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I hear the baying of the hounds
In the distance, I hear them devouring
Pest ridden jackals of the earth
Diabolical beasts and roaming the forests
In wait and constant protectors
Calling you to sit by his side
Your self loathing image in his flesh
A revelation upon which you linger
His words are flies
Swarming towards the true insects
Feasting on buried dreams
And spreading decay upon your skin
His eyes spew forth a darkness
That cut through and paralyze
Casts light upon your secrets
Forced to confront your enemies
His mouth is a vortex
Sucking you into it's pandemonium
Fools you with a helping hand of ashes
Reached out in false dismay
His body is a country
The cities lay dead and beyond despair
Friends turned enemies unable to come clean
In a rising fog of reeking death
Everything you believed is a lie
Everyone you loved is a death burden
So you take comfort in him
And you are receptive to stark wishes
No longer struggling to declare your stand
You would inflict no harm to others
They are unaware of you
And in a loop of futile events
You are everything, they are nothing
Drown in the deep mire
With past desires
Beneath the mire
Drown desire now with you
Lined up verses on dead skin
"The tainted lips of the stranger
Resting upon hers"
And I embrace bereavement
Everything beloved is shattered anyway
I would devote myself to anyone
I would accept any flaws
I am too weak to resist
Tension vibrating with horror
Finding the outcast in my eyes
Pushing nerves on a puppet
Endless poison in my veins
Clean intent now tainted with death
And so, cold touch now inhumane
Every waking hour
Awaiting a reverie to unfold
And now they are calling me
Louder by the minute
The baying of the hounds
Calling me back to my home
In the distance, I hear them devouring
Pest ridden jackals of the earth
Diabolical beasts and roaming the forests
In wait and constant protectors
Calling you to sit by his side
Your self loathing image in his flesh
A revelation upon which you linger
His words are flies
Swarming towards the true insects
Feasting on buried dreams
And spreading decay upon your skin
His eyes spew forth a darkness
That cut through and paralyze
Casts light upon your secrets
Forced to confront your enemies
His mouth is a vortex
Sucking you into it's pandemonium
Fools you with a helping hand of ashes
Reached out in false dismay
His body is a country
The cities lay dead and beyond despair
Friends turned enemies unable to come clean
In a rising fog of reeking death
Everything you believed is a lie
Everyone you loved is a death burden
So you take comfort in him
And you are receptive to stark wishes
No longer struggling to declare your stand
You would inflict no harm to others
They are unaware of you
And in a loop of futile events
You are everything, they are nothing
Drown in the deep mire
With past desires
Beneath the mire
Drown desire now with you
Lined up verses on dead skin
"The tainted lips of the stranger
Resting upon hers"
And I embrace bereavement
Everything beloved is shattered anyway
I would devote myself to anyone
I would accept any flaws
I am too weak to resist
Tension vibrating with horror
Finding the outcast in my eyes
Pushing nerves on a puppet
Endless poison in my veins
Clean intent now tainted with death
And so, cold touch now inhumane
Every waking hour
Awaiting a reverie to unfold
And now they are calling me
Louder by the minute
The baying of the hounds
Calling me back to my home
Lyrics submitted by MonkeysLikePeanuts
Track duration: 10:41
"The Baying of the Hounds" as written by Mikael Lars Akerfeldt
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Any way, I agree that the symbolism used here could be interchanged for any form of devil or evil, all the way to the fact that the majority of people on power on this planet are incredibly corrupt. Also, the phrase 'beneath the mire'...does this mean literally under the marshes, in hell? Or is it a Lord of the Rings reference? Does it mean the alternate definition, simply to be under negative circumstances? Most likely the latter, given the mother's death as a circumstance that the evil uses to turn the protagonist into an antagonist.
It's ironic that the song is about giving up, accepting flaws. Christianity almost beckons us to do this, teaching that 'this world' is merely 'temporary'. Could God have foreseen global warming as a sudden killer of the human race, and a re-aligning of the planet into a more natural state? Is the struggle to rid our planet of social and chemical rubbish in vain? Thinking that way is the first step to failure, but God simply promised 'no more floods'...he didn't say anything bout not letting us shoot ourselves in the temple with fossil fuel burning, and he can't stop someone from raping and killing a person...even the strong-willed are tested to extremes and fail. The human race is incredibly self destructive.
It's a great story, but always so depressing to feel that Opeth is writing songs about me. I want to make a difference, but find so many statistics that say none of us can, that we've destroyed ourselves in a matter of 150 years. I guess it's time to finish school and make an impact on the planet I guess...or drown in Southern Comfort first! Either way
after the main character murders his mother he leaves his town upon finding the body of his mother the town sets out there protectors which are obviously hounds these hounds chase him and obviously plague him throughout the next few song's because in reverie harlequin forest it mentions the baying of the hounds behind him i think that he loses them in the forest because they are not mentioned in other song unless I've misheard the lyrics.
its definately not about that, but thats the feeling i got. i'm sticking with what i said above
I view this song as being about a weak-willed person being seduced by the Devil, which leads to the townspeople banishing him from the village and setting the hounds loose on him.