By saying that the inscription from the gates of Hell was hanging over her bed, he implies that sleeping with her was the beginning of his proverbial "descent into Hell," which is consistent with the line, "my first sin was a young american girl."
Also, I've seen other versions of the lyrics that say "and the sirens over wailing, but a man can't ignore the signs" and I thought that version made more sense, but after considering the Dante's Inferno reference, it makes more sense for it to say that he did ignore the signs, since he slept with her anyway.
By saying that the inscription from the gates of Hell was hanging over her bed, he implies that sleeping with her was the beginning of his proverbial "descent into Hell," which is consistent with the line, "my first sin was a young american girl."
Also, I've seen other versions of the lyrics that say "and the sirens over wailing, but a man can't ignore the signs" and I thought that version made more sense, but after considering the Dante's Inferno reference, it makes more sense for it to say that he did ignore the signs, since he slept with her anyway.