovertigo.

Cover art for Sweet Smell Of Success lyrics by Tomahawk

The albums is meant to show different aspects of the American nightmare.

Cover art for Sweet Smell Of Success lyrics by Tomahawk

Well, we can assume the protagonist in this concept album has a love interest (Point and Click). Maybe this is him leaving her, or killing her, you decide, and he later reflects on this in Cul de Sac. ("I wish you were here...")

Cover art for Sweet Smell Of Success lyrics by Tomahawk

To me, it seems like he loved this girl & she chose fame over him.

 
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