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He opens his eyes, falls in love at first sight
With the girl in the doorway
What beautiful lines, how full of life
After thousands of years what a face to wake up to
He holds back a sigh as she touches his arm
She dusts off the bed where till now he's been sleeping
Under miles of stone, the dried fig of his heart
Under scarab and bone starts back to its beating
She carries him home in a beautiful boat
He watches the sea from a porthole in stowage
He can hear all she says as she sits by his bed
Then one day his lips answer her in her own language
The days quickly pass, he loves making her laugh
The first time he moves it's her hair that he touches
She asks "Are you cursed?" He says "I think that I'm cured"
Then he talks of the Nile and the girls in bullrushes
In New York he is laid in a glass-covered case
He pretends he is dead, people crowd round to see him
But each night she comes round, and the two wander down
The halls of the tomb that she calls a museum
Often he stops to rest, but then less and less
Then it's her that looks tired, staying up asking questions
He learns how to read from the papers that she
Is writing about him and he makes corrections
It's his face on her book and more and more come to look
Families from Iowa, upper West-siders
Then one day it's too much, he decides to get up
And as chaos ensues, he walks outside to find her
She's using a cane, and her face looks too pale
But she's happy to see him, as they walk he supports her
She asks "Are you cursed?" but his answer's obscured
In a sandstorm of flashbulbs and rowdy reporters
Such reanimation, the two tour the nation
He gets out of limos, he meets other women
He speaks of her fondly, their nights in the museum
But she's just one more rag now he's dragging behind him
She stops going out, she just lies there in bed
In hotels in whatever towns they are speaking
Then her face starts to set and her hands start to fold
And one day the dry fig of her heart stops its beating
Long ago on the ship, she asked "Why pyramids?"
He said "Think of them as an immense invitation"
She asks "Are you cursed?" He says "I think that I'm cured"
Then he kissed her and hoped that she'd forget that question
With the girl in the doorway
What beautiful lines, how full of life
After thousands of years what a face to wake up to
He holds back a sigh as she touches his arm
She dusts off the bed where till now he's been sleeping
Under miles of stone, the dried fig of his heart
Under scarab and bone starts back to its beating
She carries him home in a beautiful boat
He watches the sea from a porthole in stowage
He can hear all she says as she sits by his bed
Then one day his lips answer her in her own language
The days quickly pass, he loves making her laugh
The first time he moves it's her hair that he touches
She asks "Are you cursed?" He says "I think that I'm cured"
Then he talks of the Nile and the girls in bullrushes
In New York he is laid in a glass-covered case
He pretends he is dead, people crowd round to see him
But each night she comes round, and the two wander down
The halls of the tomb that she calls a museum
Often he stops to rest, but then less and less
Then it's her that looks tired, staying up asking questions
He learns how to read from the papers that she
Is writing about him and he makes corrections
It's his face on her book and more and more come to look
Families from Iowa, upper West-siders
Then one day it's too much, he decides to get up
And as chaos ensues, he walks outside to find her
She's using a cane, and her face looks too pale
But she's happy to see him, as they walk he supports her
She asks "Are you cursed?" but his answer's obscured
In a sandstorm of flashbulbs and rowdy reporters
Such reanimation, the two tour the nation
He gets out of limos, he meets other women
He speaks of her fondly, their nights in the museum
But she's just one more rag now he's dragging behind him
She stops going out, she just lies there in bed
In hotels in whatever towns they are speaking
Then her face starts to set and her hands start to fold
And one day the dry fig of her heart stops its beating
Long ago on the ship, she asked "Why pyramids?"
He said "Think of them as an immense invitation"
She asks "Are you cursed?" He says "I think that I'm cured"
Then he kissed her and hoped that she'd forget that question
Lyrics submitted by ksuwdboots
Track duration: 05:03
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Eventually she awakens him enough that he begins to open up to the world again. He learns and grows from her, and they are happy together. But with time, focusing all of her attention on him takes a toll on her. She begins to deteriorate emotionally. She is wary again (and asks if he's cursed)--this time he is wary, too, seeing the effect he has on her. But he brushes it off and gives her an obscure answer.
Later, he begins to ignore her care and thinks that he is strong enough to face the world on his own. He stops appreciating her (she is "just one more rag now he's dragging behind him"). The life is sucked out of her and she becomes "dead" like he once was. Their relationship ends.
He reflects later and is haunted by what happened. He thought that she could save him--and maybe she could have--but instead, he ended up ruining her in the process. He remembers when she first asked if he was cursed and how he replied "I think that I'm cured." He remembers the doubt he felt, hence the line "Then he kissed her and hoped that she'd forget that question." The listener now knows that he never fully believed he could be cured.
I think the mummy metaphor is used because he comes in and out of lifelessness. This is a never-ending cycle for him. Regrettably, nobody can save him from it, not even a woman he loved.
"She asks 'Are you cursed?' He says 'I think that I'm cured'
Then he kissed her and hoped that she'd forget that question" - I love how Josh ties the whole thing up in a nice little bow with that.
Anyway, definitely some interesting other views - you know what they say about the autonomy of art... take from it what you will.
-Cole
she asks if he's curse, because she has some suspicion that he will cause her to over invest in their relationship and gain little from it. I think most people can sense when their being decieved or used. He avoids giving an answer because he knows that he is causing her to invest much more than he himself is investing.
He says that he thinks that he's cured, as if he knows that he is indeed cursed, but wishes her to believe that he's different now. which is often common in relationships. He also hopes that she forgets that question, because if she were to know the truth, that he was cured, then she wouldnt devte her life to him as she ends up doing.
by the time that he leaves the museum, i think she knows that he's cursed. but by then its too late. and their love dwindles. and her heart becomes also as a fig, because she too either forgot how to love, or had her heart broken.
he said that the pyramids were an invitation because he had either done this before, or anticipated this. perhaps the curse was that he would cause whomever he fell in love with to lose their ability to love? or maybe the curse was that she would sleep for a thousand years and continue the cycle just as he had, and sacrifice some innocent persons ability to love in the process?
She brings him to the museum and he stays in his box and only interacts with her, playing dead for everyone else until he feels confident enough to deal with the rest of the world. As he regains his confidence, he depends on her less and less until he's independent and she gets old and dies, which may actually point to her withdrawing and feeling how he felt in the beginning.
I think that the the curse points to the idea that this whole thing is a bit of a cycle, that he's made other women feel the way that she might hypothetically feel in the end, which is why he keeps saying "I think that I'm cured." It's sort of like he hopes he's going to stay happy, but at the same time, knows it's probably going to end the way it does in the song.