I have listened to this song many times because it is true poetry. But, I have a somewhat different interpretation of the lyrics' meanings, while giving thorough attention to it's nuances. After all the devil is in the details.
We start of while a menacing tone. Feelings of fear and anxiety parallel with the distorted twists and creaky, hollow sounds in the song's opening.
In the beginning, all we know is that a shadowy figure of a man tells us:
I'm not good in a crowd
I've got skills I can't speak of
Things I've seen will chase me to the grave.
These words don't alleviate the anxiousness set by the tone. It forebodes an evil omen, yet the song's lack of melody and rhythm keeps the listener in the dark.
I personally felt like a little boy in his bed on a cold, windy night with the creaking trees outside rapping on my bedroom window. We fear our speaker might be the monster that hides beneath the bed or in the closet, waiting...
The speaker then repeats himself (with an added nuance) as if he desires to emphasize the horror he embodies:
I'm not good in a crowd
I've got skills I can't speak of (over there)
Things I've seen will chase me to the grave
Speaking of his own mortality proves he's human, but the added phrase "over there" gives us a very unsettling feeling. The speaker is letting us know he is not from OUR world here. We might begin to question whether there something corporeal at work. And is this a simple statement, or a warning?
Eventually, the music changes from a tone of high anxiety to a tone of horror.
Led with your hands tied
Fed to the sand flies
Now the listener has become the victim. We feel the death in the air as the sand flies circle the victim like buzzards.
You stumble the dunes
Complain to the moon
We get a clearer picture of what's happening and what's GOING to happen here. The dunes are GRAVES of those who were led here before. The speaker has probably done this MANY times. We know the end is near. We connect with the victim who laments his or her fate.
Backs to the wheel
There's granite to shove
Take it. They give it
So rivet for rivet
I will build for my family a bullet proof love.
I believe this part is very misunderstood by people, so I will translate:
Put your backs into it!
There's granite to shovel. (For the graves).
Take it. They give it....
*I believe the speaker is speaking to his comrades now instead of the victims who are to fill the graves that are being dug. Everything makes sense in this context.
**I believe the speaker is telling his comrades that everything left by the dead (or soon to be dead) is forfeit, so take everything the have/had. By being dead, they give it freely. This might mean money, information (from begging victims), and/or the speaker might simply be telling his comrades to strip the bodies of anything valuable. According to the speaker, there's no such thing as "robbing" the dead.
***This is complicated to explain. Rivets are FORCED through metal to hold pieces together. This is imagery that implies the willingness of the speaker to use force to protect his family. It also might imply his use of force to keep the "pieces" of his family together.
It is unclear whether the speaker is talking about his immediate family or some other entity like a mafia family or gang. Perhaps he means both, but I don't think that's important. I think his choice of words might imply that some of his family met an untimely death at the wrong end of a gun in the past. Though, this is only speculation.
How does it feel,
The weight of the steel,
The weight of the steel of the flat of the blade?
How does it feel
To kneel at the feet,
To kneel at the feet of the choices you've made?
The speaker is now speaking to the victim again. He might be seeking vengeance against those who harmed or betrayed him, but he might also be expressing concern about the heavy consequences of his own choices. Note that the victim's choices may or may not warrant his or her death on a moral or ethical scale. He or she may have simply made the wrong decision by mistake, (by chance) which led to his or her demise.
I'm not good in a crowd
I've got skills I can't speak of
THINGS I'VE SEEN WILL CHASE ME TO THE GRAVE!
The speaker repeats himself again. This time, he both expresses and laments the unforgiving nature of the fact that he cannot escape the consequences of his choices either (whether by chance or not). He knows the world won't absolve him from either horror or guilt, nor will he absolve his "victims" from their horrible end.
With that in mind, the speaker continues...
Backs to the wheel
There's granite to shove
Take it. They give it
So rivet for rivet
I will build for my family a bullet proof love.
I have listened to this song many times because it is true poetry. But, I have a somewhat different interpretation of the lyrics' meanings, while giving thorough attention to it's nuances. After all the devil is in the details.
We start of while a menacing tone. Feelings of fear and anxiety parallel with the distorted twists and creaky, hollow sounds in the song's opening.
In the beginning, all we know is that a shadowy figure of a man tells us:
I'm not good in a crowd I've got skills I can't speak of Things I've seen will chase me to the grave.
These words don't alleviate the anxiousness set by the tone. It forebodes an evil omen, yet the song's lack of melody and rhythm keeps the listener in the dark.
I personally felt like a little boy in his bed on a cold, windy night with the creaking trees outside rapping on my bedroom window. We fear our speaker might be the monster that hides beneath the bed or in the closet, waiting...
The speaker then repeats himself (with an added nuance) as if he desires to emphasize the horror he embodies:
I'm not good in a crowd I've got skills I can't speak of (over there) Things I've seen will chase me to the grave
Speaking of his own mortality proves he's human, but the added phrase "over there" gives us a very unsettling feeling. The speaker is letting us know he is not from OUR world here. We might begin to question whether there something corporeal at work. And is this a simple statement, or a warning?
Eventually, the music changes from a tone of high anxiety to a tone of horror.
Led with your hands tied Fed to the sand flies
Now the listener has become the victim. We feel the death in the air as the sand flies circle the victim like buzzards.
You stumble the dunes Complain to the moon
We get a clearer picture of what's happening and what's GOING to happen here. The dunes are GRAVES of those who were led here before. The speaker has probably done this MANY times. We know the end is near. We connect with the victim who laments his or her fate.
Backs to the wheel There's granite to shove Take it. They give it So rivet for rivet I will build for my family a bullet proof love.
I believe this part is very misunderstood by people, so I will translate:
Put your backs into it! There's granite to shovel. (For the graves). Take it. They give it....
*I believe the speaker is speaking to his comrades now instead of the victims who are to fill the graves that are being dug. Everything makes sense in this context.
**I believe the speaker is telling his comrades that everything left by the dead (or soon to be dead) is forfeit, so take everything the have/had. By being dead, they give it freely. This might mean money, information (from begging victims), and/or the speaker might simply be telling his comrades to strip the bodies of anything valuable. According to the speaker, there's no such thing as "robbing" the dead.
***This is complicated to explain. Rivets are FORCED through metal to hold pieces together. This is imagery that implies the willingness of the speaker to use force to protect his family. It also might imply his use of force to keep the "pieces" of his family together.
It is unclear whether the speaker is talking about his immediate family or some other entity like a mafia family or gang. Perhaps he means both, but I don't think that's important. I think his choice of words might imply that some of his family met an untimely death at the wrong end of a gun in the past. Though, this is only speculation.
How does it feel, The weight of the steel, The weight of the steel of the flat of the blade?
How does it feel To kneel at the feet, To kneel at the feet of the choices you've made?
The speaker is now speaking to the victim again. He might be seeking vengeance against those who harmed or betrayed him, but he might also be expressing concern about the heavy consequences of his own choices. Note that the victim's choices may or may not warrant his or her death on a moral or ethical scale. He or she may have simply made the wrong decision by mistake, (by chance) which led to his or her demise.
I'm not good in a crowd I've got skills I can't speak of
THINGS I'VE SEEN WILL CHASE ME TO THE GRAVE!
The speaker repeats himself again. This time, he both expresses and laments the unforgiving nature of the fact that he cannot escape the consequences of his choices either (whether by chance or not). He knows the world won't absolve him from either horror or guilt, nor will he absolve his "victims" from their horrible end.
With that in mind, the speaker continues...
Backs to the wheel There's granite to shove
Take it. They give it So rivet for rivet I will build for my family a bullet proof love.
That my interpretation. Hope it helps:)