Song For Zula

Some say love consumes you, but I say it traps you, changes you, exposes you.

I opened myself up to that kind of love, a love that made me struggle so in its cage. But I won't do it again.

When I'm free of this love. I will not ever be trapped in its cage again, but instead be free to run light and unchained, not caged and waiting to be killed by such a fickle thing as love.

All of you who have been burned by love...standing there in the glass created by that fiery ring of your own love...will see me unburdened by it. If I was free from this love, you would see me strong again. A killer myself, not victim of one.

Pretty simple, it's about someone who experienced what they thought was their one true love, someone who idealizes it and thinks with everything bone in his body that they found it in this person, and then everything went to hell. He's disfigured emotionally and screams that he won't open himself up like that again. So now he's angry saying "honey, i am not some broken thing, I do not wait in the dark waiting for thee", but he does. Love's a bitch.

Such a wonderfully hypnotic and earnest song. As many others have mentioned the lyrics primarily allude to the discovery of a painful, entrapping sort of love by the singer and a personal resolution to avoid allowing oneself to become that vulnerable again but there's so much more to it than just that.

I interpret the song as a sort of progression as the singer first comes to realize that love, deep vulnerable love, is nothing like the romanticized fantasy version of it he pieced together in his mind based on society's false portrayal of it. He's loved and lost and now feels foolish, heartbroken, and exposed after the experience changed him from something wild and independent and free into something desperate, reactive, and needy. Rather than being a prison, the cage represents the comfort and stability of a long term relationship that he enjoyed being trapped in.

He then realizes that he's now not who he used to be and knows that he needs to move on rather than wallowing in pity and depression but his tone betrays his words. He knows that he's emotionally crippled and wants to move on but there's an undeniable weakness in his voice as if he's still trapped in the throes of emotion and trying to convince himself of these independent things that he's capable of.

The third stanza begins with a memory of the two of them but then turns the scenario on himself alone as if to show that he's starting to realize (or actually believe) that he doesn't need her by his side in order to live the sort of life he'd concocted in his mind for the two of them. Eventually the symbol of love as a comforting cage takes on a new meaning and begins to represent the cage of emotional heartache which he still finds himself trapped inside despite coming to his previous revelations. Friends and family see the pain he's enduring but are unable to truly empathize with him. Though well meaning, their pity causes him to feel like an animal behind a wall of glass at the zoo which he detests. He knows that he's temporarily weak but resents their pity and knows that he's stronger than they think and once he's had time to mourn and heal his wounds he'll be back out on racing on the desert plains.

I am quite taken by this song.

I think, the narrator in the song is referring to himself as an animal, i think maybe the title "zula" sounds like zoo, and "it put its face up to my face so i could see" perhaps talking about being in a cage in a zoo, then more cage references, "by some touch from his gnarled hands" something like petting or something, then i see the animal dreaming about being free, "and i'm racing out on the desert plains all night" then he says "you just stand there in the glass looking at me" anther cage reference, and then the final line "and i could kill you with my bare hands if i was free" implying a caged animal, a lion or similar. just a thought

Great lyrics, love the 'Ring of Fire' (johnny cash) quote. My favourite line is "And I could kill you with my bare hands if I was free".

I advise everyone to watch the music video if you're interested in further exploring the allegorical nature of these lyrics.

Heart-wrenching video and a heart-wrenching song. Impossible not to relate these lyrics to your own relationships and love, it's universal and beautifully captured.

The first line is a quote from the first few lines of Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash:

Love is a burnin' thing, And it makes a fiery ring Bound by wild desire I fell into a ring of fire.

I corrected the lyrics with what was posted on the record label's website

deadoceans.com/blog/2012/12/phosphorescents-muchacho-coming-march-19th-stream-song-for-zula/

This song has totally devastated me too, btw. It's unbelievable. Brilliant.

these phenomenal lyrics... here they are if you want to see correct ones:

Some say love is a burning thing That it makes a fiery ring Oh but I know love as a fading thing Just as fickle as a feather in a stream See, honey, I saw love, you see it came to me It puts its face up to my face so I could see Yeah then I saw love disfigure me Into something I am not recognizing

See the cage, it called...I said, come on in I will not open myself up this way again Nor lay my face to the soil, nor my teeth to the sand I will not lay like this for days now upon end You will not see me fall, nor see me struggle to stand To be acknowledged by some touch from his gnarled hands You see the cage, it called...I said, come on in I will not open myself this way again

You see the moon is bright in that treetop night I see the shadows that we cast in the cold clean light My feet are gold and my heart is white And we race right out on the desert plains all night See honey I am not some broken thing I do not lay in the dark waiting for thee No my heart is gold, my feet are light And I am racing out on the desert plains all night

So some say love is a burning thing That it makes a fiery ring Ah but I know love as a caging thing Just a killer come to call from some awful dream O and all you folks, you come to see You just to stand there in the glass looking at me But my heart is wild and my bones are steam And I could kill you with my bare hands if I was free

It can be summed up in 2 words, "Love hurts."