This song (specifically, its sequencing on the record) initially threw me a bit, seeing as how TDB is meant to be a concept album about a transsexual prostitute, but the previous track—Paralytic States—seem to imply that she kills herself, succumbing to the dysphoria.
So, where does that leave Black Me Out? It's probably still part of that story, given references to her pimp (plus the jewelry he's wearing seems to fit that bill), and balking at the notion of being his "fucking whore" any longer. I can possibly see this being about the same suicide of the track before, but from the perspective of the prostitute, taking the power back by taking her life. But parts of that don't sit well with me. This is a song about bold defiance—"piss on the walls of your house", "chop those rings off your fat fucking fingers"—not dying in a hotel bathtub.
My personal interpretation is that the narrative matters. Some songs address the transsexual character in the third person—the title track, True Trans Soul Rebel, Paralytic States—but some are first person, from the perspective of someone who is definitely trans. FUCKMYLIFE666, and this song. And I think these songs aren't just in first person for the hell of it. I think our narrator is a different character who's also trans, and bonds with the prostitute.
Given the fact that Laura credits finding the courage to come out to a trans fan she met at a concert, I think that's the story she's telling. "I wish I could have spent the whole day alone with you," she says on the opener. After living with the dysphoria her whole life, the narrator confides in it with this "True Trans Soul Rebel" (which is what I will be referring to the prostitute character from here on because it feels really dehumanizing to call her "the prostitute"), and they become close. But the narrator isn't optimistic about her life going forward, even though she probably isn't as desperate as Rebel. ("Even if your love was unconditional, it still wouldn't be enough to save me.") After burying a "Dead Friend" (POSSIBLY Rebel's lover), the narrator seems resigned to the fact she and Rebel aren't long for this world, ("Two Coffins").
But then Rebel actually kills herself in Paralytic States, and it hits the narrator in an unexpected way. She's not going to let herself get pushed around like Rebel did. She's going to find the source of the oppression in her life (for Rebel, it was probably her pimp, hence the last two lines of the second verse), and piss on their walls, chop off their rings, and just refuse to play by their rules or let herself be judged by their standards.
This song (specifically, its sequencing on the record) initially threw me a bit, seeing as how TDB is meant to be a concept album about a transsexual prostitute, but the previous track—Paralytic States—seem to imply that she kills herself, succumbing to the dysphoria.
So, where does that leave Black Me Out? It's probably still part of that story, given references to her pimp (plus the jewelry he's wearing seems to fit that bill), and balking at the notion of being his "fucking whore" any longer. I can possibly see this being about the same suicide of the track before, but from the perspective of the prostitute, taking the power back by taking her life. But parts of that don't sit well with me. This is a song about bold defiance—"piss on the walls of your house", "chop those rings off your fat fucking fingers"—not dying in a hotel bathtub.
My personal interpretation is that the narrative matters. Some songs address the transsexual character in the third person—the title track, True Trans Soul Rebel, Paralytic States—but some are first person, from the perspective of someone who is definitely trans. FUCKMYLIFE666, and this song. And I think these songs aren't just in first person for the hell of it. I think our narrator is a different character who's also trans, and bonds with the prostitute.
Given the fact that Laura credits finding the courage to come out to a trans fan she met at a concert, I think that's the story she's telling. "I wish I could have spent the whole day alone with you," she says on the opener. After living with the dysphoria her whole life, the narrator confides in it with this "True Trans Soul Rebel" (which is what I will be referring to the prostitute character from here on because it feels really dehumanizing to call her "the prostitute"), and they become close. But the narrator isn't optimistic about her life going forward, even though she probably isn't as desperate as Rebel. ("Even if your love was unconditional, it still wouldn't be enough to save me.") After burying a "Dead Friend" (POSSIBLY Rebel's lover), the narrator seems resigned to the fact she and Rebel aren't long for this world, ("Two Coffins").
But then Rebel actually kills herself in Paralytic States, and it hits the narrator in an unexpected way. She's not going to let herself get pushed around like Rebel did. She's going to find the source of the oppression in her life (for Rebel, it was probably her pimp, hence the last two lines of the second verse), and piss on their walls, chop off their rings, and just refuse to play by their rules or let herself be judged by their standards.
That's just my theory, though.