scalpel and thread


quotes:

• there is no healing of thy bruise, thy wound is grievous. for upon whom has not thy wickedness passed continually? this comes from the bible, the book of nahum chapter 3.
• are you not weary of ardent ways? another line from james joyce, this time from a portrait of the artist as a young man.
• my mother... - psalm 51.

references etc.:
the lyrics to this song concern an incident between me and a friend, where i really fucked up. that's all you need to know. there's allusions to the story of icarus in there. 'whence the healing stream doth flow' is a line from a welsh hymn. the full line is 'open now the crystal fountain whence the healing stream doth flow. strong deliverer - be thou still my strength and shield'. the section of the song after the first thrash part is interesting as all three of us are playing in different time signatures (3, 4, and 5), with the same bass line as in the thrash part underpinning proceedings. the totally maiden-core section has fucked up drums at the start because dave chang accidentally deleted a couple of seconds and had to cut and paste them from another place in the song. the quiet second section of the song has a riff is 7/3 (i think? 3 beats divided into 7), which is fun. the very end has the riff from wasted years by iron maiden in there somewhere.
the photograph in the background is some sand in sheringham, norfolk.

lyrics:
frank: with eyes closed and a smile she smashed the future of might-have-beens. she tore down all these paper walls and folded them into planes. 'let's cut our bare feel on these shards and bleed out all the lies' she said and smashed it all, and left me to admire. we watched you fly high your wings moulting sparks as you skimmed the edge of belief. despair shook our hearts (filled only with longing that you might land in safer greener climes). waves rose to meet you, not road. foam can't catch as well as silk and so we watched you drown. these waves will take your name, i swear to god. i couldn't hold open my eyes. i breathed for you as you choked. i'm not as weak as i once said. it's all my fault. i would be strong but for the fucking memory. i'll do the best i can. i hold you in my thoughts each day. you started to mean everything the very second i let you go. i'll do the best i ever can, the very best. 'let's heal these wounds with words and tears' she said. my words will be the scalpel, my tears will be the thread that makes us whole again. she opened the skin like an eyelid (whence the healing stream doth flow). let's wash ourselves in this healing stream and learn to swim.

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