This song is heartbreakingly beautiful and I've always interpreted it as an essay on the darker, more sinister parts of love that people don't like to drag into the light. It's about the relationship between human attachment and pain, and it's really beautifully done.
The first stanza starts as the speaker remarks that they are watching from a "tower" in the back of their mind. This suggests that they are very much living in their own head, likely because there is some pain or reality that they aren't yet prepared to face. It continues to note that the speaker is watching "the living walk by". This purposeful separation that the speaker makes between themself and "the living" indicates that they no longer feel real or human. In a sense, they are "dead" and floating above the world of those who are "alive".
They then "hit the streets in search of the self that left [them lying]". Not only does this line reinforce the motif of detachment from oneself and reality in the face of extreme pain, but it uses the word "lying" as a double entendre. Not only is the speaker "lying" incapacitated by their greif, but they are also "lying" to themself about their remaining attachment to a person who broke them down.
The speaker doesn't notice that the "love inside has been empty" and the "world [they] made has been ending" in time to greive it or prepare for it. When the person they love abandons them, the rug is pulled out from underneath them, and they collapse.
The next line is probably my favorite. "Like a ghost that hangs around, and won't forgive it's earthly sins, I've carried on this love for you, it's how my body lives." In their weakened state, the speaker confesses that they feel like a "ghost" that is anchored down to the physical world by unresolved issues from its previous life. The speaker, like a ghost, only continues to exist by holding onto that unresolved pain, in this case, that pain is their love for the person who "killed" them.
The speaker then notes the shallow conversation that takes place between themself and the person who they shared a profound love with. They view the other person as a "creator", in that they give life and purpose to the person, but also a "destroyer" in that their abandonment damaged them, possibly beyond repair. They are "starved" of this person's affection purposefully. Through this imagery, it is revealed that the person being idealized by the speak is actually abusive, manipulative, and fully aware of the harm that they are doing--but some part of them gets off on inflicting that pain.
After the speaker's confession of this mistreatment, they admit that there are many things they still can't say out loud. They are "stripped of their pride" but to the point of losing themself in this relationship. Even after all of this, the speaker maintains that there is a place for their lover to "crawl inside"--in other words, some part of them will always want to protect the person that hurt them.
The last part is really powerful. The grieving speaker suddenly changes their tone. They become angry, hostile, and bitter--not at their lover, but at themself. They are "murderous" and fanatical, and they feel no control over the love they feel for their lover, and potential abuser.
@swampbaby Boy you did a great job interpreting this song. It is a hauntingly sad song many of us lived at one time or another. I wonder what man song expresses this feeling as well. Maybe this one is universal.
@swampbaby Boy you did a great job interpreting this song. It is a hauntingly sad song many of us lived at one time or another. I wonder what man song expresses this feeling as well. Maybe this one is universal.
This song is heartbreakingly beautiful and I've always interpreted it as an essay on the darker, more sinister parts of love that people don't like to drag into the light. It's about the relationship between human attachment and pain, and it's really beautifully done.
The first stanza starts as the speaker remarks that they are watching from a "tower" in the back of their mind. This suggests that they are very much living in their own head, likely because there is some pain or reality that they aren't yet prepared to face. It continues to note that the speaker is watching "the living walk by". This purposeful separation that the speaker makes between themself and "the living" indicates that they no longer feel real or human. In a sense, they are "dead" and floating above the world of those who are "alive".
They then "hit the streets in search of the self that left [them lying]". Not only does this line reinforce the motif of detachment from oneself and reality in the face of extreme pain, but it uses the word "lying" as a double entendre. Not only is the speaker "lying" incapacitated by their greif, but they are also "lying" to themself about their remaining attachment to a person who broke them down.
The speaker doesn't notice that the "love inside has been empty" and the "world [they] made has been ending" in time to greive it or prepare for it. When the person they love abandons them, the rug is pulled out from underneath them, and they collapse.
The next line is probably my favorite. "Like a ghost that hangs around, and won't forgive it's earthly sins, I've carried on this love for you, it's how my body lives." In their weakened state, the speaker confesses that they feel like a "ghost" that is anchored down to the physical world by unresolved issues from its previous life. The speaker, like a ghost, only continues to exist by holding onto that unresolved pain, in this case, that pain is their love for the person who "killed" them.
The speaker then notes the shallow conversation that takes place between themself and the person who they shared a profound love with. They view the other person as a "creator", in that they give life and purpose to the person, but also a "destroyer" in that their abandonment damaged them, possibly beyond repair. They are "starved" of this person's affection purposefully. Through this imagery, it is revealed that the person being idealized by the speak is actually abusive, manipulative, and fully aware of the harm that they are doing--but some part of them gets off on inflicting that pain.
After the speaker's confession of this mistreatment, they admit that there are many things they still can't say out loud. They are "stripped of their pride" but to the point of losing themself in this relationship. Even after all of this, the speaker maintains that there is a place for their lover to "crawl inside"--in other words, some part of them will always want to protect the person that hurt them.
The last part is really powerful. The grieving speaker suddenly changes their tone. They become angry, hostile, and bitter--not at their lover, but at themself. They are "murderous" and fanatical, and they feel no control over the love they feel for their lover, and potential abuser.
@swampbaby You are amazing, i´m sorry to say this late but this text is so fucking beautiful
@swampbaby You are amazing, i´m sorry to say this late but this text is so fucking beautiful
@swampbaby what a thoughtful, expressive exploration of this gorgeous song.
@swampbaby what a thoughtful, expressive exploration of this gorgeous song.
@swampbaby Boy you did a great job interpreting this song. It is a hauntingly sad song many of us lived at one time or another. I wonder what man song expresses this feeling as well. Maybe this one is universal.
@swampbaby Boy you did a great job interpreting this song. It is a hauntingly sad song many of us lived at one time or another. I wonder what man song expresses this feeling as well. Maybe this one is universal.