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Clung to the sweater from the day you were born
Never knew better, that's what you swore
Mother heard you cause the walls were thin
In saturnine, sweetness, and horatio fin
No boy could spell you out
In the grass at night
Beneath the stars
You grew right past the streets where you were raised
Sneakin' out early to a secret place
Like a hole in the wall
Like a hole in the wall
Into the bed you hang your sling
To watch your man as he seeks relief
You cut out his heart and watch him die
So we can know you, and that you're alive
As the hole in the wall
You are the hole in the wall
No one can know your song
In kisses and noise
Now you belong to them all
Awake to the dawn and scratch your eyes
Light the prayer candles that you remind to
Send you a boy that you could waste
A little piece of heaven to set you straight
Through the hole in the wall
You are the hole in the wall
No one could tell you why
the tape's full of hiss
and sons that cry
to the night of the dead and the wishing ghost
beating on you to drain morose
through the hole in the wall
we are the holes in the wall
we are the
Never knew better, that's what you swore
Mother heard you cause the walls were thin
In saturnine, sweetness, and horatio fin
No boy could spell you out
In the grass at night
Beneath the stars
You grew right past the streets where you were raised
Sneakin' out early to a secret place
Like a hole in the wall
Like a hole in the wall
Into the bed you hang your sling
To watch your man as he seeks relief
You cut out his heart and watch him die
So we can know you, and that you're alive
As the hole in the wall
You are the hole in the wall
No one can know your song
In kisses and noise
Now you belong to them all
Awake to the dawn and scratch your eyes
Light the prayer candles that you remind to
Send you a boy that you could waste
A little piece of heaven to set you straight
Through the hole in the wall
You are the hole in the wall
No one could tell you why
the tape's full of hiss
and sons that cry
to the night of the dead and the wishing ghost
beating on you to drain morose
through the hole in the wall
we are the holes in the wall
we are the
Lyrics submitted by virex7
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I think the story plays out of someone Billy tried to love and help but in the end realized he couldn't. I don't think its misogynistic at all. He realized he was up against her entire life and didn't stand a chance so he tells the story of the life he thinks she had and what his role in it was.
I'll break it down in my way...
Clung to the sweater from the day you were born
(I think she had a privileged maybe strict religious, attentive childhood)
Never knew better, that's what you swore
(She did the bad things girls do but knew it wasn't who she was plus it was against her upbringing. Rebellious phase)
Mother heard you cause the walls were thin
(could be sex? could be cuz of strict, attentive parents, maybe abuse)
In saturnine, sweetness, and horatio fin
(she was a sad sheltered child waiting to break free)
No boy could spell you out
(Guys loved her but she never loved them back)
In the grass at night
Beneath the stars
You grew right past the streets where you were raised
(She was too big for her town, she knew she had to be somewhere else)
Sneakin' out early to a secret place
(This is the place where she got her influence to become who she becomes later in the song)
Like a hole in the wall
Like a hole in the wall
(just a voyeur to a life she didn't have access to yet)
(She grows up, adult now, in a bad relationship and probably doing drugs)
Into the bed you hang your sling
To watch your man as he seeks relief
(he's doing heroin, she loves him so she does it too)
You cut out his heart and watch him die
(she decides to leave him and his junkie ways)
So we can know you, and that you're alive
(she keeps up the facade that she knows better and deserve more from life)
As the hole in the wall
You are the hole in the wall
(She's still not participating fully in life, dabbling here and there but never committing to anything or anyone.
No one can know your song
In kisses and noise
(Friends and family are concerned but she'll never let on)
Now you belong to them all
(Because she will probably fail in there eyes, much like they expect)
Awake to the dawn and scratch your eyes
(time goes by)
Light the prayer candles that you remind to
(She still prays for a normal life and someone who can take her away from all of her problems)
Send you a boy that you could waste (Billy)
A little piece of heaven to set you straight
(A man (Billy) enters and thinks he can change her and help her)
Through the hole in the wall
You are the hole in the wall
No one could tell you why
(She feels she doesn't deserve this love because of her problems and decides to leave him)
the tape's full of hiss
(Tape machine with no good-bye, no nothing)
and sons that cry
(Billy)
to the night of the dead and the wishing ghost
(he looks for her but its useless,finds nothing)
beating on you to drain morose
(he knows he failed and his love couldn't help her past her sadness)
through the hole in the wall
we are the holes in the wall
(I believe he's speaking on behalf of everyone in the story now and turns the tables saying that they
were looking through a hole in the wall at her the whole time because no one ever knew who she was, they just got glimpses of something amazing and unconquerable)
we are the
Y'know, basically like saying she's vacant & superficial to the point of being like wallpaper (in terms of depth of character), and therefore is as good as dead inside.
Also, maybe by the end, all of her 'victims', have become just as hollow as her (due to her treatment of them), and thus, he refers to them also as, "holes in the wall". Maybe this sentiment is also reflected in the music, being as lethargic and nonchalant as it is.
Dunno, just a thought/interpretation. And I have to say, I do like it ...
One line that wasn't really touched:
In saturnine, sweetness, and horatio fin
-Saturnine means gloomy or gloominess. It's describing her emotions as she is having sex; there is sweetness and depression at the same time. I believe Horatio Fin could be the man she is having sex with. I have not come up with any other idea.
The Holes in The Wall
-When there are holes in a wall, it is not in great condition and it is not perfect. Like an atom bomb devastating lands, similarly the holes are problems, so to speak. The girl is described as the "Hole in the wall" at times, which maybe implying that she is demented and crazy. "We are the holes in the wall". We are not perfect.
"and sons that cry"
The girl may have gotten pregnant.
"to the night of the dead and the wishing ghost
beating on you to drain morose "
The girl begins to wish she had lead her life differently, the "wishing ghost" is an image describing her desire for a different life.
As for the holes in the wall, Billy begins by saying the girl snuck out to sleep with guys "like a hole in the wall". Then, she uses guys maliciously and selfishly, making her the hole in the wall. Afterwards, the girl goes on with her life, possibly with a bunch of illegitemate kids, and Billy calls all of us the holes in the wall. I think, by the end of the song, Billy has begun to sympathize with the girl he is describing in the song, because her life sucks. The holes in the wall might be a greater metaphor about the human condition and how we must always make ourselves suffer. The image of a hole in the wall makes me think of urban decay, something ugly with the foundation of a building. Maybe he means that people always make themselves suffer, like a hole in a wall. Or something like that hah.
Its about love coming to a tragic yet somehow not a totally disasterous end end. Billy at least seems to have made his peace with it.The song is very passive, doesn't have any angry chords or lyrics which Billy so often throws in when he wants to get that sort of point through.
"Clung to the sweater from the day you were born":
The girl attaches to men and uses them, as she has her whole life.
"Never knew better, that's what you swore":
The girl says she doesn't think she's doing anything wrong. To me, this implies that the girl knows that she's doing wrong, and doesn't care.
"Mother heard you cause the walls were thin":
I think this is about the girl having sex in her house as she seduces guys, and her mom hears it.
"In saturnine, sweetness, and horatio fin":
Hah I have no idea what all this means. Saturnine is obviously the song from the Machina II EPs, and I think its about a person of the same name. I heard somewhere that "saturnine" is an astrological term in which the planet saturn entrances people; perhaps Saturnine is the name of the girl who Billy is singing about.
"No boy could spell you out":
Even though this girl seduced lots of guys, none of them ever suspected her intentions.
"In the grass at night
Beneath the stars
You grew right past the streets where you were raised
Sneakin' out early to a secret place":
I think this is also about sex.
"Like a hole in the wall":
I'll get to the part about the hole in the wall at the end.
"Into the bed you hang your sling
To watch your man as he seeks relief":
The guys that the girl sleeps with are tired and world-weary, and they sleep with her to "seek relief". However, she uses them for her puposes and then leaves them.
"You cut out his heart and watch him die
So we can know you, and that you're alive
As the hole in the wall
You are the hole in the wall":
She doesn't actually kill the guys she sleeps with, but she causes them pain. These lines explain why the girl hurts these guys; it's almost like she's doing it for sport, or out of a whim, like a kid might tear down an anthill just because he can. It's interesting to note that when Billy sings these lines, he doesn't really sound angry. This isn't an angry song, its more resigned and sad.
"No one can know your song
In kisses and noise
Now you belong to them all":
I think that, in a way, these lines say that the girl is only one of many other women who use men selfishly. Billy says that the girl 'sings the same tune' as other women who seduce men; now, she belongs in the same group as these women.
"Awake to the dawn and scratch your eyes
Light the prayer candles that you remind to
Send you a boy that you could waste
A little piece of heaven to set you straight
Through the hole in the wall
You are the hole in the wall":
This verse is interesting; it discusses how the girl wants to ruin boys in spiritual terms. The girl prays ("lights her prayer candles") and asks ("reminds the candles") for a boy to waste. The entire verse is pretty ironic, because when people usually pray, they are asking for good things to happen, not for bad things to happen to other people. It's a creative way for Billy to show how bad of a person this girl is.
The rest of the song I don't really understand, sorry. As for the repitition of "the holes in the wall", well, I don't understand that so much either. In a lot of his music, Billy Corgan takes a random object and makes it a symbol for something specific. For example, in Muzzle, he calls his relationship with the girl he loves "the world", and when they broke up, he "knew the silence of the world". I can't help but think that the holes in the wall is some kind of metaphor, but I can't figure it out. Well hope this helped people.
It was originally on the Try, Try, Try single, but you can also find it on Judas O and possibly the Untitled single.
I used to really love this song (the original version).. I cant quite put my finger on why. The repetition maybe.. I could associate with it- 'A little piece of heaven is all you seek/ from the same old re-run week after week'