I'm surprised no one has mentioned the whole death factor. The majority of this album (Black Cadillacs, Dig Your Grave, the Devil's Work Day, Satin in a Coffin, Bury Me With It... catching a trend here?) is about the death of someone close to Isaac, though not necessarily loved. There are interviews specifiying this. This is not about a romantic breakup. This is a death; didn't anyone nostice all the funeral imagery? It's in the title.
Isaac flat-out states that "I didn't die and I ain't complaining, I ain't blaming you," as in: one of us died, and it wasn't me; it was you. The identity of whose death inspired so much of the (brilliant) lyricism within this album hasn't been made public, but I suspect it's his mother (though I haven't found the proof yet.... just go with me here).
Isaac's mom dragged him all over the country in fanatical religious sects as a child and forced him to live in 1) an abandoned, flooded house (until he was evicted) and 2) a shed. You're supposed to love your mom, but it sure would be hard under these circumstances, and the bitterness shines through in this song/album.
I don't think the "we named our children after towns we'd never been to" line actually applies to Isaac naming his own children, as he has none, but more of a reflection on ignorant parenting (also reflecting the numerous different towns Isaac grew up in) which his mother seems to have been a pro at. This would exemplify the line "I didn't know that the words you said to me meant more to me than they ever did you," which is a pretty standard flaw in fanatical Christian hypocrisy.
Isaac's a fantastic lyricist, and you've got to dig deeper than love/breakup songs. He rarely sings about that stuff, it's too cliche. What makes this album so fantastic is the honest complexity in which he is dealing with the death of someone, mother or not, who he did not know if he loved or hated. It's neither straight-up grief nor relief, and that's much more real than anything most people ever write about.
i think this was a great interpretation. one thought about "we named our children after towns we'd never been to" which strikes me as wistful: it's almost gives a sense of belonging once removed, if that makes sense, or wanting to belong to a place removed from where you actually are...and that by naming your children after those places, it's a projection in at least a couple different ways: projecting your children into the world and perhaps closer to that "place", projecting that sense of discontentment on them in a way that they can never ignore in the...
i think this was a great interpretation. one thought about "we named our children after towns we'd never been to" which strikes me as wistful: it's almost gives a sense of belonging once removed, if that makes sense, or wanting to belong to a place removed from where you actually are...and that by naming your children after those places, it's a projection in at least a couple different ways: projecting your children into the world and perhaps closer to that "place", projecting that sense of discontentment on them in a way that they can never ignore in the here and now.
I still view this as a romantic song. Death imagery is a common theme on the album, but not every song has to be about it.
I still view this as a romantic song. Death imagery is a common theme on the album, but not every song has to be about it.
I don't quite get how you got "I didn't die and I ain't complaining, I ain't blaming you," to mean that someone else died. I see it as more of an explanation that a bad break up hurt, but he obviously isn't going to die from it, and that he doesn't blame the person for the pain, because they had to make the choice to leave.
I don't quite get how you got "I didn't die and I ain't complaining, I ain't blaming you," to mean that someone else died. I see it as more of an explanation that a bad break up hurt, but he obviously isn't going to die from it, and that he doesn't blame the person for the pain, because they had to make the choice to leave.
Looking up at the stars and naming children before a relationship is fully grounded is a common romantic thing that couples do, especially lovestruck teens. The death imagery can be attributed to the fact that it's been said that the feeling experienced by people after a long relationship ends can be similar to losing that person to death.
A breakup song may seem cliche, but a strong theme on the album is all the horrible things people go through in life, and accepting them, so the topic is appropriate.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the whole death factor. The majority of this album (Black Cadillacs, Dig Your Grave, the Devil's Work Day, Satin in a Coffin, Bury Me With It... catching a trend here?) is about the death of someone close to Isaac, though not necessarily loved. There are interviews specifiying this. This is not about a romantic breakup. This is a death; didn't anyone nostice all the funeral imagery? It's in the title.
Isaac flat-out states that "I didn't die and I ain't complaining, I ain't blaming you," as in: one of us died, and it wasn't me; it was you. The identity of whose death inspired so much of the (brilliant) lyricism within this album hasn't been made public, but I suspect it's his mother (though I haven't found the proof yet.... just go with me here).
Isaac's mom dragged him all over the country in fanatical religious sects as a child and forced him to live in 1) an abandoned, flooded house (until he was evicted) and 2) a shed. You're supposed to love your mom, but it sure would be hard under these circumstances, and the bitterness shines through in this song/album.
I don't think the "we named our children after towns we'd never been to" line actually applies to Isaac naming his own children, as he has none, but more of a reflection on ignorant parenting (also reflecting the numerous different towns Isaac grew up in) which his mother seems to have been a pro at. This would exemplify the line "I didn't know that the words you said to me meant more to me than they ever did you," which is a pretty standard flaw in fanatical Christian hypocrisy.
Isaac's a fantastic lyricist, and you've got to dig deeper than love/breakup songs. He rarely sings about that stuff, it's too cliche. What makes this album so fantastic is the honest complexity in which he is dealing with the death of someone, mother or not, who he did not know if he loved or hated. It's neither straight-up grief nor relief, and that's much more real than anything most people ever write about.
i think this was a great interpretation. one thought about "we named our children after towns we'd never been to" which strikes me as wistful: it's almost gives a sense of belonging once removed, if that makes sense, or wanting to belong to a place removed from where you actually are...and that by naming your children after those places, it's a projection in at least a couple different ways: projecting your children into the world and perhaps closer to that "place", projecting that sense of discontentment on them in a way that they can never ignore in the...
i think this was a great interpretation. one thought about "we named our children after towns we'd never been to" which strikes me as wistful: it's almost gives a sense of belonging once removed, if that makes sense, or wanting to belong to a place removed from where you actually are...and that by naming your children after those places, it's a projection in at least a couple different ways: projecting your children into the world and perhaps closer to that "place", projecting that sense of discontentment on them in a way that they can never ignore in the here and now.
I still view this as a romantic song. Death imagery is a common theme on the album, but not every song has to be about it.
I still view this as a romantic song. Death imagery is a common theme on the album, but not every song has to be about it.
I don't quite get how you got "I didn't die and I ain't complaining, I ain't blaming you," to mean that someone else died. I see it as more of an explanation that a bad break up hurt, but he obviously isn't going to die from it, and that he doesn't blame the person for the pain, because they had to make the choice to leave.
I don't quite get how you got "I didn't die and I ain't complaining, I ain't blaming you," to mean that someone else died. I see it as more of an explanation that a bad break up hurt, but he obviously isn't going to die from it, and that he doesn't blame the person for the pain, because they had to make the choice to leave.
Looking up at the stars and naming children before a relationship is fully grounded is a common romantic thing that couples do, especially lovestruck teens. The death imagery can be attributed to the fact that it's been said that the feeling experienced by people after a long relationship ends can be similar to losing that person to death.
A breakup song may seem cliche, but a strong theme on the album is all the horrible things people go through in life, and accepting them, so the topic is appropriate.