Okay, so I've listened to this song a lot. Here's what I think is going on -- this is what I picture in my head when I hear it.
I think of the "lion's tooth" as a metaphor for the weapon that the stepfather uses against his family. In my brain, and perhaps because of how I grew up, I think of the weapon as money. The stepdad has the job, he has the money, and he has the power -- so he uses that power to cow his wife and kids into submission, because he could just leave at any moment and leave them all bereft.
I see the narrator (Darnielle) as a teenager. Drawing from This Year, I think he's planning to meet a girl, but he has no money to do anything with her. When he sees his dad in the car, asleep (I have a few different ideas for why the man is sleeping in the car -- he wants to get away from the family for a nap, he's sleeping off a drunken night... Variety of reasons he could be in there), he decides to steal some of his dad's money so that he can go off and do something with this girl he likes. Maybe a part of it is to take away some of his dad's imaginary power by emptying his wallet.
So he "reaches into his mouth" (pants) and grabs the "lion's tooth" (the wallet), and his father wakes up, and in so doing, hits the horn.
At that point, the stepfather becomes aware of what's happening and gets furious, locks the doors from the inside and starts to beat the narrator, holding him down so he can't escape or unlock the doors and just wailing on him. The narrator's arms become sore because he's using them to shield his face and his body. The mother and sister come out, and the police are summoned -- somehow, I doubt by the mother, more likely from a neighbor -- and the police start breaking the car doors open. When the narrator starts wailing, I imagine that the father has finally landed a good blow and broken a rib or maybe an arm or something.
The "we hold on," I think just applies to everyone in the situation. The narrator holds on, his mother and sister hold on, and even the stepfather holds on -- everyone there is emotionally damaged in some way, stuck in a loop with each other, stuck in the situation and their own expectations and the behavioral problems they can't modify. Even though the stepfather is the abuser, I see him as much a victim of himself as anyone else.
Not that I'm excusing abuse, because abuse is evil. But I learned when I got a little older that eventually you realize what a pathetic person the abuser really is, how sad and trapped they are in their little scheme of power. Nothing in their life went right, and this is all they really have.
Okay, so I've listened to this song a lot. Here's what I think is going on -- this is what I picture in my head when I hear it.
I think of the "lion's tooth" as a metaphor for the weapon that the stepfather uses against his family. In my brain, and perhaps because of how I grew up, I think of the weapon as money. The stepdad has the job, he has the money, and he has the power -- so he uses that power to cow his wife and kids into submission, because he could just leave at any moment and leave them all bereft.
I see the narrator (Darnielle) as a teenager. Drawing from This Year, I think he's planning to meet a girl, but he has no money to do anything with her. When he sees his dad in the car, asleep (I have a few different ideas for why the man is sleeping in the car -- he wants to get away from the family for a nap, he's sleeping off a drunken night... Variety of reasons he could be in there), he decides to steal some of his dad's money so that he can go off and do something with this girl he likes. Maybe a part of it is to take away some of his dad's imaginary power by emptying his wallet.
So he "reaches into his mouth" (pants) and grabs the "lion's tooth" (the wallet), and his father wakes up, and in so doing, hits the horn.
At that point, the stepfather becomes aware of what's happening and gets furious, locks the doors from the inside and starts to beat the narrator, holding him down so he can't escape or unlock the doors and just wailing on him. The narrator's arms become sore because he's using them to shield his face and his body. The mother and sister come out, and the police are summoned -- somehow, I doubt by the mother, more likely from a neighbor -- and the police start breaking the car doors open. When the narrator starts wailing, I imagine that the father has finally landed a good blow and broken a rib or maybe an arm or something.
The "we hold on," I think just applies to everyone in the situation. The narrator holds on, his mother and sister hold on, and even the stepfather holds on -- everyone there is emotionally damaged in some way, stuck in a loop with each other, stuck in the situation and their own expectations and the behavioral problems they can't modify. Even though the stepfather is the abuser, I see him as much a victim of himself as anyone else.
Not that I'm excusing abuse, because abuse is evil. But I learned when I got a little older that eventually you realize what a pathetic person the abuser really is, how sad and trapped they are in their little scheme of power. Nothing in their life went right, and this is all they really have.
So yeah, that's my take. Thanks for reading.
This meaning is really on point! And makes sense. You're right about the end part. Abusers are victims of themselves, like you said.
This meaning is really on point! And makes sense. You're right about the end part. Abusers are victims of themselves, like you said.