So the obvious part of this is that he catches her cheating on him, but it's more than just revenge.
The theme of cynicism from but the nuns are watching still kind of exists here.
When he says "before we met I wouldn't bet I'd give up nihilism for you" and "took everything I wouldn't touch and made me feel." He's saying that he had reached a point in his life where he had learned to have no expectations and no disappointments, to the point that he thinks life is meaningless. The girl finally had him hoping for something, thinking that he could trust her. He starts thinking that life has meaning and that there are good people. "I had all my faith in you, that you would never commit an act of deceit." But then she turns on him by cheating.
He starts to suspect that she is cheating, and leaves a video camera in the room, taping over videos of her and him together "It's a shame I have to tape over..." he then leaves while she stays at home. When he watches the video later seeing that she's cheating, and can't really fully accept what he's seeing for a time "Maybe I should reconsider this diagnosis."
His idea of her being good falls apart and he realizes that she's only interested in sex, nothing deeper "But I can obviously tell by the footage here,
That you're in love with his machine!" the word 'machine' is used to make her seem more like a robot than a person
He then hides in the closet waiting for her and the other guy to have sex, then jumps out. Smashes the other guy in the mouth with a baseball bat, and cuts his balls off and puts them in his mouth. Either the girl is tied up to the chair while this is happening or he ties her up after.
I think the ending is the narrator killing himself, but I'm not sure. I think the "stop rewind watch them die" might be the Victorian metaphor of sex=death. The girl being the one watching or another audience watching. I don't think the tape could be of the narrator dying because it says watch "them" die, implying multiple people. This is the only part of the song that I'm not sure about though.
I agree with everything that you're saying, but I have a few things to contribute. When he ties her to the chair, and she's "force to stare," I believe that he's forcing her to watch what he's taped. The whole song is themed around what he's video taped, and he says "what's hiding in your wardrobe isn't a shopping spree." I think he's referring to the video camera he hid in her closet.
I agree with everything that you're saying, but I have a few things to contribute. When he ties her to the chair, and she's "force to stare," I believe that he's forcing her to watch what he's taped. The whole song is themed around what he's video taped, and he says "what's hiding in your wardrobe isn't a shopping spree." I think he's referring to the video camera he hid in her closet.
In the end of the song, he's obviously talking about how he kills himself. "He sets himself on fire" (and a good reference...
In the end of the song, he's obviously talking about how he kills himself. "He sets himself on fire" (and a good reference to the band's name as well.) And when he says "Stop, rewind, watch them die," I believe it could imply either a third person audience, or even himself, flashing back to before he kills himself, because during his suicide. There are female screams in the background. I believe it's him killing her after he forces her to watch his recordings of her and the other guy together.
So maybe it's a flashback to the hours before he kills himself and he's watching them die over and over again on the themed video camera.
I agree with a lot of what both of you two said. This is sort of my elaboration on it:
I agree with a lot of what both of you two said. This is sort of my elaboration on it:
My interpretation is that it's basically saying that relationships and emotions die hard. The situation described by the speaker sets up everything to go wrong. When he realizes she's cheating, he has to go through several stages of denial, doubt, depression and hatred which ultimately ends in revenge in which he has to kill them both (which I feel is symbolic of him desperately trying to kill his own emotional attachment to the girl and his hatred of...
My interpretation is that it's basically saying that relationships and emotions die hard. The situation described by the speaker sets up everything to go wrong. When he realizes she's cheating, he has to go through several stages of denial, doubt, depression and hatred which ultimately ends in revenge in which he has to kill them both (which I feel is symbolic of him desperately trying to kill his own emotional attachment to the girl and his hatred of the guy with whom she cheated). He feels that revenge will allow him to let go.
But even after that he realizes that even though their dead to him (symbolic or literal, take your pick) it's his own emotions that are plaguing him (his own regret, sadness, anger, etc.) so he takes all possible measures to kill these emotions (symbolized by the noose, gun, poison, and fire) but in the end his own attempts are futile and these feelings have to die slowly, and it feels like the worst it's the worst that could possibly happen. But it's impossible to just fall back out of love; the emotions have to die a very slow and painful death, and this is confusing to the speaker because he did everything he could to destroy the remnants of his love (hence the question mark after the second "dying slowly")
Also the concept of the video tape represents the fact that no matter what beautiful and positive things have happened in their past, it ends up being erased by the horror of her unfaithfulness. Think about it (this is true with me): if you have an enemy who used to be a friend, its so much easier to remember why you hate them now than why you liked them before. The bad erases the good, or "tapes over" it.
In the end moving on isn't in his control. All he has now is the new footage which plagues his mind. All he can do now is "Stop, rewind, and watch them die," and i believe that "them" means his own emotions and attachments to this girl and to this past that refuse to go up in smoke and must instead drown and choke themselves away slowly.
So the obvious part of this is that he catches her cheating on him, but it's more than just revenge.
The theme of cynicism from but the nuns are watching still kind of exists here.
When he says "before we met I wouldn't bet I'd give up nihilism for you" and "took everything I wouldn't touch and made me feel." He's saying that he had reached a point in his life where he had learned to have no expectations and no disappointments, to the point that he thinks life is meaningless. The girl finally had him hoping for something, thinking that he could trust her. He starts thinking that life has meaning and that there are good people. "I had all my faith in you, that you would never commit an act of deceit." But then she turns on him by cheating.
He starts to suspect that she is cheating, and leaves a video camera in the room, taping over videos of her and him together "It's a shame I have to tape over..." he then leaves while she stays at home. When he watches the video later seeing that she's cheating, and can't really fully accept what he's seeing for a time "Maybe I should reconsider this diagnosis."
His idea of her being good falls apart and he realizes that she's only interested in sex, nothing deeper "But I can obviously tell by the footage here, That you're in love with his machine!" the word 'machine' is used to make her seem more like a robot than a person
He then hides in the closet waiting for her and the other guy to have sex, then jumps out. Smashes the other guy in the mouth with a baseball bat, and cuts his balls off and puts them in his mouth. Either the girl is tied up to the chair while this is happening or he ties her up after.
I think the ending is the narrator killing himself, but I'm not sure. I think the "stop rewind watch them die" might be the Victorian metaphor of sex=death. The girl being the one watching or another audience watching. I don't think the tape could be of the narrator dying because it says watch "them" die, implying multiple people. This is the only part of the song that I'm not sure about though.
I agree with everything that you're saying, but I have a few things to contribute. When he ties her to the chair, and she's "force to stare," I believe that he's forcing her to watch what he's taped. The whole song is themed around what he's video taped, and he says "what's hiding in your wardrobe isn't a shopping spree." I think he's referring to the video camera he hid in her closet.
I agree with everything that you're saying, but I have a few things to contribute. When he ties her to the chair, and she's "force to stare," I believe that he's forcing her to watch what he's taped. The whole song is themed around what he's video taped, and he says "what's hiding in your wardrobe isn't a shopping spree." I think he's referring to the video camera he hid in her closet.
In the end of the song, he's obviously talking about how he kills himself. "He sets himself on fire" (and a good reference...
In the end of the song, he's obviously talking about how he kills himself. "He sets himself on fire" (and a good reference to the band's name as well.) And when he says "Stop, rewind, watch them die," I believe it could imply either a third person audience, or even himself, flashing back to before he kills himself, because during his suicide. There are female screams in the background. I believe it's him killing her after he forces her to watch his recordings of her and the other guy together.
So maybe it's a flashback to the hours before he kills himself and he's watching them die over and over again on the themed video camera.
I agree with a lot of what both of you two said. This is sort of my elaboration on it:
I agree with a lot of what both of you two said. This is sort of my elaboration on it:
My interpretation is that it's basically saying that relationships and emotions die hard. The situation described by the speaker sets up everything to go wrong. When he realizes she's cheating, he has to go through several stages of denial, doubt, depression and hatred which ultimately ends in revenge in which he has to kill them both (which I feel is symbolic of him desperately trying to kill his own emotional attachment to the girl and his hatred of...
My interpretation is that it's basically saying that relationships and emotions die hard. The situation described by the speaker sets up everything to go wrong. When he realizes she's cheating, he has to go through several stages of denial, doubt, depression and hatred which ultimately ends in revenge in which he has to kill them both (which I feel is symbolic of him desperately trying to kill his own emotional attachment to the girl and his hatred of the guy with whom she cheated). He feels that revenge will allow him to let go.
But even after that he realizes that even though their dead to him (symbolic or literal, take your pick) it's his own emotions that are plaguing him (his own regret, sadness, anger, etc.) so he takes all possible measures to kill these emotions (symbolized by the noose, gun, poison, and fire) but in the end his own attempts are futile and these feelings have to die slowly, and it feels like the worst it's the worst that could possibly happen. But it's impossible to just fall back out of love; the emotions have to die a very slow and painful death, and this is confusing to the speaker because he did everything he could to destroy the remnants of his love (hence the question mark after the second "dying slowly")
Also the concept of the video tape represents the fact that no matter what beautiful and positive things have happened in their past, it ends up being erased by the horror of her unfaithfulness. Think about it (this is true with me): if you have an enemy who used to be a friend, its so much easier to remember why you hate them now than why you liked them before. The bad erases the good, or "tapes over" it.
In the end moving on isn't in his control. All he has now is the new footage which plagues his mind. All he can do now is "Stop, rewind, and watch them die," and i believe that "them" means his own emotions and attachments to this girl and to this past that refuse to go up in smoke and must instead drown and choke themselves away slowly.