In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
I am tall and I am thin
Of an enviable height
And I've been known to be quite handsome
In a certain angle and a certain light
Well I entered into O'Malley's
Said, "O'Malley I have a thirst"
O'Malley merely smiled at me
Said "You wouldn't be the first"
I knocked on the bar and pointed
To a bottle on the shelf
And as O'Malley poured me out a drink
I sniffed and crossed myself
My hand decided that the time was nigh
And for a moment it slipped from view
And when it returned, it fairly burned
With confidence anew
Well the thunder from my steely fist
Made all the glasses jangle
When I shot him, I was so handsome
It was the light, it was the angle
Huh! Hmm
"Neighbours!" I cried, "Friends!" I screamed
I banged my fist upon the bar
"I bear no grudge against you!"
And my dick felt long and hard
"I am the man for which no God waits
But for which the whole world yearns
And I'm marked by darkness and by blood
And by a thousand powder-burns"
Well, you know those fish with the swollen lips
That clean the ocean floor
When I looked at poor old O'Malley's wife
Well that's exactly what I saw
I jammed the barrel under her chin
And her face looked raw and vicious
Her head it landed in the sink
With all the dirty dishes
Her little daughter Siobhan
Pulled beers from dusk till down
And amongst the townfolk she was a bit of a joke
But she pulled the best beer in town
Well I swooped magnificent upon her
As she sat shivering in her grief
Like the Madonna painted on the church-house wall
In whale's blood and banana leaf
Her throat it crumbled in my hands
And I spun heroically around
To see Caffrey rising from his seat
I shot that mother fucker down
Mm, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
"I have no free will", I sang
And I flew about the murder
Mrs. Richard Holmes, she screamed
You really should have heard her
Well I sang and I laughed, I howled and I wept
I panted like a pup
I blew a hole in Mrs. Richard Holmes
And her husband stupidly stood up
As he screamed, "You are an evil man"
And I paused a while to wonder
"If I have no free will then how can I
Be morally culpable, I wonder"
I shot Richard Holmes in the stomach
And gingerly he sat down
And he whispered weirdly, "No offense"
And then lay upon the ground
"None taken", I replied to him
To which he gave a little cough
And with blazing wings I neatly aimed
Blew his head completely off
I've lived in this town for thirty years
To no-one I am a stranger
And I put new bullets in my gun
Chamber upon chamber
And I turned my gun on the bird-like Mr. Brookes
I thought of Saint Francis and his sparrows
And as I shot down the youthful Richardson
It was Sebastian I thought of, and his arrows
(Listen, listen)
I said, "I want to introduce myself
And I'm glad that all you came"
And I leapt upon the bar
And then I shouted out my name
Well Jerry Bellows, he hugged his stool
Closed his eyes and shrugged and laughed
And with an ashtray big as a fucking really big brick
I split his skull in half
His blood spilled across the bar
Like a steaming scarlet brook
And I knelt at it's edge on the counter
Wiped my tears away and looked
Well, the light in there was blinding
Full of God and ghosts of truth
And I smiled at Henry Davenport
Who made no attempt to move
Well, from the position I was standing
The strangest thing I ever saw
The bullet entered through the top of his chest
And blew his bowels out on the floor
And I floated down the counter
Showing no remorse
I shot a hole in Kathleen Carpenter
Recently divorced
But remorse I felt, remorse I had
It clung to every thing
From the raven's hair upon my head
To the feathers on my wings
Remorse squeezed my hand in it's fraudulent claw
With it's golden hairless chest
And I glided through the bodies
And killed the fat man Vincent West
Who sat quietly in his chair
A man become a child
And I raised the gun up to his head
Executioner style
He made no attempt to resist
So fat and dull and lazy
"Did you know I lived in your street?" I said
And he looked at me like I was crazy
"Oh", he said, "I had no idea"
And he grew as quiet as a mouse
While the roar of the pistol when it went off
Near blew that hat right off the house
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Hmm, hmm
Mm, mm, uh, uh
Mm, mm, uh, uh
Mm, mm, uh, uh
Mm, mm, uh, uh
Mm, mm, uh, uh
Mm, mm, uh, uh
Well, I caught my eye in the mirror
And gave it a long and loving inspection
"There stands some kind of man", I roared
And there did, in the reflection
My hair combed back like a raven's wing
My muscles hard and tight
And curling from the business end of my gun
Was a query-mark of cordite
Well I spun to the left, I spun to the right
I spun to the left again
"Fear me! Fear me! Fear me!"
But no one did cause they were dead
Huh!
And then there were the police sirens wailing
And then a bull-horn squelched and blared
"Drop your weapons and come out
With your hands held in the air"
Well, I checked the chamber of my gun
Saw I had one final bullet left
My hand, it looked almost human
As I raised it bravely to my head
"Drop your weapon and come on out!
Keep your hands above your head!"
I had one one long hard think about dying
And did exactly what they said
There must have been fifty cops out there
In a circle around O'Malley's bar
"Don't shoot", I cried, "I'm a man unarmed!"
So they put me in their car
And they sped me away from that terrible scene
And I glanced out of the window
Saw O'Malley's bar, saw the cops and the cars
And I started counting on my fingers
One
Two
Three
Four
O'Malley's Bar
O'Malley's Bar
O'Malley's Bar
O'Malley's Bar
O'Malley's Bar
O'Malley's Bar
Of an enviable height
And I've been known to be quite handsome
In a certain angle and a certain light
Well I entered into O'Malley's
Said, "O'Malley I have a thirst"
O'Malley merely smiled at me
Said "You wouldn't be the first"
I knocked on the bar and pointed
To a bottle on the shelf
And as O'Malley poured me out a drink
I sniffed and crossed myself
My hand decided that the time was nigh
And for a moment it slipped from view
And when it returned, it fairly burned
With confidence anew
Well the thunder from my steely fist
Made all the glasses jangle
When I shot him, I was so handsome
It was the light, it was the angle
Huh! Hmm
"Neighbours!" I cried, "Friends!" I screamed
I banged my fist upon the bar
"I bear no grudge against you!"
And my dick felt long and hard
"I am the man for which no God waits
But for which the whole world yearns
And I'm marked by darkness and by blood
And by a thousand powder-burns"
Well, you know those fish with the swollen lips
That clean the ocean floor
When I looked at poor old O'Malley's wife
Well that's exactly what I saw
I jammed the barrel under her chin
And her face looked raw and vicious
Her head it landed in the sink
With all the dirty dishes
Her little daughter Siobhan
Pulled beers from dusk till down
And amongst the townfolk she was a bit of a joke
But she pulled the best beer in town
Well I swooped magnificent upon her
As she sat shivering in her grief
Like the Madonna painted on the church-house wall
In whale's blood and banana leaf
Her throat it crumbled in my hands
And I spun heroically around
To see Caffrey rising from his seat
I shot that mother fucker down
Mm, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
"I have no free will", I sang
And I flew about the murder
Mrs. Richard Holmes, she screamed
You really should have heard her
Well I sang and I laughed, I howled and I wept
I panted like a pup
I blew a hole in Mrs. Richard Holmes
And her husband stupidly stood up
As he screamed, "You are an evil man"
And I paused a while to wonder
"If I have no free will then how can I
Be morally culpable, I wonder"
I shot Richard Holmes in the stomach
And gingerly he sat down
And he whispered weirdly, "No offense"
And then lay upon the ground
"None taken", I replied to him
To which he gave a little cough
And with blazing wings I neatly aimed
Blew his head completely off
I've lived in this town for thirty years
To no-one I am a stranger
And I put new bullets in my gun
Chamber upon chamber
And I turned my gun on the bird-like Mr. Brookes
I thought of Saint Francis and his sparrows
And as I shot down the youthful Richardson
It was Sebastian I thought of, and his arrows
(Listen, listen)
I said, "I want to introduce myself
And I'm glad that all you came"
And I leapt upon the bar
And then I shouted out my name
Well Jerry Bellows, he hugged his stool
Closed his eyes and shrugged and laughed
And with an ashtray big as a fucking really big brick
I split his skull in half
His blood spilled across the bar
Like a steaming scarlet brook
And I knelt at it's edge on the counter
Wiped my tears away and looked
Well, the light in there was blinding
Full of God and ghosts of truth
And I smiled at Henry Davenport
Who made no attempt to move
Well, from the position I was standing
The strangest thing I ever saw
The bullet entered through the top of his chest
And blew his bowels out on the floor
And I floated down the counter
Showing no remorse
I shot a hole in Kathleen Carpenter
Recently divorced
But remorse I felt, remorse I had
It clung to every thing
From the raven's hair upon my head
To the feathers on my wings
Remorse squeezed my hand in it's fraudulent claw
With it's golden hairless chest
And I glided through the bodies
And killed the fat man Vincent West
Who sat quietly in his chair
A man become a child
And I raised the gun up to his head
Executioner style
He made no attempt to resist
So fat and dull and lazy
"Did you know I lived in your street?" I said
And he looked at me like I was crazy
"Oh", he said, "I had no idea"
And he grew as quiet as a mouse
While the roar of the pistol when it went off
Near blew that hat right off the house
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Hmm, hmm
Mm, mm, uh, uh
Mm, mm, uh, uh
Mm, mm, uh, uh
Mm, mm, uh, uh
Mm, mm, uh, uh
Mm, mm, uh, uh
Well, I caught my eye in the mirror
And gave it a long and loving inspection
"There stands some kind of man", I roared
And there did, in the reflection
My hair combed back like a raven's wing
My muscles hard and tight
And curling from the business end of my gun
Was a query-mark of cordite
Well I spun to the left, I spun to the right
I spun to the left again
"Fear me! Fear me! Fear me!"
But no one did cause they were dead
Huh!
And then there were the police sirens wailing
And then a bull-horn squelched and blared
"Drop your weapons and come out
With your hands held in the air"
Well, I checked the chamber of my gun
Saw I had one final bullet left
My hand, it looked almost human
As I raised it bravely to my head
"Drop your weapon and come on out!
Keep your hands above your head!"
I had one one long hard think about dying
And did exactly what they said
There must have been fifty cops out there
In a circle around O'Malley's bar
"Don't shoot", I cried, "I'm a man unarmed!"
So they put me in their car
And they sped me away from that terrible scene
And I glanced out of the window
Saw O'Malley's bar, saw the cops and the cars
And I started counting on my fingers
One
Two
Three
Four
O'Malley's Bar
O'Malley's Bar
O'Malley's Bar
O'Malley's Bar
O'Malley's Bar
O'Malley's Bar
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I think his relationship with his neighbours is interesting. He seems to know them, but they don't know him. For example, he knows that Kathleen Carpenter was "recently divorced" but Vincent West had no idea that the narrator lived in his street. This could indicate that part of his motive for the murders was that everyone in the town had treated him like he was invisable. Perhaps they had avoided him because he seemed strange. Another interpretation could be that he knows their details because he really IS the angel of death. However, I get the impression that he is simply vain, lonely and insane.
I disagree with your interpretation of what motivates the killings. 'I bare no grudge against you' and 'To no man I am a stranger' suggests that being an outcast was not in fact the motive. Furthermore, the narrator could almost be seen as a moralist killer in that he kills a bar keeper's family, a divorcee, a fat man, etc. 'I am the man for which no God waits but for which the whole world yearns' is the most problematic line for me. I can't figure out what this refers to or what his name is, but the victims know him, I am certain of that. Another important factor to consider is how the killer feels about the slayings. He shows both signs of repentence and enjoyment of his work. He sees himself as birdlike, and compares himself and his victims to religous figures. The bar is described as being full of God, and this is the point of the song, the killer is carrying out God's will not acting in accordance to his own free will.