Hessian Peel Interpretations?

[atlantis19]

I'm kind of baffled trying to figure out what is going on in this song. Any ideas about what "characters" may be involved here and what might be going on (especially toward the end)? I saw some people calling the 'sweet Satan' thing a joke, but could it be one of the characters addressing his/her problematic loved one? Also, does anyone understand the title? Its the only title on the album that makes no sense to me at all.

Hopefully someone can clear this up for me- I feel like I'm being blind to the whole climax of the album.

 

[SeViMeTaL]

i guess it's about guys and their mom.as i understood their mom tried to protect from harm her children and she had to leave her children''Lock the children away from harm'' .the story is told by one of child of her and the child thought that their mom left them ''The longing for me,Comin' down like hail,Why did you leave me?'' .they're missing but they didn't forget her.it's like a love mixed by hate.i guess mom found her children finally but the children didn't listen to her reasons and they killed her or tortured her or she could killed by others''Lock the children away from harm,They'll lock all your reason why,Seeking with a dagger,Skin is blocked by the years of trial''(i couldn't solute this part complately).
''You felt abandoned in the fog of flesh
Sitting in place from the dead
Awaiting the face of the moon to ascend
You follow the siren in your head'' =>maybe mom felt that she is betrayed by her children or others
or maybe the children saw their mom to end of their life and they waited for their mom
=>
''Your concern
The signal for us to end our lives
To wipe beneath the watches
And you wait forever''
what a complicated story

PS:sorry for the awful grammar.i can't help it :/

 

[NSpen1]

Here are more complete lyrics. Pretty sure the Satan thing is a joke referring to the Led Zep alleged backmasking as I posted in the other thread http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairway_to_Heaven#Backmasking_controversy

HESSIAN PEEL

Will the children cry
When their mother dies
And in the autumn of their lives
Will they feel the same

(backwards)
Out on the courtyard
Come back tonight
My sweet Satan
I see you

Her longing for me
Coming down like hail
Why did you leave me

Come here inside
And tell me how
How in my final days
I'd find the rhyme

(The) light comes on
The signal for us to act our lives
You wait beneath the white sheets
And you wait forever
The light comes on
????
So I left you alone
We all left you alone

Lock the children away from harm
They're no longer your reason why
Seeking tenderness with a dagger
Skin is marked by the years of trials

You felt abandoned in a flock of friends
Singing a praise for the dead
Awaited the face of the moon to ascend
And followed the sound in your head

 

[The Antihero]

According to Wikipedia "hessian" is used to describe someone who is into heavy metal and weed. The "sweet Satan" backwards part might be trying to poke at that perception of metal's perceived connection to Satanism or the occult.

Of course, hessian can also mean several other things. It's a math term, it describes people from a certain part of medieval Germany, etc etc etc. So who knows.

 

[Saint - Ex]

I guess this is the hardest song from Watershed. I have no idea what the title means. The lyrics concern the family again, I assume the father comes back, to his sick wife thinking: "Will the children cry..."
Then he meets her again, after he left her "So I left you alone".
Something important happens: "Light comes on..."
Maybe she is dying after all, the light means the light at the end of a tunnel, the death. So the children are no longer the reason for his departure: "They are no longer the reason why". The line "Lock the children away from harm" says that they suffered from the drama.
So I guess the father is speaking, saying "When their mother dies" creates an awful distance between him and her.
That the father left is mentioned in Heir apperent: "Invisible King/Dying". He is not often at home, so he can't be seen often, he is invisible.
I don't know why he returns in hessian peel, but I guess he does.

 

[pyr0rrzzz]

According to Wikipedia "hessian" is used to describe someone who is into heavy metal and weed. The "sweet Satan" backwards part might be trying to poke at that perception of metal's perceived connection to Satanism or the occult.

Of course, hessian can also mean several other things. It's a math term, it describes people from a certain part of medieval Germany, etc etc etc. So who knows.

Mikael said in an interview that "hessian" is what collectors call sort of a raw vinyl sleeve and peel refers to peeling of the sleeve of the LP. So I guess the title has not much to do with the lyrics.

btw: Might the missing lines here

The light comes on
????
So I left you alone

say something like "your weakness (storing trace?!) on your arms" ? I'm pretty sure he says weakness and arms. The song immediately reminds me of Lopez since I noticed this because him leaving fits well with this part of the lyrics.

 

[NSpen1]

btw: Might the missing lines here

The light comes on
????
So I left you alone

say something like "your weakness (storing trace?!) on your arms" ? I'm pretty sure he says weakness and arms. The song immediately reminds me of Lopez since I noticed this because him leaving fits well with this part of the lyrics.

haha, that's what I suggested here http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...sing-lyrics-watershed-can-someone-supply.html
but there's still the couple of words in the middle which sounds something like what you've put, but I guess not quite as it should make a bit more sense than that

 

[Klämrisk]

The song's definetly about a family where a mother has left the children. (' Will the children cry when their mother dies') One of the children has tried to commit suicide several times ('Seeking tenderness with a dagger, skin is marked by the years of trial') and one night follows the sound in his/her head on a non-moonlit night out on....the courtyard to face her doom ('my sweet Satan'), which is another way of saying that he/she dies.

 

[pyr0rrzzz]

Why didn't you use the official lyrics?

 

[pyr0rrzzz]

Third post in this topic. (Official means they were hidden in the booklet.)

 

[Jet Pilot]

Basically, i don't remember when or where but Mikael Akerfeldt has explained that hessian is a kind of thick package used as a vinyl case.

 

[atlantis19]

Could the white sheets be some kind of shroud, the flock of friends/prayer for the dead be some kind of funeral, and the moon scene be the desperate husband visiting the grave? Maybe his "satanic" courtyard act is his "peeling" at the dead one's grave (which encases her, like the word hessian?)

I have a feeling that these lyrics were not meant to be very decipher-able.

 

[Saint - Ex]

Well I think we got some good ideas running on.
I just a Ghost Reverie about that mentioned scene: "Seeking tenderness with a dagger". Reminds of the Borderline personality disorder (BPD). Those guys cut themselfs to feel pleasent warmth or tenderness. The next line "Skin is amrked by the years of trial" accords to that. I have seen arms of those sick guys which very so full of scars that there was no part that remained good.
The suicide-theory fits in that, too, due to the fact that many of them tried to kill themselfs.

I'm not sure who of them has the Borderline personality disorder (BPD). Many people suffer from this, if they were raped when they were kids. So I guess it's one of the children that is sick.
People with this disorder are often unable to lead a relationship, they just can't open themselfs to other people, to misquote The Baying Of The Hounds: "I won't devote myself to anyone." Just a joke.
That might be the sickness which is often mentioned during this record and be caused by the ruined childhood which is mentioned in The Lotus Eater: "Overheard us talking [...] the language of (not sure some kind of split) so clear"
Due to the fact that the father left the family the child became sick, but it can also be the reason WHY the father left what made the child sick.
But all this doesn't fit to the title which fits to nothing at all.

 

[Narek]

As far as I see it this part:

Come here inside
And tell me how
How in my final days
I'd find the rhyme


Is the father reaching out to someone, seeing that he is dying and asking them how he can see God. "Find the rhyme" I'm pretty sure is referring to the word of God regardless of any religious affiliation.

Maybe he has lost all hope with the death of the mother and now is losing any hope of finding any sort of higher being that will "justify" the death of his spouse.

 

[BrutalD]

Nah, you're getting it all wrong.
Basically Mikael plays the guitar and also sings in the song.
Martin 1 plays the bass
Martin 2 plays the drums
Per plays the keyboard
Fredrik plays the lead guitar.

In the song, that's mostly what goes on, each member of the band plays their instruments. Interestingly enough, the drums don't start until about 2 minutes into the song, and their is a ~40 second intro with just an acoustic guitar, implying either Fredrik or Mikael played it. Regarding the bass and keyboards, they accompany the other instruments equally.

Lyrically though, Mikael is writing about some father stuff. I dunno.

 

[Abedeth]

What hidden booklet codes do you speak of?

 

[pyr0rrzzz]

What hidden booklet codes do you speak of?

We're talking of those in the booklet... (last page)

 

[Abedeth]

We're talking of those in the booklet... (last page)

I got that. Thanks.
But what kind of code is it? how can it be deciphered?

 

[mexicola]

There was a murder of two children here in Sweden this spring. A German women is on trial right now.
Mikael mentioned some of the lyrics on Watershed was inspired by the murders of children that have happened lately in Sweden.

Maybe I'm totally wrong tho.

 

[BefriendedUnit]

Everyone has their panties in a bunch for the album being written about Mike's hard relationship with an abusive father and a generally fucked childhood, which is why everyone basically disregarded my http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/opeth/400205-song-meanings-heir-apparent.html thread. But Mike says the lyrics were not a concept, and mainly influenced by the important, most RECENT events in his life, including bringing two daughters into the world. So they could just be abstractions on family and the world he's helped bring life into.

Come here inside
And tell me how
How in my final days
I'd find the rhyme

I'm gonna bet that's route, not rhyme. It just sounds like route to me.