Many of the songs on the Ys album remind me of childhood forgotten or outgrown. In many ways all of the songs deal with questions of maturity, of losing innocence, and of uncontrollable events. To me, this song seems to be about death and rebirth, but in the context of a relationship.
The beginning of the song seems to be about reckless youth and a superficial ideal about life. In many ways you could say that it's about previous ideas of immortality that young people have. That is, when you first enter a relationship, you expect it to last forever and you take many things for granted. But circumstances change and you cannot save the relationship from change so it falls apart.
But it's not just a simple song about growing apart. It's also a song about growing mature over a long period of time and realizing 1) morality 2) transience and 3) helplessness.
"you stopped by, I was all alive
in my doorway, we shucked and jived
and when you wept, I was gone:
see, I got gone when I got wise
but I can't with certainty say we survived"
To me that is really a powerful stanza. It shows that the narrator is growing older and has left many things behind, but in addition to leaving just things external from her self behind, she has also left much of herself behind.
"are you mine?
my heart?
mine anymore?"
In many ways a lot of the Ys album is about self discovery as well as an inability to comprehend or grasp current developments. It's a strange time between being a new person and being the person you were. In many ways it's a liminal space in development much like going to college and wondering if you have a home or if you're still a child.
"all my bones they are gone, gone, gone
take my bones, I don't need none
cold, cold cupboard, Lord, nothing to chew on!
suck all day on a cherry stone"
This line makes me think of rejecting the past or the foundation you've built your life on, the bones being the basic structure of the body. For example, moving away from a relationship that used to be important to you or moving out of the house, etc. This results in a long period of rebirth and rediscovery, which has traditionally been associated with fasting. Also 'sucking' also ties into the sucking motion of babies.
"but I'm starving and freezing in my measly old bed!
then I'll crawl across the salt flats to stroke your sweet head
come across the desert with no shoes on!
I love you truly, or I love no-one"
But ultimately the song is cyclical. While there are themes of motion, in reality it's all a repetition of thoughts over and over again only in variation. In many ways there is no escape, there's no traditional linear progression. She rejects her foundation but then seeks it out again. She wants to grow and find a new path but becomes nostalgic.
The reptition of the 'fire' imagery suggests time and how you can't stop it. In that sense there are two progressions to this song. There is the linear fire that pushes and presses and cannot be delayed that represents time. Then there is the circular birth and rebirth that represents emotions.
The title "Only Skin," I take to be a contridiction itself. Because the wound isn't 'only skin,' it's something deeper. But the older version of the narrator looks back on her past and feels like it was so long ago that it should have healed now, that she shouldn't care so much about it. Yet, at the same time, she can't help but feel nostalgic and hurt. It's the same as when you're young and skin you knee and your mother tells you that it's 'only skin,' but that doesn't stop the wound from hurting.
Many of the songs on the Ys album remind me of childhood forgotten or outgrown. In many ways all of the songs deal with questions of maturity, of losing innocence, and of uncontrollable events. To me, this song seems to be about death and rebirth, but in the context of a relationship.
The beginning of the song seems to be about reckless youth and a superficial ideal about life. In many ways you could say that it's about previous ideas of immortality that young people have. That is, when you first enter a relationship, you expect it to last forever and you take many things for granted. But circumstances change and you cannot save the relationship from change so it falls apart.
But it's not just a simple song about growing apart. It's also a song about growing mature over a long period of time and realizing 1) morality 2) transience and 3) helplessness.
"you stopped by, I was all alive in my doorway, we shucked and jived and when you wept, I was gone: see, I got gone when I got wise but I can't with certainty say we survived"
To me that is really a powerful stanza. It shows that the narrator is growing older and has left many things behind, but in addition to leaving just things external from her self behind, she has also left much of herself behind.
"are you mine? my heart? mine anymore?"
In many ways a lot of the Ys album is about self discovery as well as an inability to comprehend or grasp current developments. It's a strange time between being a new person and being the person you were. In many ways it's a liminal space in development much like going to college and wondering if you have a home or if you're still a child.
"all my bones they are gone, gone, gone take my bones, I don't need none cold, cold cupboard, Lord, nothing to chew on! suck all day on a cherry stone"
This line makes me think of rejecting the past or the foundation you've built your life on, the bones being the basic structure of the body. For example, moving away from a relationship that used to be important to you or moving out of the house, etc. This results in a long period of rebirth and rediscovery, which has traditionally been associated with fasting. Also 'sucking' also ties into the sucking motion of babies.
"but I'm starving and freezing in my measly old bed! then I'll crawl across the salt flats to stroke your sweet head come across the desert with no shoes on! I love you truly, or I love no-one"
But ultimately the song is cyclical. While there are themes of motion, in reality it's all a repetition of thoughts over and over again only in variation. In many ways there is no escape, there's no traditional linear progression. She rejects her foundation but then seeks it out again. She wants to grow and find a new path but becomes nostalgic.
The reptition of the 'fire' imagery suggests time and how you can't stop it. In that sense there are two progressions to this song. There is the linear fire that pushes and presses and cannot be delayed that represents time. Then there is the circular birth and rebirth that represents emotions.
The title "Only Skin," I take to be a contridiction itself. Because the wound isn't 'only skin,' it's something deeper. But the older version of the narrator looks back on her past and feels like it was so long ago that it should have healed now, that she shouldn't care so much about it. Yet, at the same time, she can't help but feel nostalgic and hurt. It's the same as when you're young and skin you knee and your mother tells you that it's 'only skin,' but that doesn't stop the wound from hurting.