This might be a good example of why artists shouldn’t answer questions about what a song, or line, is about. They often explain the inspiration for the song, but rarely ramble on about what the song means. Sure, “the blood of Christ” line was inspired by a drink called “The Tears of Christ”. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the lyrics are just the random, meaningless thoughts of Robert Smith when he was drunk. It belittles the lyrics to claim that.
I can’t fit everything together, but there is a lot of interesting stuff here. Obviously, the chorus can be taken in a religious sense. A Christian realizes that he has been blinded by his own religion, but knows that he can’t give it up. On the same note, the verse including “walking bear in the sun” seems reminiscent of Christ spending forty days and nights in the desert and being tempted by Satan.
Can you really attribute the first verse to simply drinking wine? It is really great stuff. This verse could be about how we look at distant relationships through rose-colored glasses. Like how a child of divorced parents will “hate” the custodial parent, but think that the distant parent is great, even though they never see them. In this case, there was apparently a break-up, but he still has the illusion that everything was great. He is blinded to the truth but can’t help it. However he later “recalls all the tears” and “broken words”. This brings into question the narrator’s very concept of reality: “You'll no longer know
if any of this was really true at all...”
These are just my ideas. Songs like this are great because they are so open to personal interpretation by the listener. I wish there was more of that on this website.
@clovus It is true that Smith was raised Christian (Catholic, no less) and then figured out at some point that it was all completely ridiculous. As for the cheap Portuguese wine...I have got to try this stuff!
@clovus It is true that Smith was raised Christian (Catholic, no less) and then figured out at some point that it was all completely ridiculous. As for the cheap Portuguese wine...I have got to try this stuff!
(Random note: it's "Walking bare in the sun." I think most bears, although diurnal, prefer wooded areas where sunlight isn't a major feature. Well, except polar bears. :) )
(Random note: it's "Walking bare in the sun." I think most bears, although diurnal, prefer wooded areas where sunlight isn't a major feature. Well, except polar bears. :) )
This might be a good example of why artists shouldn’t answer questions about what a song, or line, is about. They often explain the inspiration for the song, but rarely ramble on about what the song means. Sure, “the blood of Christ” line was inspired by a drink called “The Tears of Christ”. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the lyrics are just the random, meaningless thoughts of Robert Smith when he was drunk. It belittles the lyrics to claim that.
I can’t fit everything together, but there is a lot of interesting stuff here. Obviously, the chorus can be taken in a religious sense. A Christian realizes that he has been blinded by his own religion, but knows that he can’t give it up. On the same note, the verse including “walking bear in the sun” seems reminiscent of Christ spending forty days and nights in the desert and being tempted by Satan.
Can you really attribute the first verse to simply drinking wine? It is really great stuff. This verse could be about how we look at distant relationships through rose-colored glasses. Like how a child of divorced parents will “hate” the custodial parent, but think that the distant parent is great, even though they never see them. In this case, there was apparently a break-up, but he still has the illusion that everything was great. He is blinded to the truth but can’t help it. However he later “recalls all the tears” and “broken words”. This brings into question the narrator’s very concept of reality: “You'll no longer know if any of this was really true at all...”
These are just my ideas. Songs like this are great because they are so open to personal interpretation by the listener. I wish there was more of that on this website.
@clovus It is true that Smith was raised Christian (Catholic, no less) and then figured out at some point that it was all completely ridiculous. As for the cheap Portuguese wine...I have got to try this stuff!
@clovus It is true that Smith was raised Christian (Catholic, no less) and then figured out at some point that it was all completely ridiculous. As for the cheap Portuguese wine...I have got to try this stuff!
(Random note: it's "Walking bare in the sun." I think most bears, although diurnal, prefer wooded areas where sunlight isn't a major feature. Well, except polar bears. :) )
(Random note: it's "Walking bare in the sun." I think most bears, although diurnal, prefer wooded areas where sunlight isn't a major feature. Well, except polar bears. :) )