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This is the story of your red right ankle
And how it came to meet your leg
And how the muscle, bone, and sinews tangled
And how the skin was softly shed
And how it whispered,
Oh adhere to me
For we are bound by symmetry
And whatever differences our lives have been
We together make a limb.
This is the story of your red right ankle.
This is the story of your gypsy uncle
You never knew 'cause he was dead
And how his face was carved and rift with wrinkles
In the picture in your head.
And remember how you found the key
To his hideout in the Pyrenees
But you wanted to keep his secret safe
So you threw the key away.
This is the story of your gypsy uncle.
This is the story of the boys who loved you
Who love you now and loved you then
And some were sweet, and some were cold and snuffed you
And some just laid around in bed.
Some had crumbled you straight to your knees
Did it cruel, did it tenderly
Some had crawled their way into your heart
To rend your ventricles apart
This is the story of the boys who loved you
This is the story of your red right ankle.
And how it came to meet your leg
And how the muscle, bone, and sinews tangled
And how the skin was softly shed
And how it whispered,
Oh adhere to me
For we are bound by symmetry
And whatever differences our lives have been
We together make a limb.
This is the story of your red right ankle.
This is the story of your gypsy uncle
You never knew 'cause he was dead
And how his face was carved and rift with wrinkles
In the picture in your head.
And remember how you found the key
To his hideout in the Pyrenees
But you wanted to keep his secret safe
So you threw the key away.
This is the story of your gypsy uncle.
This is the story of the boys who loved you
Who love you now and loved you then
And some were sweet, and some were cold and snuffed you
And some just laid around in bed.
Some had crumbled you straight to your knees
Did it cruel, did it tenderly
Some had crawled their way into your heart
To rend your ventricles apart
This is the story of the boys who loved you
This is the story of your red right ankle.
Lyrics submitted by sendthestars
Track duration: 03:29
"Red Right Ankle" as written by Colin Meloy
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"Oh, adhere to me
For we are bound by symmetry
And whatever differences our lives have been
We together make a limb"
Regardless of their differences he believes that together "they make a limb". Wonderful...
I think my interpretation is also supported by the line "who love you now and loved you then..." Why would he refer to her past lovers as 'loving her now' when he most likely knows little to nothing of them? This would also fit with the VERY personal mood of the song--that is, if the lyrics refer only to what has been shared between them, then they become much more intimate.
For me, the 'red right ankle' in the first verse refers both to a birthmark on the [girl] in the relationship, as well as to the structure of a relationship between two people who grow up together and come to realize they're in love over time.
The 'gypsy uncle' verse is very poignant and moving, but I believe it mainly serves to reveal the girl's character as someone who can be trusted with the most personal of secrets--once she considers you family.
The third verse, as I initially stated, could only be the story of the narrator and the subject abstracted into a sequence of relationships which were either beautiful or disastrous, but which were always recurring, and so were part of a greater story--part of a larger whole that continued to replay itself and so was meaningful in the lives of two people...intertwined forever as the first verse implies
The first verse is a flippant and whimsical story about the girl recieving her red right ankle, the ankle asking her to accept it because "we are bound by symmetry, and we together make a limb." Obviously a metaphor for love.
The second verse is a similarly whimsical story about the girl being sweet with regard to the memory of her late gypsy uncle. There's some symbolism here but no "secret meaning"
The third verse is about the various relationships, good and bad, the girl has had up to this point.
I HATE HATE HATE it when peoplen on this website post some retarded weird rambbling explanation for what a song "REALLY MEANS." Not every fucking song is secretly about drugs/death/sex, some of them actually mean more or less what they mean
So way to go about all the crazy interpretations abouts STDs or whatever you guys
This song is about the life of a human. The first is about birth and growth, the way the body is formed in total innocence and beauty. The amazing mechanics of life woven into a beautiful tapestry of metaphor by the author.
The second verse is about human life in the social realm, about the loss of innocence and the knowledge of good and evil. The person in the song realizes that life isn't as it should be and understands.
The third verse is about death. It's about the people you touch, how you affect them, and how they affect you.
Finally, the last line, "This is the story of your red right ankle." The author says that in the end, our spirit is gone and just our body remains, the ankle with it, but it too shall wither.
All of this business about lost innocence and good/evil makes me think you are a tortured soul. Yes, bad things happen in the world. Yes, there are people who intentionally harm others. I realize we can't turn our heads and deny that. But, the beauty in life and in people FAR outweighs the bad.
It is amazing to me how some people can go through life and not take in all of the loveliness there is. Take this song for instance. It is sad, for sure. But what I take away is how beautiful it is. I take away how lucky we are to experience life and love and music.
And you talk about "withered bodies". Eeeew.
I would personally cut off both of my legs to write lyrics like Colin, and if Colin is reading this, I am willing to give you my legs in exchange for song writing lessons.
My favorite Verse...
"This is the story of your red right ankle
And how it came to meet your leg,
And how the muscle bone and sinews tangled
And how the skin was softly shed
And how it whispered,
'Oh, adhere to me for we are bound by symmetry
And whatever differences our lives have been
We together make a limb'
This is the story of your red right ankle"
It seemed to me, at the time, like he was singing to a lost loved one that was taken from him by some war; the line about the story of the boys who loved you makes me think of all the family members and war buddies that eventually became his family. Some never got a chance to really tell the lost loved one that they loved them, but a lot of it seemed to point to the fact that they all truly did.
Listening to it now, I feel more like its not only a war song, but also a love song. The lyrics mesh together to form the perfect blend of both.
It's about an actual girl with freckles on her ankle.
"The boys who loved you" means the boys that were in love with the girl over the course of her life.
I came to the conclusion that this song is the singer/songwriter (Colin, although in the song maybe not Colin but a fictional character) singing to his dead Gypsy Uncle, and his brother.
"This is the story of your red right ankle" - He is talking to his uncle,
"And how it came to meet your leg
And how the muscle, bone, and sinews tangled
And how the skin was softly shed " - Maybe his uncle's red right ankle was a medical condition he hadn't told anyone about?
"And how it whispered, "Oh, adhere to me
For we are bound by symmetry
And whatever differences our lives have been
We together make a limb"" - This part explains his uncle telling him about the illness, they are both the same, though their lives completely different him being a gypsy
"This is the story of your gypsy uncle
You never knew because he was dead " - he is talking to his brother (or someone)
"And how his face was carved and ripped with wrinkles
In the picture in your head " - he'd never met him, but maybe had known that he'd had an illness thus the reason he had so many wrinkles?
"And remember how you found the key
To his hideout in the Pyrenees
But you wanted to keep his secret safe
So you threw the key away" - his brother had found the 'key' or found out about his uncle, he wanted to keep that story safe so he never told anyone
"This is the story of the boys who loved you
Who love you now and loved you then" - he is once again talking to his uncle, the 'boys' being his brothers
"And some were sweet and some were cold and snuffed you
And some just layed around in bed
And some, they crumbled you straight to your knees
Did it cruel, did it tenderly" - when half were sweet, the other cold, a few layed around in bed. Some they caused him tough times (maybe the cause of his illness)
"Some, they crawled their way into your heart
To rend your ventricles apart
This is the story of the boys who loved you " - crawling their way into his heart could be good or bad, maybe he loved them so much only to see them go 'bad' wrecked him? His ventricles apart may mean he ended up having a heart attack.
"This is the story of your red right ankle" - this is the story of his illness, and how it led to his death.
It was only a thought which made me think of this new interpretation, probably wrong, but makes the song sound 100x sadder when thought of :S
enjoy.