Well, like said before, the main subject here is not the fact that the protagonist remembers having sexual urges back at 8, but it is rather a confession.
To me, the most important thing here is his own evaluation of choices during his life. He keeps looking and remembering the past in order to understand himself better now, or at least, to comprehend why he's such a mess, what have led him to this very moment.
I believe the comparison made is quite clear on the first two stanzas, being the first about Sex, and second about Love.
Personally the Love stanza reminds quite much of Romanticism on Literature, the perfect ideal woman, yet, unattainable, intangible, which somehow explains "watching them turn to flesh again", thus, giving in to (her) own sexual urges.
I understand this album as a non-linear (chronological) story about a man and woman, both very young and presumably alone in life, who love each other, start living together, she gets pregnant, loses the child, something happens between them (this point is not really explicit to me, perhaps I am missing something. Probably she has had sex with another man), and then he runs away, leaves her due to the fight and probably because she did something really unforgivable to him.
That's why he says "Budapest I'm learning / Budapest you're burning me", it's probably where they used to live or where he ran to.
"Undertow" is probably a "prequel" and it is about him breaking free of the relationship, now he can do whatever he wants, no more restrictions (specially sex related), and it can explain his thoughts on these verses:
This is not who I wanted to be / This is not what I wanted to see
Like I said, he is thinking about his choices, and when the next verses come up, he's actually having sex, with a young hooker or regular girl, but at the same time, he still feels guilty about it, and not free at all...
Then, he goes on... he is quite desperate and lost, I guess he really doesn't know how to proceed with his life from now on, the days seem empty and eternal, time passes by and he doesn't really follow it. That's the Remedy Lane he mentions. Of course, a lot of that is just empathy and assumptions.
What he really says is that he still "hunts" for women, he thinks it is fun, and it is delightful to him, but the sex sounds like torture and at the same time necessary, he can not hunt and not finishing it, it is disrespectful, to the women. That's the hunger he mentions, his sexual urges and needs.
Truth is, he wishes he was not such a human man. It is a paradox, because he has many human wishes and needs, and when he fulfills such desires he feels inhuman, dirty and an exploiter.
The verse "Seeking freedom I've touched the untouched / It's too much / I'm Beyond the Pale" is about all these mixed feelings, this paradox. He is beyond salvation, there's no remedy which can heal him, he will have to bury it deep, all these feeling and questions, and live on. A very desperate song. And my second favourite on this amazing album.
Sorry if I have not made myself very clear. English is not my mother-language, and somehow it is really complicated to talk about such abstract subjects as feelings.
@xbocax The only point I'd raise is that when having sex in the third stanza I'd suggest that he has imagined sex to be very meaningful (love), but that his actual first sexual experience didn't give him this emotional fix that he has wanted for so long.
@xbocax The only point I'd raise is that when having sex in the third stanza I'd suggest that he has imagined sex to be very meaningful (love), but that his actual first sexual experience didn't give him this emotional fix that he has wanted for so long.
Well, like said before, the main subject here is not the fact that the protagonist remembers having sexual urges back at 8, but it is rather a confession.
To me, the most important thing here is his own evaluation of choices during his life. He keeps looking and remembering the past in order to understand himself better now, or at least, to comprehend why he's such a mess, what have led him to this very moment. I believe the comparison made is quite clear on the first two stanzas, being the first about Sex, and second about Love.
Personally the Love stanza reminds quite much of Romanticism on Literature, the perfect ideal woman, yet, unattainable, intangible, which somehow explains "watching them turn to flesh again", thus, giving in to (her) own sexual urges.
I understand this album as a non-linear (chronological) story about a man and woman, both very young and presumably alone in life, who love each other, start living together, she gets pregnant, loses the child, something happens between them (this point is not really explicit to me, perhaps I am missing something. Probably she has had sex with another man), and then he runs away, leaves her due to the fight and probably because she did something really unforgivable to him.
That's why he says "Budapest I'm learning / Budapest you're burning me", it's probably where they used to live or where he ran to.
"Undertow" is probably a "prequel" and it is about him breaking free of the relationship, now he can do whatever he wants, no more restrictions (specially sex related), and it can explain his thoughts on these verses:
This is not who I wanted to be / This is not what I wanted to see
Like I said, he is thinking about his choices, and when the next verses come up, he's actually having sex, with a young hooker or regular girl, but at the same time, he still feels guilty about it, and not free at all...
Then, he goes on... he is quite desperate and lost, I guess he really doesn't know how to proceed with his life from now on, the days seem empty and eternal, time passes by and he doesn't really follow it. That's the Remedy Lane he mentions. Of course, a lot of that is just empathy and assumptions.
What he really says is that he still "hunts" for women, he thinks it is fun, and it is delightful to him, but the sex sounds like torture and at the same time necessary, he can not hunt and not finishing it, it is disrespectful, to the women. That's the hunger he mentions, his sexual urges and needs.
Truth is, he wishes he was not such a human man. It is a paradox, because he has many human wishes and needs, and when he fulfills such desires he feels inhuman, dirty and an exploiter.
The verse "Seeking freedom I've touched the untouched / It's too much / I'm Beyond the Pale" is about all these mixed feelings, this paradox. He is beyond salvation, there's no remedy which can heal him, he will have to bury it deep, all these feeling and questions, and live on. A very desperate song. And my second favourite on this amazing album.
Sorry if I have not made myself very clear. English is not my mother-language, and somehow it is really complicated to talk about such abstract subjects as feelings.
Cheers.
Great reply. Your English isn't bad :)
Great reply. Your English isn't bad :)
@xbocax The only point I'd raise is that when having sex in the third stanza I'd suggest that he has imagined sex to be very meaningful (love), but that his actual first sexual experience didn't give him this emotional fix that he has wanted for so long.
@xbocax The only point I'd raise is that when having sex in the third stanza I'd suggest that he has imagined sex to be very meaningful (love), but that his actual first sexual experience didn't give him this emotional fix that he has wanted for so long.
The rest is very indepth and well thought out.
The rest is very indepth and well thought out.