I'm gonna do something crazy and suggest s/he DOES love the narrator. Or might love him, but it hardly matters, since nothing s/he says or does will convince him of this, not even when s/he's being honest ("its truth or falsity is moot"). He says "honesty's not your strong suit" but he doesn't say why, we're just supposed to take his word for it, right after he tells us that the truth doesn't matter to him.
This song is an admission of his own insecurity. It's I don't believe you, not you are lying to me. He's not making accusations, he's taking the blame.
The bridge does offer and illusion of hope, in that he dreams s/he loves him, but as the wonderful and charmingly self-loathing Morrissey complains elsewhere in music, it was just another false alarm. But how does he know? He says the love he felt in the dream isn't realistic, but he's already chosen, while conscious, to disbelieve.
"You may sing me "They Were You" / And I start crying halfway through" I can't think of many things more personal than singing to someone powerfully enough to make them cry. Even a trained performer must have some emotion invested to move a person to tears. "But nothing else you say is true" He believes when s/he sings to him, which reflects his own expression of honesty through this song.
Or: maybe s/he doesn't love him, and he has every reason not to believe it. Either way, it's a very clever song.
And yeah, my interpretation is based on semantics. But I'm fairly sure Merritt pays attention to those. The narrator is clearly suspicious of words and their meanings.
I'm gonna do something crazy and suggest s/he DOES love the narrator. Or might love him, but it hardly matters, since nothing s/he says or does will convince him of this, not even when s/he's being honest ("its truth or falsity is moot"). He says "honesty's not your strong suit" but he doesn't say why, we're just supposed to take his word for it, right after he tells us that the truth doesn't matter to him.
This song is an admission of his own insecurity. It's I don't believe you, not you are lying to me. He's not making accusations, he's taking the blame.
The bridge does offer and illusion of hope, in that he dreams s/he loves him, but as the wonderful and charmingly self-loathing Morrissey complains elsewhere in music, it was just another false alarm. But how does he know? He says the love he felt in the dream isn't realistic, but he's already chosen, while conscious, to disbelieve.
"You may sing me "They Were You" / And I start crying halfway through" I can't think of many things more personal than singing to someone powerfully enough to make them cry. Even a trained performer must have some emotion invested to move a person to tears. "But nothing else you say is true" He believes when s/he sings to him, which reflects his own expression of honesty through this song.
Or: maybe s/he doesn't love him, and he has every reason not to believe it. Either way, it's a very clever song.
And yeah, my interpretation is based on semantics. But I'm fairly sure Merritt pays attention to those. The narrator is clearly suspicious of words and their meanings.