At first glance, this song seems to be about a jealous guy killing his ex-girlfriend's new lover. However, I don't think it's that simple.
So this guy was imploring Louise to stay with him when her new lover knocked on the door.
"He came with a razor blade"
Her new lover was carrying a weapon. Maybe he took it for self-defense but it makes more sense to me that his intention was to hurt the singer.
"Louise came to rescue me, missing the irony
Blood made her heart change its beating
I hope that she's happy, I'm blamed for the death
Of a man she found better than me"
This verse is key and shows what really happened. The new lover was beating the hell out of the singer. Louise, upon seeing his blood, tried to intervene and in so doing, managed to kill her new lover.
The razor blade mentioned earlier was the murder weapon and they threw it into a river in their attempt to cover up the killing ("bound like us all for the ocean").
When the murder was uncovered, this guy took the blame for it, probably because he was so infatuated with Louise. Even the word "blame" is one that seems to imply innocence, at least to me. Nowhere in the song does he ever admit guilt.
@bearhug Great analysis. One thing though - Sam Beam tends to use the ocean as a symbol for death, so the phrase "bound like us all for the ocean" refers to the singer's rival who is about to die.
@bearhug Great analysis. One thing though - Sam Beam tends to use the ocean as a symbol for death, so the phrase "bound like us all for the ocean" refers to the singer's rival who is about to die.
At first glance, this song seems to be about a jealous guy killing his ex-girlfriend's new lover. However, I don't think it's that simple.
So this guy was imploring Louise to stay with him when her new lover knocked on the door.
"He came with a razor blade" Her new lover was carrying a weapon. Maybe he took it for self-defense but it makes more sense to me that his intention was to hurt the singer.
"Louise came to rescue me, missing the irony Blood made her heart change its beating I hope that she's happy, I'm blamed for the death Of a man she found better than me"
This verse is key and shows what really happened. The new lover was beating the hell out of the singer. Louise, upon seeing his blood, tried to intervene and in so doing, managed to kill her new lover. The razor blade mentioned earlier was the murder weapon and they threw it into a river in their attempt to cover up the killing ("bound like us all for the ocean"). When the murder was uncovered, this guy took the blame for it, probably because he was so infatuated with Louise. Even the word "blame" is one that seems to imply innocence, at least to me. Nowhere in the song does he ever admit guilt.
@bearhug Great analysis. One thing though - Sam Beam tends to use the ocean as a symbol for death, so the phrase "bound like us all for the ocean" refers to the singer's rival who is about to die.
@bearhug Great analysis. One thing though - Sam Beam tends to use the ocean as a symbol for death, so the phrase "bound like us all for the ocean" refers to the singer's rival who is about to die.