In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
You hurt me baby
I flinch so when you do
Your kisses scourge me
Hyssop in your perfume
Oh, I do not fear you
And slave I only use
As a word to describe the special way I feel for you
You look like me
And I look like no one else
We need no other
As long as we have ourselves
But I won't cry about it
Every time you get obsessed
Every time I came undressed
All ugly thoughts are gone
I'm sure we'll all be friends
I'll try to break your back
You'll try to make amends
Curse softly to me baby
And smother me in your love
Temptation comes not from hell but from above
And there's blood on my teeth
When I bite my tongue to speak
Zip me down, kiss me there
I can smile now
You won't find out ever
Hurt me baby
I flinch so when you do
Your kisses scourge me
Hyssop in your perfume
Oh I do not fear you
And slave I only use as a word to describe
The way I feel when I'm with you
If I have to lie about it everytime I came undressed
I flinch so when you do
Your kisses scourge me
Hyssop in your perfume
Oh, I do not fear you
And slave I only use
As a word to describe the special way I feel for you
You look like me
And I look like no one else
We need no other
As long as we have ourselves
But I won't cry about it
Every time you get obsessed
Every time I came undressed
All ugly thoughts are gone
I'm sure we'll all be friends
I'll try to break your back
You'll try to make amends
Curse softly to me baby
And smother me in your love
Temptation comes not from hell but from above
And there's blood on my teeth
When I bite my tongue to speak
Zip me down, kiss me there
I can smile now
You won't find out ever
Hurt me baby
I flinch so when you do
Your kisses scourge me
Hyssop in your perfume
Oh I do not fear you
And slave I only use as a word to describe
The way I feel when I'm with you
If I have to lie about it everytime I came undressed
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"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
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"Some and now none of you"
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This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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Possibly the most disfunctional love song ever...though the Whigs have a lot of those...
I think this song is about a slave/master relationship between two people where at some point the woman in the relationship makes a decision that she doesn't reveal to her lover (I can smile now You won't find out ever Hurt me baby I flinch so when you do) I am thinking it could be she was pregnant (not far along for him to notice) then she aborted the baby or she had an affair with someone close to him and never told him. Something she fears telling the guy cause he might end their relationship if he knew. (If I have to lie about it everytime I came undressed) this last line is maybe the most telling, here is expressed how when she comes undressed with the person she's having an affair with she has to explain away the marks on her body (due to the slave/master relationship she's having with other lover) or it could refer to an explanation she has to give to her doctor when he gives her an exam.
I've got this album when it came out in 1993 and it's been one of my fave since, with My Curse being my fave song on it.
Because of Marcy Mays' vocals and me being a female I take it personally:
I feel like it's about a BDSM relationship, where she is the submissive ("slave"), but she ends up falling for him and has to hide ("lie") about it every time they "get undressed". She finds a way to hide it so well that a day comes where she feels she can "smile now" because he will never find out... that she loves him.
She likes him so much that kissing him feels like punishment - his kisses "scourge" her. How powerful is that phrase, and so many others in this song?
She likes him cursing her in bed (as in any good kinky relationship), but also feels like he's her "Curse" - she loves him and being submissive to him in the bedroom, but for some reason that is not explained in the lyrics, he won't give her what she really wants... his love. He's her "temptation" that comes from hell and not from heaven, which she obsesses about and can't resist or get away from.
I just found the version with Dulli doing vocals...love, love, love is all I have for him and this band.
the best lyrix ever
A few Whigs fans, yay! A tortuous love affair. I love the gal's vocals, but I want the version mentioned above, with Dulli singing.
I've heard the one with Dulli singing...I remember reading how he couldn't sing it on the album because the song hurt him too much
marcy Mays of the band Scrawl provides the vocals on Gentleman. Phenomenal lyrics and great backing tune make this an excellent, if not altogether cheery song.
haha im amused that no one has even attempted to interpret this, beyond saying "its fucked" haha
anyway here's dulli singing it youtube.com/watch