To be honest I think those who have posted are looking at this song to closely. To get he meaning of this song you need to look at the two previous songs on the album.
9 Crimes is about having an affair, thinking you love the person you're having the affair with, and then feeling guilty about it.
The Animals Were Gone is about coming home to his wife the next day and something happens that changes the dynamic of their relationship. Maybe she learned she was pregnant or something like that. I think he was going to come home and break up with his wife but starts to realize that he was the source of a lot of their problems and that he is actually in love with his wife. he loves all of her flaws. loves everything about her. she he decides to stay.
then we get to this song. This song he goes back to his mistress. Tells her the affair has to stop. When he says "you don't paint an elephant as good as she." maybe his wife is an artist and literally hs mistress doesn't paint an elephant as good as his wife but I think above all that he's trying to say "you're not her." He then goes on to explain how the affair was not based on love. it was based on lust. it was purely sexual. there is no future in it. "well i could throw her out and i could live without and i could do it all for you i could be true tell me if you want me to lie 'cause this has got to die" (which as I am listening to the song now are the correct lyrics.) he is telling the other woman that yeah I could leave my wife for you but whatever it is that we have is all going to be based on a lie because I realize I don't love you. Then the last 5 lines are basically him taking responsibility for his actions.
Then Rootless Tree is about when his wife finds out damien was been cheating on her....
@tehjacobsen Agree with you. But regarding the use of "elephant" here, I am guessing it to be the penis. Trunk and ears. If you have heard about a comedy cartoon/anime called "crayon shin chan", well the boy in the cartoon likes to call his dick an elephant.
@tehjacobsen Agree with you. But regarding the use of "elephant" here, I am guessing it to be the penis. Trunk and ears. If you have heard about a comedy cartoon/anime called "crayon shin chan", well the boy in the cartoon likes to call his dick an elephant.
Painting the elephant.. well if I put it that way, it is definitely something we all know >_>. And yeah it fits in real nicely with what you think the song is saying, so I totally agree with you.
Painting the elephant.. well if I put it that way, it is definitely something we all know >_>. And yeah it fits in real nicely with what you think the song is saying, so I totally agree with you.
To be honest I think those who have posted are looking at this song to closely. To get he meaning of this song you need to look at the two previous songs on the album.
9 Crimes is about having an affair, thinking you love the person you're having the affair with, and then feeling guilty about it.
The Animals Were Gone is about coming home to his wife the next day and something happens that changes the dynamic of their relationship. Maybe she learned she was pregnant or something like that. I think he was going to come home and break up with his wife but starts to realize that he was the source of a lot of their problems and that he is actually in love with his wife. he loves all of her flaws. loves everything about her. she he decides to stay.
then we get to this song. This song he goes back to his mistress. Tells her the affair has to stop. When he says "you don't paint an elephant as good as she." maybe his wife is an artist and literally hs mistress doesn't paint an elephant as good as his wife but I think above all that he's trying to say "you're not her." He then goes on to explain how the affair was not based on love. it was based on lust. it was purely sexual. there is no future in it. "well i could throw her out and i could live without and i could do it all for you i could be true tell me if you want me to lie 'cause this has got to die" (which as I am listening to the song now are the correct lyrics.) he is telling the other woman that yeah I could leave my wife for you but whatever it is that we have is all going to be based on a lie because I realize I don't love you. Then the last 5 lines are basically him taking responsibility for his actions.
Then Rootless Tree is about when his wife finds out damien was been cheating on her....
@tehjacobsen Agree with you. But regarding the use of "elephant" here, I am guessing it to be the penis. Trunk and ears. If you have heard about a comedy cartoon/anime called "crayon shin chan", well the boy in the cartoon likes to call his dick an elephant.
@tehjacobsen Agree with you. But regarding the use of "elephant" here, I am guessing it to be the penis. Trunk and ears. If you have heard about a comedy cartoon/anime called "crayon shin chan", well the boy in the cartoon likes to call his dick an elephant.
Painting the elephant.. well if I put it that way, it is definitely something we all know >_>. And yeah it fits in real nicely with what you think the song is saying, so I totally agree with you.
Painting the elephant.. well if I put it that way, it is definitely something we all know >_>. And yeah it fits in real nicely with what you think the song is saying, so I totally agree with you.