I think this is another religious song, in keeping with the entire album, where Jesse is considering how his actions will be viewed in the eyes of God. First of all, the lyrics posted here are all wrong.
[When I disappear, do you fear for the sister I took?
When I disappear, it is clear I am up to no good
I am drearily blunt, letting this bed wetting cosmonaut
"Son, the last thing you'll realize
you need is what you've already got"]
I this verse, Jesse is speaking to God. He is thinking of all the frivolous, meaningless sex he has had with women and how it must disappoint God. Then God responds that all this pointless sex will never fill the desire that is in his heart... probably suggesting only the love of God or a woman can fill that. (Of course, "sister" is not used in the familial sense, but the religious... as we are all brothers and sisters in God's eyes)
["So touch me or don't
Just let me know
Where you've been"]
Here God is asking Jesse where he has been after having sex. This mirrors the questions he asks Adam and Eve after their original Sin of eating the fruit of knowledge before they were banished from Eden. Jesse refuses to "touch" Him because he feels ashamed in His presence (the same way Adam feels ashamed of his nakedness in God's eyes).
["So drop me a line with a hook and some raw bleeding bait
(one, two, three, four)
For I am uncaught and still swimming alone in the lake
(five, six, seven, eight)
Shimmering under a moon made in anger and angst
Shimmering like a penny out of reach in the subway grate
(Shimmering like a coin kept safe away,
you'll never listen to anything)"]
Jesse views himself as a hopeless case, living out of touch with God ("swimming alone in a lake"). He pleads with God to help him to return to the righteous path, though Jesse sees little hope in his redemption, because he "never listens to anything."
["We could leave it alone,
I'm sure there's someone who knows
Where you've been"]
Obviously, in God's omnipotence knows the truth of every sin we all commit. He is someone who always knows "where you've been."
["You never worked well with our group
Not with the faults we found
So we fixed you with cement galoshes
No one can save you now
Unless you have friends among fish
There'll still be no air to breathe
You could drink up the entire ocean
I'll still find someone to be everything we know that you'll never be"]
In this line Jesse imagines his judgement at the gates of Heaven. His life of Sin is dissected and he is found unworthy. He is cast out of heaven down into the hopelessness of Hell. He uses the metaphor of Luca Brasi in the Godfather. In the book he is found to be a spy of sorts working for the Corleone family, and when Sollozzo finds out, Sollozzo murders Luca. Luca's body is dropped into the ocean with a pair of cement boots so he will sink. Then a dead fish is sent to the Corleone's as a message that he "sleeps with the fishes." This connection can also be drawn that perhaps Jesse views himself a monster of sorts. Luca is most certainly one: in the book, it is explained that Luca once impregnated an Irish whore and he killed the woman and had their newborn child thrown into a furnace. He is also the only man that Don Vito Corleone truly feared. He was believed by some to be a demon.
I think this is another religious song, in keeping with the entire album, where Jesse is considering how his actions will be viewed in the eyes of God. First of all, the lyrics posted here are all wrong.
[When I disappear, do you fear for the sister I took? When I disappear, it is clear I am up to no good I am drearily blunt, letting this bed wetting cosmonaut "Son, the last thing you'll realize you need is what you've already got"]
I this verse, Jesse is speaking to God. He is thinking of all the frivolous, meaningless sex he has had with women and how it must disappoint God. Then God responds that all this pointless sex will never fill the desire that is in his heart... probably suggesting only the love of God or a woman can fill that. (Of course, "sister" is not used in the familial sense, but the religious... as we are all brothers and sisters in God's eyes)
["So touch me or don't Just let me know Where you've been"]
Here God is asking Jesse where he has been after having sex. This mirrors the questions he asks Adam and Eve after their original Sin of eating the fruit of knowledge before they were banished from Eden. Jesse refuses to "touch" Him because he feels ashamed in His presence (the same way Adam feels ashamed of his nakedness in God's eyes).
["So drop me a line with a hook and some raw bleeding bait (one, two, three, four) For I am uncaught and still swimming alone in the lake (five, six, seven, eight) Shimmering under a moon made in anger and angst Shimmering like a penny out of reach in the subway grate (Shimmering like a coin kept safe away, you'll never listen to anything)"]
Jesse views himself as a hopeless case, living out of touch with God ("swimming alone in a lake"). He pleads with God to help him to return to the righteous path, though Jesse sees little hope in his redemption, because he "never listens to anything."
["We could leave it alone, I'm sure there's someone who knows Where you've been"]
Obviously, in God's omnipotence knows the truth of every sin we all commit. He is someone who always knows "where you've been."
["You never worked well with our group Not with the faults we found So we fixed you with cement galoshes No one can save you now Unless you have friends among fish There'll still be no air to breathe You could drink up the entire ocean I'll still find someone to be everything we know that you'll never be"]
In this line Jesse imagines his judgement at the gates of Heaven. His life of Sin is dissected and he is found unworthy. He is cast out of heaven down into the hopelessness of Hell. He uses the metaphor of Luca Brasi in the Godfather. In the book he is found to be a spy of sorts working for the Corleone family, and when Sollozzo finds out, Sollozzo murders Luca. Luca's body is dropped into the ocean with a pair of cement boots so he will sink. Then a dead fish is sent to the Corleone's as a message that he "sleeps with the fishes." This connection can also be drawn that perhaps Jesse views himself a monster of sorts. Luca is most certainly one: in the book, it is explained that Luca once impregnated an Irish whore and he killed the woman and had their newborn child thrown into a furnace. He is also the only man that Don Vito Corleone truly feared. He was believed by some to be a demon.