Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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'm surprised nobody's mentioned Jerry Bellows turning up in this song, yet! It could be a coincidence, but the thought of there being some continuity around the songs is pretty tempting, isn't it?
I don't think the guy is actually meant to be the angel of death. I think what it is, is like Cannibalox said, someone living in a town all his life and nobody noticing him and so he obsesses over them and why they must not notice him. Well, that or he must be a bit of a laughing stock in the town- hence why Mr Bellows "shrugged and laughed". And so eventually he creates this mental philosophy of being the angel of death, sent to get vengeance on them for their wrongs.
I think the interesting thing in this song is you're never quite sure which parts are actually happening- after all, this guy is completely nuts, and there's some parts which seem completely jarring. I think we can assume the stuff about ravens and him having wings are his craziness talking, and the murders are probably true and not just a fantasy since the police come along in the end. But how about Richard Holmes? The part where the guy seems to suddenly forgive the narrator for shooting him and his wife- even apologising for offending HIM- seem a bit odd. And couple that with all the parts where people don't put up any fight- like Henry Davenport "made no attempt to move" and Vincent West "made no attempt to resist". It just seems like the narrator is skewing reality to make his goal seem like it's even more moral and just.
What I think about those things that you mention to be the reality rather than the protagonist's own view of the events, is that Cave tries to reflect to the thoughts, actions and changes in behaviour of people who are facing death. <br /> There are several types of people in the story who react differently: <br /> Richard Holmes for examle would even forgive for basically doing nothing offensive just to save his and his loved one's life.<br /> Jerry Bellows could be the cynic and funny one; he could know the protagonist and his life and he didn't think that he was able to do such things after being so invisible and insignificant for the townspeople for so long.<br /> Those who simply did nothing, they were staggered by the events and feared to do anything at all.<br /> <br /> That's how I see it, I don't think there's a deeper meaning with those events and reactions.