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The most tender place in my heart is for strangers
I know it's unkind, but my own blood is much too dangerous
Hanging around the ceiling half the time
Hanging around the ceiling half the time
Compared to some I've been around
But I really tried so hard
That echo chorus lied to me with its:
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"
In the end I was the mean girl
Or somebody's in-between girl
Now it's the devil I love
And that's as funny as real love
I leave the party at 3 AM
Alone, thank God
With a valium from the bride
It's the devil I love
And that's as funny as real love
And that's as real as true love
That echo chorus lied to me with its:
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"
That echo chorus lied to me with its:
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"
I know it's unkind, but my own blood is much too dangerous
Hanging around the ceiling half the time
Hanging around the ceiling half the time
Compared to some I've been around
But I really tried so hard
That echo chorus lied to me with its:
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"
In the end I was the mean girl
Or somebody's in-between girl
Now it's the devil I love
And that's as funny as real love
I leave the party at 3 AM
Alone, thank God
With a valium from the bride
It's the devil I love
And that's as funny as real love
And that's as real as true love
That echo chorus lied to me with its:
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"
That echo chorus lied to me with its:
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"
Lyrics submitted by delial
Track duration: 02:47
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I had always thought the "The most tender place in my heart is for strangers, I know it's unkind but my own blood is much too dangerous" was her talking about herself. Much like the Narcissist and Echo myth in ancient Greece, I believe this song to be a narcissist way of talking about her own blood, and finding out that its dangerous through a failed relationship (pining over Echo).
This lead her to have more compassion for strangers and others than herself.
When I hear the line "hanging around the ceiling" I always got this image of someone just lying on the floor or on their bed staring at the ceiling, thinking, though it probably has a lot more metaphorical depth than this.
The "compared to some..." line, I think refers to her trying too hard to be loveable and in a relationship, and it ultimately failing when she says that the "echo chorus" lied by telling her to have hope and to hold onto it.
This realization comes when in the end of the failed relationship results in her being the "mean girl" or somebody's "in between girl" because she can't settle down and commit, because she's ultimately running from herself and the belief that she is unloveable based on past failed relationships. Strangers are easier to love because they don't know and they don't know where she's been, and vice versa. She rather would indulge in the dark, and the "devil" in her, so to speak because that's who believes she is.
I think the valium from the bride line is interesting. I think this could be a metaphor for the bliss one feels after they get married. When she's alone she feels the same high that a bride feels on her wedding night. She lives for the devil inside her, but thinks it's ironic and it almost has this tone of sarcasm near the end. I think she longs for love, but uses the devil in her as a defence because she would rather be alone, even though she acknowledges true love is real. I don't think she likes where she is at. This whole song reeks of dissatisfaction and escapism. So simple, but so brilliant...
The "devil" that she loves isn't any one person or thing, it's sort of a collective "dark side" that she finds herself drifting towards. For example, the "devil" could be the guy who never even pretended to you that something was forever, never promised you anything in return. He's the devil, plain and simple, and that's something she can understand, know where she stands with. Likewise, a drug habit could be part of "the devil," as something that she's entered into of her free will, knowing full-well that it will likely end badly.
The "echo chorus" is all the well-intentioned messages to "hold on, hang in there, things will get better." She held on, and now things are just darker and worse than ever. But now that she sees it as a lie, she can say that she doesn't care if they get better or not. She has her devils, and with them she's as close to "happy" as she feels herself capable of being.
My understanding of the song is her love for strangers is based on the fact that her family (own blood) is filled with drama; "hanging around the celing" suggests high drama, vampire like sucking of emotion and energy. Despite that, drama is ingrained her personality and she returns to it time and time again.
I've never understood the need to believe the lyrics have anything to do with drugs. "The devil" is drama. She is addicted to the drama of bad relationships, a result of the drama in her family of origin. The "Valium" from the bride is not a drug, it's the sedation of her emotions by an older, wiser friend. She doesn't say she left a "wedding". She says a "party".
The "hold on" is what those who are addicted to drama & bad relationships tell themselves over and over again when they know the relationship is wrong. We say it to ourselves over and over again, even when we know it's a lie.
Firstly, my opinion is that "Hold on Hold On" about the complex relationship between failed intimacy/love and drug addiction/escapism.
The song expresses that her family doesn't really get who she really is; and that they are emotionally abusive which causes her to have become a wayward child full into adulthood ('most tender place in my heart is for strangers...my own blood is much too dangerous').
In relationships, she has either been a b*tch to the other or has herself been taken advantage of by the other because she fails so completely at intimacy. It is unclear if drugs-which are clearly a part of this equation-are the cause or her attempt at a remedy/self-medication (ie: to numb the pain of the failed relationships). This is what is meant by 'hanging around the ceiling half the time', basically being high all half the time.
I agree with other commenters that she's leaving the party to do valium because she'd rather be high on just anything than take a chance on meeting someone new or starting a new fling (which frequently happens to single people @ weddings, right? love is in the air and all that). The 'devil' she loves is drugs and being high, and it's more important to her than intimacy; its a substitute that won't let her down or betray her. In other words, if the truth is what works, then drugs are her truth, albeit a very sad one because it deprives her of the full range of human experience. Sorry for chiming in with my own judgment there.
In any case, I like SeaSurface's interpretation of the Echo chorus, it is fascinating what people come up with. Truly, some smart people here. I don't know if I necessarily agree on this interpretation because my off-the-cuff feeling is that the echo-chorus is basically self-talk, as in things you 'echo' or repeat to yourself, whether they be positive affirmations or destructive, negative self-talk. In this song, i took the echo chorus lying to her telling her to 'hold on hold on', was the addiction itself telling her to continue her self-destruction (ex: i used to be a smoker and I recall quitting for a year and when i started back, i heard an imaginary voice say 'welcome back', it was creepy), OR it could be the tender, nurturing deep core of her self assuring her that everything's going to be all right if she just 'hold on', kind of like when you are in severe pain, going to the hospital, you tell yourself, hold on, just a little longer and you'll be ok.
Nonetheless, when I frist heard the opening stanza of the song, I really thought it was about being a vampire. Perhaps not a lofty topic for such a clever songwriter as Neko, but bear with me as I decode the text:
The most tender place in my heart is for strangers
- vampires usually turn to strangers for their sustenance; thus strangers are really the most important people for vampires.
I know it's unkind, but my own blood is much too dangerous
- vampire blood is what makes other people turn into vampires, perhaps something the singer is not happy about/tries to resist by refering to her blood as "dangerous.")
Hanging around the ceiling half the time
vampires sometimes hang from ceilings while hibernating during half of the day - "half the time" - while feeding during the other "half of the time, i.e. day, which would be night).
Hanging around the ceiling half the time
it's entirely about her. no fillers, nothing.
Or perhaps it's symbolic of the glass ceiling metaphor.
I read it a little differently. I thought that the line was describing "my own blood" from the line before, either her own family, or her symbolic family of friends and lovers. Based on that reading, I thought maybe it meant that the people she is close to tend towards suicide (by hanging... a literal interpretation), or to problems with drugs and mania that make them feel or seem like they are out of reach, hanging round the ceiling. If she has been hurt by these things many times, it would explain why she considers them "too dangerous" to allow into the "most tender place" of her heart.