This has always been my favorite song, even though I could never fully grasp the meaning of the song. On one hand, I think it is somewhat about a significant other, but then I'll listen to it a different time and get a completely new opinion. This also is my favorite vocal-related song by Maynard, because the words are so soft spoken, but then turn to raw emotion when he sings the chorus.
I've read through all the H. interpretations, and still haven't come to a conclusion to what this song is about. Maybe that's why I like it so much.
my interpretation is simple....this song is about destructive love which took place somewhere in the past but the let say"performer" still feels it..it siutes my situation and experience best.Snake=conscience, warns not to go back to this ruinous love. but the performer needs this feeling and is uunder the emotional influence of the loved person,her/his voice "drags him /her down like some sweet gravity" leaving him empty beacuse the performer is simply abused. Being so credulous he/she is only partly aware of being abused.Goes into this "love" with hope and naivety , that the object of love ihas changed the attitude to the performer.With time, snake=conscience is gone , and the performer is completely emotionaly involved in the situation"without the skin, beneath teh storm..."everything colapses... he/she realises the fact of repeating his/her own mistake and being abused by the same person again.now, the performer is able to think clear and looks on the person he/she loves and realises the fact that he/she has to deal with all the situation again, with pain etc.but still loves.being aware of this love and of the fact that it can never come true he/she consideres him/herself dead....that is why he/she is too connected to sb...attatched to sb."days away I still feel you touching me chaning me, considerately killing me" destructive love i suppose.
The interpretation above is the closest to me....but I also relate the lyrics with sexual abuse and divorce...and the trauma of these situations for children let say in general.
I think its about heroin. H = heroin. maybe thats not how it was intended but thats what i hear when i listen to the song. there's definatly some parrallells there between heroin and 'destructive love'
I think its about heroin. H = heroin. maybe thats not how it was intended but thats what i hear when i listen to the song. there's definatly some parrallells there between heroin and 'destructive love'
love & drags = sth destructive...hmm.....when I take into account my poor experience with love and the drag user incapable of answering my questions...geee...1step ahead 2 steps back...."slipping back into the gap again"...
Recently I developed a different interpretation of this song that seems very resonant to me now. I was looking through some older artistic creations of my own and reflecting quite negatively on the person and intentions responsible for their creation. Suddenly the lines "what's coming through is a lie/ what's holding up is a mirror/ what's singing songs is a snake/ looking to turn my piss to wine" seemed very applicable. So I kind of see this song as a regretful meditation on the evolution of the creative process.
For some reason, I'm also reminded of the caduceus symbol representing two snakes ("they're both totally void of hate/but killing me just the same") intertwined around a winged staff, which is most commonly used as a medical symbol on ambulances and such ('H' is the universal streetsign abbreviation for hospital). Alex Grey has an illustration in his book "The Mission of Art" which is a variation on the caduceus symbol. I am now reminded from Wikipedia that it's in the damn name of Maynards wine company as well - "Caduceus Cellars". But in the context of this song I kind of see the snakes of the caduceus representing the humanity of the artist - ambitious, flawed, ego-centric, judgemental, dualistic, and often in conflict - whereas the staff with wings could be said to represent reason, or the narrative voice in this song.
I could go on but I would need to make an outline to adequately elucidate this interpretation. Maybe it will make sense to you. Or maybe you will considerately kill me with nay-saying. It's alright, I don't mind.
And I don't think this song has anything at all to do with heroin.
__________________ And so what you're saying when you say 'I understand it intellectually, but I don't get it intuitively,' or 'I don't feel it in my bones,' is that you understand it in the sense of being able to repeat a form of words.
