While the obvious connections with suicide or alcoholism could be drawn easily, more subtly this song could be about someone who views the world through a negative lens constantly and how as much as the writer tries to show the beauty in the world, this person refuses to see it. It's one or another between the rope and the bottle. There is no good option for this person. They can't see it. Skiba sings it in a kind of exasperated way like He's tired of hearing this negative view constantly and just allowing that person to continue feeling the way they feel knowing he can't do anything about it. You can hear it when he says maybe you're a vampire.
Cath, she stands with a well-intentioned man
But she can't relax with his hands on the small of her back
And as the flash bulbs burst
She holds a smile
Like someone would hold
A crying child
And soon everybody will ask what became of you
'Cause your heart was dying fast
And you didn't know what to do
Cath, it seems
That you live in someone else's dream
In a hand-me-down wedding dress
Where the things that could have been are oppressed
You said your vows
And you closed the door
On so many men
Who would have loved you more
And soon everybody will ask what became of you
And your heart was dying fast
And you didn't know what to do
The whispers that it won't last roll up and down the pews
But if their hearts were dying that fast
They'd have done the same as you
And I'd have done the same as you
But she can't relax with his hands on the small of her back
And as the flash bulbs burst
She holds a smile
Like someone would hold
A crying child
And soon everybody will ask what became of you
'Cause your heart was dying fast
And you didn't know what to do
Cath, it seems
That you live in someone else's dream
In a hand-me-down wedding dress
Where the things that could have been are oppressed
You said your vows
And you closed the door
On so many men
Who would have loved you more
And soon everybody will ask what became of you
And your heart was dying fast
And you didn't know what to do
The whispers that it won't last roll up and down the pews
But if their hearts were dying that fast
They'd have done the same as you
And I'd have done the same as you
Lyrics submitted by Si_duffers, edited by alhirzel
Cath... [Album Version] Lyrics as written by Benjamin Gibbard
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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All that said, I've read that this song is based on the book Wuthering Heights and Catherine's getting married to other guy when really loved Healthcliff ;)
I stayed with him for six years. Through all the cheating and through him sexually and emotionally abusing me. He fooled me into believing a fairy tale then broke me down until I lost the will to fight. He was an expert manipulator and your typical narcissist.
I left last spring, and I have never been happier. Not since I was a kid or teenager, anyway.
I listened to this song a lot over the course of those six years, and I'd always tear up at the second verse. Wondering who I may have closed the door on. Wondering how much more I could take.
I came here because a local station was playing it today and it was the first time I'd heard it since I left. It was also the first time I heard it and didn't feel like a boulder had been dropped on my chest.
I am proud of you for doing what you knew was right. I wish I had been as brave. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change anything...I am where I am now because of the hell I went through, and the happiness I carry with me today makes all of that feel worth it. However, I admire your courage and I am grateful you did what was right for you <3
I like your suggestion that this song is about a relationship that failed, one that collapsed years ago. I didn't have that vibe when I first got this album, but I think it fits well.
Also, your suggestion that she is a 'dead' living person, one who has lost any private perspective- is a great one.
This was my favorite song on the new album initially. But I was convinced that 'Cath' was a depressed person. Someone who had given up on romantic endeavors some time ago. I pictured her 'flashbulbs bursting' next to someone she'd known for a long time. Someone who kind of came out of the woodwork and made it his endeavor to marry Cath.
A well intentioned man. I think of him as a bit of a second-stringer if you will? Haha. I like the swaying chaos in the music during the first verse. I think it gives feeling to Cath kind of being at mercy of her new marriage, this guy.. she's clearly emotionally removed.
And I think its the last line that gives me that feeling... 'and if their hearts were dying hat fast, they would have done the same as you... i would have done the same as you'
Draws in to question the storyteller's relationship to Cath, or just his perspective.
Thanks for your insight!
What are you talking about?? In Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland marries Henry Tinley for love... I agree it is an excellent novel, but this song is not a reference to it.
(The catheter comment was HILARIOUS)
Oh MY! I totally screwed that up... I meant to say Cath of Wuthering Heights. Thanks for catching my mistake :D. I hate femmenist literature anyways, read Love in the Time of Cholera now lol.