Its def. about religion. I agree w mOOdymEllow I mean think of where the band grew up! but I'm adding this:
"Well you spared me from slaughter for sure,
but these sharks are equally in need of a martyr"
Narrator's mother spared him from the church, her fellow church-goers, most likely by sticking up for her son or lying for him but probably not lying cuz it's about morality. These sharks (church goers) are in need of a savior, as she has been for him.

"Oh kindess shared
Undeserved purest gift, this life you spared"
the narrator doesn't deserve the goodness of his mother for her giving him life "undeserved purest gift"

At a concert last year Kyp introduced this as having been written in the past about the future (which is the present.) I have no fucking clue what that means.

I really think its about Mary Magdalene, the prostitute that washed Jesus feet with her own hair and tears.
This seems to me to be an artistic interpretation of how she mightve felt (possibly in love with jesus himself), and contrary to all these religious freaks opinions, this song seems to poke fun at religion...

"Time for your favorite story
of how to achieve golden glory
Wash yourself all squeaky clean
all in white all Hallow's Eve - (Christian holy day of All Saints...or holloween)

Lessen your desire
hold your breath so patiently
never inquire how to be free
Just stay on your knees" - (never inquire about how to be free just stay on ur knees ? CMON idiot..)

and theres a huge theme going on about how no one hears what you're trying to say, how do the blues sound from up there God ?

btw I instantly thought of Mary Magdalene because I remembered the bible story from when I was in a christian school pre-k to the 8th grade.

and even when I was a little kid I never believed in religion, santa claus and jesus were debunked around the same time...around me being 5 years old haha.

I took this as a song about a broken heart. TV on the Radio is very talented when it comes to using metaphorical devices to explain a story.

The individual singing this song has fallen in love with a girl who has left him, and he is left here without answers, completely heart broken.

The term 'Ma' is just a metaphor for this girl. This girl, "reached inside
Grabbed (his) heart, enlarged, disabled". Now he's trying to call out to her in pain, begging for "mercy" and its falling on deaf ears.

In order to symbolize how he feels, he describes it as being at the bottom of a well, calling up to her for her help; her love. And so he ask's "How the blues sound from up there?" - 'Can't you hear me? My pain?'

It is possible that this girl is still in love with him, which would explain why he's left without closure:

"Oh my sweet dear
Cold alone poisoning ourselves
Engulfed in our own tears"

He's saying here that he doesn't understand why they should be apart and in pain. It's frustrating him because she refuses to hear his plea. He's praying, begging:

"Quiet now, quiet now, hear that supplication
Echo into the void
Been received by no one"

and since all she does is "doubt it," now all he can do is "stomp (his) feet and shout about it."

I'm really impressed by how many meanings people are finding by this song!

Lol its about samara from the ring

my take on it is that it's a song about faith, prayer and devotion. all the troubles and strife we face down here on earth are the blues from down here. the line "with my wet hair, i wipe the blood from off your feet" alludes to the Bible when the woman washes Jesus' feet with her tears and hair.

from the depths can mean from the bottom of my heart, from my soul, or from the depths of the hole in which we might be with all our stress and strife
"Oh kindess shared
Undeserved purest gift, this life you spared" pretty much proves this song is about Jesus. we don't deserve His sacrifice, His life is the purest gift, our lives were spared, saved from eternal death

"just stay on your knees" (come on you guys. praying)

i love the line, "it's not the last you've heard from me" it's like, "God, you're gonna hear from me again" keeping up that communication

supplication= prayer.
echo into the void, been received by no one= there are times when you wonder if your prayers are even being heard.

you might doubt it. think there's nothing left for me to do but stop my feet and shout about it= pray outloud with such passion ("you" is general)

it is possible for musicians who don't belong to the christian music genre to put out spiritual songs expressing their faith. don't think too hard, guys. it's clear

I think that the whole "Pull the pin, drop it in, let it wash away your..." Refers to killing oneself

I found the reason that he left the time after "your" empty was so that the listener could fill in whatever was important in their life that they would be washing away by suicide.

Both ma and person are feeling the blues. Loosing someone can be sad on both ends no matter where you are "up there".

"Pull the pin, drop it in, let it wash away your"
to me refers to how easy it seems to be to kill one self - can be simple to do like it sounds and wash away your ? (problems, fears, things that have happened & tears...) and "pull the Pin" on the gun,
drop it (bullet) in your and let it wash away your?

But in the end it doesn't fix everything and the sadness to everyone.

The song meaning can be interpreted as anything to everybody!

Now what the song writer intended it to mean for him or her, really that's something the artist can only explain to us. Would be interesting to find out!

To me its a sad song & very good!

I took the song as killing himself and now being in hell like at the bottom of a well. All along calling ma for mercy, ear that cares, get me out of this place of tears. Spare the gift of life you gave me and I took away.
Finally how can I achieve the golden glory, clean and become free like you. Ending the tale of still calling and waiting for an answer, alone, sad saying its not last you've heard from me...

but I take it from some very personal things I've been through etc.... Like I said the meaning can be
anything to everybody.

no...
"Pull the pin, drop it in, let it wash away Your"

its YOUR you can hear it.

Nice interpretations from everybody but I think and_how is probably closest. These guys are the best band I've heard in a long time, and this is probably my favorite song on the album. Consequently, I've listened to it a lot, and there were clearly a lot of religious references, but it didn't quite click until I read and_how's interpretation above. Thanks for making a great song even more enjoyable!

and_how brings out some really good points. I am definantly questioning my previous interpretation of the song and think that it may be much more complex than a non believer stating their views as and how says.
i also enjoy the elaboration by liberum animus on class struggle and struggle against the government in general.
my view of this song has been greatly expanded

My Interp.,
liberum animus

From the depths I called you, ma
for your breath and breast so warm and fabled
Your hands reached inside
grabbed my heart, enlarged, disabled
Hailed for your mercy
An ear that cares
(I/we need your help... poverty/hoplessness...something

(god/knowledege/fables/someone??) inspired me to be aware of the endless despair I'm feeling but not the tools to fix this despair)


How's the blues from up there?

(Can you hear us up there upperclass/god/government? our sorrow screams out meloncholic blue notes...enjoy the music?)


Teeth gnashing, masticating this dumb tongue
Quiet now, quiet now, hear that supplication
echo into the void
been recieved by no one
Oh my sweet dear
Cold alone poisoning ourselves
engulfed in our own tears
With my wet hair, I wipe the blood off of your feet
Carry me through these shark infested waters
Well you spared me from slaughter for sure,
but these sharks are equally in need of a martyr

(I bite my tongue, afraid to speak out? Can you see what we're doing to each other and ourselves? drugs/war/crime/poverty why cant you hear us? Fucking listen!... we're killing ourselves with booze/drugs/crime/depression/poverty Sharks are other people out to kill/steal/commit crimes and will use me as a martyr)


Time for your favorite story
of how to achieve golden glory
Wash yourself all squeaky clean
all in white all Hallow's Eve
Lessen your desire
hold your breath so patiently
never inquire how to be free
Just stay on your knees
You might doubt it
think there's nothing left for me
to do but stomp my feet
and shout about it

(class struggle. How can I rise up in society? conform/kill your morals/ON YOUR KNEES for the man (corrupt government/bowing to people in power). But, If im stuck here on the bottom? The only think I know to do is shake my fist and shout at how bad things are///Thinking small--pointless rebellion and insubordination (crime/drugs/anti-conformity) TEETH MASHING!! (Using our mouths to bite instead of sooth)

PULL THE PIN, DROP IT IN, LET IT WASH AYAY YOUR______

(Judgement Day/War/Revolution We're waiting for our distruction. Let your wars weapons and bombs kill us. We are 3rd world/peasants/barely surviving poor....We look to god because we have no other hope)


Signed, blues from down here.
From the depths I called you.
Now I'm waiting for an answer patiently
Stuck here at the bottom of this well
It's not the last you've heard from me

(did you get it? can you hear us yet?)

i believe the meaning of the song is strongly religious, although i do not believe the singer intends to simply state an opinion of the variety proposed by sstennett. rather, i believe he intends to convey a complex point of view, perhaps his own.

to begin with, the very first line "from the depths, i call you", google explains, is from the beginning of psalm 130. however, the song replaces "lord" with "ma", introducing a metaphor used in the second line to convey the desirable comfort found in religion. however, as he soon explains, his heart was enlarged and then left disabled, basically stating that he was doing fine by himself, then he developed an intense desire to be close to God, but he is left wanting, leaving him now feeling disabled.

"teeth gnashing" is another strong biblical reference, as that phrase is always used in connection to those who are not granted salvation ("wailing and gnashing of teeth", specifically). he spends several verses explaining how feels protected by the lord, for which he is thankful, but in the end, he thinks he is among the damned masses. i believe this is where the title fits in: he feels distanced from God, and he's singin' the blues.

however, this isn't because he's chosen to separate himself, he is trying his hardest to achieve the comfort "so warm and fabled". the lines "hear that supplication (prayer) echo through the void, been received by noone" and "Now I'm waiting for an answer patiently" demonstrate that he's trying, but not getting anything back.

then there is the part everyone else has been picking up on, starting with "pull the pin, drop it in" and ending with "just stay on your knees". i agree that this is about traditional organized religion, but not so much that he thinks its all crap, but that he can't accept their simplicity of thought. it sounds like he feels deeply compelled not to take religion as an axiomatic basis, even though doing so would provide him simple comfort. he mocks this childish faith ("faith like a child", also another biblical reference) with the "time for your favorite story..." line.

finally, the last line of the song wraps it all up: he's not particularly pleased and really wishes he could just have a simple blind-faith relationship with the lord like so many people he sees, but he can't. so he's expressing his frustration, to the Lord, but maintaining that he's not going to give up. "it's not the last you've heard from me".

... or at least thats how i read it :)

I like the meaning espanys draws from the song and think it a viable alternative to the meaning I found. However, I do not think that there is only a singular reference to religion in the song. For example, I do think that 'Quiet now, quiet now, hear that supplication echo into the void been recieved by no one' seems to be more about religion than big business since suplication is generally(at least in what I have read) defined as a humble prayer but I am interested to see how you relate this to class struggle. I feel that a religous theme can be drawn from the song just as much as an anti big business/class struggle message.

If you, espanys, have the time, I would enjoy to see a line by line break down of how this song relates to class struggle. I would enjoy it just as much, if not more, if it were about class struggle.

I like the meaning espanys draws from the song and think it a viable alternative to the meaning I found. However, I do not think that there is only a singular reference to religion in the song. For example, I do think that 'Quiet now, quiet now, hear that supplication echo into the void been recieved by no one' seems to be more about religion than big business since suplication is generally(at least in what I have read) defined as a humble prayer but I am interested to see how you relate this to class struggle. I feel that a religous theme can be drawn from the song just as much as an anti big business/class struggle message.

If you, espanys, have the time, I would enjoy to see a line by line break down of how this song relates to class struggle. I would enjoy it just as much, if not more, if it were about class struggle.

Furthermore, the titular line in the song, "How do the blues sound from up there?" is an inquiry into how the rich, in their gilded towers, react to the suffering and day-to-day struggles of the poor, whom they use as human fodder to power their ubiquitous commercial and industrial machines.

The singular reference to religion can be found in the following lines:

"Time for your favorite story
Of how to achieve golden glory
Wash yourself all squeaky clean
All in while on All Hallow's Eve"

This is, of course, the answer to the aforementioned inquiry, and is a clear invokation of the famous quote by Karl Marx, stating that "religion is the opium of the people." Basically, if you're poor, living paycheck-to-paycheck, can barely afford to feed your family, don't have health insurance, etc., then put your faith in God, because the high priests of the free market don't give a shit about you.

After that, it's back to more of the same. "Just stay on your knees" because if too many of us choose to rise up and say enough! with this mindless exploitation of the working poor, then the house of cards built by big business may just come tumbling down.

Here's hoping it happens sooner rather than later.

This isn't about relgion -- and it certainly doesn't have anything to do with Labyrinth -- it's about class struggle and cold-hearted economics. When 10% of the people control 90% of the wealth in our societies, something is seriously wrong, and this song is addressing the disparity between the haves and the have-nots.

I like sstennett's rendition, but I'd also like to mention the "Pull the pin, drop it in, let it wash away your" [Sin] reminds me more of baptism (water going down the drain when you pull out the plug) than of grenades.

Also:
"Oh kindness shared
Undeserved purest gift, this life you spared"
Kindness shared is the offer of religion, the "Undeserved purest gift" being life. The person's mother spared him from nonexistance, or it may be mockery, saying "Thank you for sparing me from a life without religion".

As far as I can tell, this doesn't have much to do with Labyrinth (which I've seen quite recently).

hmm i'd have to watch labrynth again to check that theory, but the guy above seems to have said it pretty well.. amazing song!

"From the depths I called you, ma"
I think 'from the depths' is the narrators mothers perception of her son and not the sons perception of himself. The mother is religious and the son is trying to call to her and tell him there is a different way to live. Although, I think it is possible that because of the effects of religion the narrator actually feels like he is calling from the depths or like he is in the depths.

"for your breath and breast so warm and fabled
Your hands reached inside
grabbed my heart, enlarged, disabled"
I think this shows what a parent can do to a child's heart by forcing religion, enlarge a heart with fables and tall tales and then disable it once they lose their innocence and see the reality of the world, or disable it from the eventual strangling effects of religion.

"Hailed for your mercy"
the narrator is begging for mercy from his mother for being an unbeliever

"An ear that cares"
the narrator wants to speak about his problems with organized religion but the mother doesn't seem to give an ear that cares.

"How the blues sound from up there?"
I think this is, again, the narrator feeling that his mother (religious people) puts herself (themselves) above her son (nonbelievers) and looks down on him (nonbelievers). So, he is wondering how the blues (one's everyday sorrows) sound (feel) from up there(life with religion).

"With my wet hair, I wipe the blood off of your feet
Carry me through these shark infested waters"
I think the sharks are the masses/religious believers and the narrator is young and being carried through maybe a church (shark infested waters).

"Well you spared me from slaughter for sure,
but these sharks are equally in need of a martyr"
I think the narrators mother spared him by letting him know(possibly forcefully) that people do not tolerate nonbelief. I am not sure what the martyr part is about.

"Oh kindess shared
Undeserved purest gift, this life you spared"
I am having trouble with this verse and will leave it alone for now.

How the blues sound from up there?

"Teeth gnashing, masticating this dumb tongue"
narrator chewing on his tongue to keep from saying what he thinks he shouldn't say

"Quiet now, quiet now, hear that supplication
echo into the void
been recieved by no one"
this sounds like the narrator never felt god and after many times of sending heartfelt prayers into a void he realized they are never receiving any response.

"Oh my sweet dear
Cold alone poisoning ourselves
engulfed in our own tears"
The poison of religion is engulfing the narrator and his mother in suffering.

Signed, blues from down here.

"Pull the pin, drop it in, let it wash away your"
I agree with tommy doll, that if the last word was included it would be sin.
With this added in, I think of the line as talking about soldiers throwing grenades, fighting for god and feeling like they will be rewarded for killing.

"Time for your favorite story
of how to achieve golden glory"
The churchgoers favorite story of salvation.

"Wash yourself all squeaky clean"
Repent for your sins.

"all in white all Hallow's Eve"
in all white on devil's night

"Lessen your desire"
Thou shall not covet

"hold your breath so patiently"
Hold your breath patiently on Earth until Heaven and eternal bliss.

"never inquire how to be free"
never even see the option of being free from religion or just free in general.

"Just stay on your knees"
Just stay on your knees praying literally and metaphorically don't rise up.

"You might doubt it"
doubt what the nonbelieving narrator believes

"think there's nothing left for me
to do but stomp my feet
and shout about it"
those that doubt what the narrator is expressing think there's nothing one can do to stop organized religion except to stomp their feet and shout about it.

"From the depths I called you.

Now I'm waiting for an answer patiently
Stuck here at the bottom of this well
It's not the last you've heard from me"

The narrator is telling his mother that he will wait patiently for her answer to the religious questions he presented to her. He also says he is not going to give up on her: "it's not the last you've heard from me.

I think I used I think quite a bit, mostly to keep from sounding too matter of fact because I do believe that this is only an interpretation of the song. I think at face value this song is about a non believing narrator and his religious mother but metaphorically I think it is about the experiences of non believers with religious people.
To clarify, I do not think all religous people are crazy or malicious. I certainly believe they have good intentions and I think some are quite rational but it sure is hard to see them with all the nuts out there.

maybe they watched laybrinth with bowie when makin the cd?

Definitely love this song. I heard that it was inspired by the movie Labyrinth, but I haven't seen that movie since I was a kid and remember almost none of it, so I don't know what correlations there are.

"With my wet hair, I wipe the blood off of your feet
Carry me through these shark infested waters
Well you spared me from slaughter for sure,
but these sharks are equally in need of a martyr"

i love that verse. the imagery it paints is extraordinay. im having a hard time trying to decipher what this song means, but i love its tempo. its constant, ongoing, and makes me want to move. my favorite CD of 2006, by far.

"pull the pin, drop it in, let it wash away your SIN"

I like that.