OK, my 2c - a very loooooong 2c since this is one of my all-time favourite songs. I follow the idea that the singer killed someone they loved (although "desired" would be a better word; this isn't a caring, reciprocal love but an obsessive, delusional lust).
The song opens by describing someone who is dead, likely from some form of asphyxia ("lips are turning blue"). The cold, distant, echoing keyboard notes in the music remind me of lifelessness and the artificial preservation of something that is past its time. The muffled, distorted singing (admittedly a technique Muse uses in a lot of their songs) sounds suffocating, and does the 3rd drumbeat in each bar sound a little like a sudden halt in the music, as if someone's stopping breathing?
Anyway, the singer desires her and can't fully come to terms with that fact that she is dead - he kisses her dead lips and mourns that it doesn't awaken her ("a kiss that can't renew"), a reference to fairytales where the prince kisses the sleeping princess and she awakens from her magic slumber.
The repetition of "I only dream of you" throughout the song reinforces his obsession for her. His obsession also entails a certain degree of possessiveness about her - he refers to her as "my beautiful". The possessiveness/jealousy is likely what is driving him to kill her - he sees her as an object of desire that he will do anything to get hold of, even if it means murdering her.
The next verse possibly describes him sneaking into her room to kill her ("tiptoe to your room"). More background information is revealed: there's never been in any form of romantic relationship between the two of them, and she was never even aware that he had feelings for her ("I only dream of you / and you never knew"). Maybe he was too shy to approach her or there was some social barrier preventing him from approaching her (she is already in a relationship, she is a child, etc).
The chorus expresses his guilt - he knows he has wronged her. Exactly what he feels guilty about is left unstated. The obvious answer would be that he feels guilty about killing her, although it's not unimaginable that he feels guilty about loving her (if his love for her was socially forbidden), and wanted to solve this "problem" by killing her instead.
Also, in his troubled mind he has projected her into something more than a normal human. The religious language used ("absolution"/"grace") suggests that he almost worships her, and has mentally transformed her into something angelic, as if he were praying to God.
I'm not sure what to make of the lines "there's nowhere left to hide / in no one to confide". I have come up with two alternate theories. The first is that those lines mean the authorities are hunting him down for his crime, and he literally has nowhere to run to. The second, which I prefer as it fits better with the introspective tone of the song, is that he's saying that he has repressed his desire to love or kill her for a long time because he knows it's wrong, but he's reaching the point where his obsession overtakes his rationality and he loses control. There was also nobody he could talk to, meaning nobody to rescue him as his psychological state deteriorated.
The singer never explains whether his guilt is over his forbidden desire for the person when she was alive, or over murdering her, or over his necrophilic desires. The "truth" that "burns deep inside" could be any of those possibilities. The phrasing is also ambiguous - maybe he's pointing out that no one knows this truth but him (an emphasis on "deep inside"), or he's pointing out that the truth hurts him (an emphasis on "burns").
In the two final climactic lines, the story has developed. Whereas his earlier reflections on guilt and sin referred only to himself, now it encompasses his dead beloved as well. He's begun projecting his own feelings of guilt onto her in a desperate attempt to connect with her at some level, and this was likely triggered by something new happening. I think either sex or death is involved, probably both:
"Our wrongs remain unrectified / our souls won't be exhumed" has an afterlife theme to it, suggesting that the singer is also dead or dying - perhaps he's committed suicide and is singing this song as he lays dying. He may be killing himself to escape worldly punishment or escape from his own overwhelming feelings of guilt, but he is tormented by the thought that he dies carrying the burden of his sin. This theory would be supported if you interpret "the truth burns deep inside / and will never die" as a comparison between his and her worldly bodies which are dead/dying, and "the truth" which will survive bodily death.
It's possible that no suicide is involved, and that he's simply referring to his belief that he's committed a mortal sin that he will bear forever. The suicide theory seems more likely though; the resigned way in which he says that there is no salvation for him suggests he has just reached a point of no return - he will never get the chance to pay for his sins because his own life is over.
I also think that he made love to the dead body during the incredible instrumental part before the final lines - he's "connecting" with her very literally. After making love he could say not only that he is tainted, but both of them are, because of his taboo act. He's performed the ultimate act of love to her, so at the end of the song he is certain that there is no redemption for him. The burning in the earlier line "the truth burns deep inside" could be seen as having a second, erotic, meaning - as in sex organs burning in desire.
The overall picture I see in the song is that the singer is very mentally troubled. He's developed a secret obsession for an unsuspecting person, and it led to him murdering her, maybe in order to satisfy his unrequited love by lusting over her dead body, or maybe in an unsuccessful attempt to get rid of his obsession. He is tormented by guilt - perhaps guilt over the murder, or guilt over his erotic desire, or both. In a final desperate attempt to gain some sort of reciprocal love from her, he makes love to her dead body and deludes himself into thinking that she now shares the sin with him. This may have been reinforced by him committing suicide afterwards, so that he shares something else in common with her: death.
Most of the alternate interpretations of this song don't really stick with me. I think the government conspiracy / apocalypse idea would work only if you thought that the singer is addressing 2 different "people", one being a lover (the one he dreams about, kisses, tiptoes into the room of), the other being the planet Earth or whatever it is that is being destroyed, the destruction of the latter meaning that the former will be destroyed also. But the way the singer refers to his beloved seems too personal and too erotic to be seen as a reference to something impersonal and asexual like "the world". The theories that he's talking to God don't make that much sense either. He says "I only dream of you / and you never knew", which doesn't sound like he's addressing God since God is supposed to be omniscient. The only theory that does make some sense to me is an "unrequited love" variant of the Romeo and Juliet idea - it could be that the singer didn't actually kill his beloved, but his love is forbidden and he feels guilty about it, and after she dies he continues to desire her.
OK, my 2c - a very loooooong 2c since this is one of my all-time favourite songs. I follow the idea that the singer killed someone they loved (although "desired" would be a better word; this isn't a caring, reciprocal love but an obsessive, delusional lust).
The song opens by describing someone who is dead, likely from some form of asphyxia ("lips are turning blue"). The cold, distant, echoing keyboard notes in the music remind me of lifelessness and the artificial preservation of something that is past its time. The muffled, distorted singing (admittedly a technique Muse uses in a lot of their songs) sounds suffocating, and does the 3rd drumbeat in each bar sound a little like a sudden halt in the music, as if someone's stopping breathing?
Anyway, the singer desires her and can't fully come to terms with that fact that she is dead - he kisses her dead lips and mourns that it doesn't awaken her ("a kiss that can't renew"), a reference to fairytales where the prince kisses the sleeping princess and she awakens from her magic slumber.
The repetition of "I only dream of you" throughout the song reinforces his obsession for her. His obsession also entails a certain degree of possessiveness about her - he refers to her as "my beautiful". The possessiveness/jealousy is likely what is driving him to kill her - he sees her as an object of desire that he will do anything to get hold of, even if it means murdering her.
The next verse possibly describes him sneaking into her room to kill her ("tiptoe to your room"). More background information is revealed: there's never been in any form of romantic relationship between the two of them, and she was never even aware that he had feelings for her ("I only dream of you / and you never knew"). Maybe he was too shy to approach her or there was some social barrier preventing him from approaching her (she is already in a relationship, she is a child, etc).
The chorus expresses his guilt - he knows he has wronged her. Exactly what he feels guilty about is left unstated. The obvious answer would be that he feels guilty about killing her, although it's not unimaginable that he feels guilty about loving her (if his love for her was socially forbidden), and wanted to solve this "problem" by killing her instead.
Also, in his troubled mind he has projected her into something more than a normal human. The religious language used ("absolution"/"grace") suggests that he almost worships her, and has mentally transformed her into something angelic, as if he were praying to God.
I'm not sure what to make of the lines "there's nowhere left to hide / in no one to confide". I have come up with two alternate theories. The first is that those lines mean the authorities are hunting him down for his crime, and he literally has nowhere to run to. The second, which I prefer as it fits better with the introspective tone of the song, is that he's saying that he has repressed his desire to love or kill her for a long time because he knows it's wrong, but he's reaching the point where his obsession overtakes his rationality and he loses control. There was also nobody he could talk to, meaning nobody to rescue him as his psychological state deteriorated.
The singer never explains whether his guilt is over his forbidden desire for the person when she was alive, or over murdering her, or over his necrophilic desires. The "truth" that "burns deep inside" could be any of those possibilities. The phrasing is also ambiguous - maybe he's pointing out that no one knows this truth but him (an emphasis on "deep inside"), or he's pointing out that the truth hurts him (an emphasis on "burns").
In the two final climactic lines, the story has developed. Whereas his earlier reflections on guilt and sin referred only to himself, now it encompasses his dead beloved as well. He's begun projecting his own feelings of guilt onto her in a desperate attempt to connect with her at some level, and this was likely triggered by something new happening. I think either sex or death is involved, probably both:
"Our wrongs remain unrectified / our souls won't be exhumed" has an afterlife theme to it, suggesting that the singer is also dead or dying - perhaps he's committed suicide and is singing this song as he lays dying. He may be killing himself to escape worldly punishment or escape from his own overwhelming feelings of guilt, but he is tormented by the thought that he dies carrying the burden of his sin. This theory would be supported if you interpret "the truth burns deep inside / and will never die" as a comparison between his and her worldly bodies which are dead/dying, and "the truth" which will survive bodily death.
It's possible that no suicide is involved, and that he's simply referring to his belief that he's committed a mortal sin that he will bear forever. The suicide theory seems more likely though; the resigned way in which he says that there is no salvation for him suggests he has just reached a point of no return - he will never get the chance to pay for his sins because his own life is over.
I also think that he made love to the dead body during the incredible instrumental part before the final lines - he's "connecting" with her very literally. After making love he could say not only that he is tainted, but both of them are, because of his taboo act. He's performed the ultimate act of love to her, so at the end of the song he is certain that there is no redemption for him. The burning in the earlier line "the truth burns deep inside" could be seen as having a second, erotic, meaning - as in sex organs burning in desire.
The overall picture I see in the song is that the singer is very mentally troubled. He's developed a secret obsession for an unsuspecting person, and it led to him murdering her, maybe in order to satisfy his unrequited love by lusting over her dead body, or maybe in an unsuccessful attempt to get rid of his obsession. He is tormented by guilt - perhaps guilt over the murder, or guilt over his erotic desire, or both. In a final desperate attempt to gain some sort of reciprocal love from her, he makes love to her dead body and deludes himself into thinking that she now shares the sin with him. This may have been reinforced by him committing suicide afterwards, so that he shares something else in common with her: death.
Most of the alternate interpretations of this song don't really stick with me. I think the government conspiracy / apocalypse idea would work only if you thought that the singer is addressing 2 different "people", one being a lover (the one he dreams about, kisses, tiptoes into the room of), the other being the planet Earth or whatever it is that is being destroyed, the destruction of the latter meaning that the former will be destroyed also. But the way the singer refers to his beloved seems too personal and too erotic to be seen as a reference to something impersonal and asexual like "the world". The theories that he's talking to God don't make that much sense either. He says "I only dream of you / and you never knew", which doesn't sound like he's addressing God since God is supposed to be omniscient. The only theory that does make some sense to me is an "unrequited love" variant of the Romeo and Juliet idea - it could be that the singer didn't actually kill his beloved, but his love is forbidden and he feels guilty about it, and after she dies he continues to desire her.