In Praise Of Bacchus

Tso has got it right. Here is a little more. Peter is drowning his sorrows in the wine, hence "Bacchus", reflecting on a relationship gone bad saying "she hates me". He is walking down Red Hook Rd in Brooklyn where there used to be cobblestone walkways hence the "cobblestone grave" where he is drinking himself to death. The "lonely blue girl" is the statue of liberty which he can see while walking out on pier 6 with his bottle of wine "bacchus". He is counting the cracks with "bacchus" not the girl. "I'll stop the train to say hello" is him threatening suicide, throwing himself in front of the train. And "bacchus", the wine, is reminding him that he is the "used boyfriend" that bought his exgirlfriend a new car and he feels used.

The ex-girlfriend broke up with him because of his drinking problem telling him the he and bacchus, the wine/booze, will burn together. The lyrics at the end that are sung in a deep voice is a death requiem.

R.I.P. Peter

You just have to listen to the song. It sounds completely wasted. ^^

I'm going to go ahead and state that there is no girl in the narrative.

The brown torch reference is phallic, and the gender fluidity notes are typical of Pete's work. Pete is stumbling through the Brooklyn waterfront drunk, he is the lonely blue girl guarding the riverbed, and the "we's" are referring to him with Bacchus. "She hates me" is just the repetitive drum of a single depressed thought.

Ah, good ol' type o negative. this is a love song of some sort as expected by some lyrics. I'm thinkin it's somethin like he's thinkin of a girl who he was goin out with at a point. I guess they probably loved each other pretty hardcore. And in the end they broke up and she held a grudge against him and he coped with it by thinking about how she hates him and the good times they had. Maybe the burn together thing means their commitment they had for each other. just a shot in the dark on this one though.

Bacchus was the greek god of wine and wine making. He's usually portrayed as a jolly, red-faced... drunk basically, surrounded by his many friends (wood nymphs -- but that's not really important)

Knowing that, the title and the first four lines seem to me to represent that the narrator is drunk or desperatly trying to become so, in order to drown his pain. He's actually talking to Bacchus as if he's his only friend.

Peter Steele has said in interviews and on stage that he sees himself actually as Bacchus which is further supported by his obligatory bottle of wine at live shows which a friend of mine had hurled at him =P (complete with guiatar string scores down the side of the bottle)

That said, I do agree with TsolPhigher about it being a drunk talking to/confiding in Bacchus/the bottle.

I agree with you guys, that seems accurate enough. Man, this song is so amazing, it's sad it only has 4 comments.

In an interview somewhere I remember Peter explaining, "furry vino tinted slave" as when he's drunk, he feels like all this insides are soft and furry.

i didnt know good songs needed comments...but yea great song

just to correct TsolPhiger, Bacchus was the Roman god, while Dionysus was his greek counter part, but its ok same thing really