Ever had one of those times when suddenly a song just takes on a whole new meaning for you, and becomes clear in a way it never has before? I just had one of those with The Funeral Portrait. And since I remember Demoke posting his interpretation of the song not long ago, which i now dont agree with, i thought id share my thoughts...
The Funeral Portrait - A Sloth's View
You wait by the window
Mornings breath on the sill
Idle hands given another try
So you wait and you savour the moment
Outside the canvas turned white
Ruby eyes in the fog
The first few lines indicate a person looking outwards, in a sort of nervous reserve, "waiting" for something. He is giving "idle hands" another go, trying to not give in to his impulses, indicating an interior moral conflict. But he does wait, "savour[ing] the moment" probably refering to some past action that they are struggling not to return to (give idle hand ANOTHER go, as if in the past they have not been idle at all). A white canvas suggests that this is an opportunity to paint whatever picture (or portrait!) is desired, the character having a chance to choose for themselves what to do. But ruby eyes watch, obvious symbolism for demons....
Rain washing clean all the sins
A liquid gown that covers all
Your loathe turns endless
Opened mirage soothes your sense
Locked on the pinnacle
The best secret within
"Rain washing clean all the sins", not only flat out telling that yes, this character DOES have sins (as hinted at before), tells that they believe they can change. Something as simple as the weather, a "liquid gown that covers all" (eg. rain..because in the pouring rain, nothing is the same), can offer a break with the past (As mentioned by Demoke, water here is a very good contrast to eternal/internal fire). The character is disgusted with themselves ("loathe turns endless"), and finds that opening themselves to this soothes them - even though this is a mirage, a falsity. The "pinnacle" and "best secret within" are probably one in the same, and with reference to the preceeding lines link with something secret that the person has done in the past. At this point one must start asking, just who the hell is this guy? What have they done to make them so, dare i say it, psychotic?
Oh, and also note that up till now how the beat has often appeared stuck in a rut almost, as if it is going over the same ground, with little real progression...almost like hes been over these same damn thoughts before...
Like a derelict child
Heart burning for a stranger
Ascending to the meek
Flock round the liars in awe
And here we start to see more of the person's character. They are childlike, specifically like an abandoned child - not normal in other words. "Heart burning for a stranger" conjures up emotional intensity, in a disconnected way. Why a stranger? Why not someone closer to them? A fitting explanation is that of the serial killer (a link with the first stanza, "idle hands" could thus mean strangulation - something that they are fighting not to go out and do again...after all, the person 'burns for another stranger'). That would explain why they are "ascending to the meek", seeking power over someone else weaker than they. "Flock round the liars in awe" indicates an almost compulsive need to be around "the liars", symbolising a warped sense of normal people, who must not have given him something that he was promised - love maybe? Purpose in life? Happiness? (Remember of course that this person is "like a derelict child", so does not share the normal human attachments, and is very likely resentful of normal people; ie. The Liars)
The guitar work begins to expand into increased variation...perhaps he IS making progress after all...
Caked in the soil beneath
Fear me when we meet
Turn away in admiration
My firm grip round the nucleus of joy
Ahhhh, and he turns more and more pyschotic as the song progresses...Note firstly how the disconnection between the narrator and the subject is lost - 'you' becomes 'me', and the imagery of one person watching another breaks down. "Caked in the soil beneath" is surely death and departure (ie. someone's funeral). "Fear me when we meet" directly following this line comes as a threat of the preceeding line, eg. he is going to kill you, confirming the serial killer suspicion. "Turn away in admiration" reveals a need to be admired, reflecting back on being "like a derelict child", insecure and undervalued. This is almost a line of advice, that people should just admire the character and turn away; what will happen if you do not? Well, he'll put his "firm grip round" and you shall be "caked in the soil beneath"/dead. "The nucleus of joy" is an interesting line, firstly showing that breath and life (assuming the nucleus of joy to be someone's neck) are joy themselves, meaning that he wants to snuff out people's joy and life in one go; and secondly that the "nucleus of joy" is only in other people, not himself - is it just me, or does this guy just badly in need of a hug? Sheeeesh....
Enough of this
You will leave me now
You will see it now
Perish at my hands
And there he goes. Hes finally stopped denying it all, and as a fantastic culmination begins, he casts off idle daydreaming (excuse the pun...and if you didnt get it, nevermind) and lays down an ultimatum: leave now, or see it/him now (there is also the very possible idea that him being a 'derelict child' is true, and he believes that everyone will "leave [him] now"...and that is why people will die, because they are all about to abandon him, yet again). And there really is no difference anymore between 'it' and 'him', as the next stanza shows. What is to be seen? Why, your own death, at his hands. There are no more illusions from this stage of the song. Hes given "idle hands" a go; no more. No more observing himself from above; no more reflections on 'washing away the sins' or how 'childlike' he is. Enough of that. You will perish. And he is the one that will do this. <cue brilliant guitar solo at this acceptance>
Close to you
Tangled up in hair
Fresh stigma looks
Shall I take you with me
The dominant imagery here is of him sneaking up behind someone, so close that he is actually 'tangled up in [their] hair", <cough> serial killer. The question here is almost mocking; we already know that his mind has been made up...its a question of WHO to take, no longer SHOULD he take anyone at all....
For one last time we slip back into the repeating guitar background..could it be that he has still not realised something?
And it is cold
Ruby eyes in the fog
It is me
And the slowest horse finally crosses the finish line...that demonic face seen earlier? That was him and only ever has been. He is a 'white canvas' with nothing but evil 'ruby eyes' drawn upon it; a portrait of death and death alone. He IS the Funeral Portrait. This why all the pronouns have by now drawn together into the one, the 'me'; this schizophrenic soul-searching has been a way for him to come to terms with his 'true' nature...oh, those guitars are not stuck in the slightest any more...
And you are just like them all
Stained by the names of fathers
Im greeting my downward fall
Leaving the throes to others
...And it turns out that he couldn't be happier with realising who he is. He 'greets' it in fact, even if it is a "downward fall". He sick of this life; he will leave it to everyone else. In his eyes everyone is the same ("and you are just like them all"), as everyone is just the continuation of what went before them ("stained by the names of fathers") - except, i should say, but for him, who quite possibly never really had a father. He sees life as nothing but agony and pain ("throes"), and wants no more of it. Even much of this song was nothing but "throes", an inner struggle for his real nature - but no more of that. I like the repetition of this stanza, showing that in the end this is allll it comes down to: everyone and everythings just the same old shit (for him), nothing ever changes, and he welcomes leaving all that behind - others can have it, but he wont. Hes moving down...to hell! <hums dramatic music>
The Funeral Portrait - A Sloth's View
You wait by the window
Mornings breath on the sill
Idle hands given another try
So you wait and you savour the moment
Outside the canvas turned white
Ruby eyes in the fog
The first few lines indicate a person looking outwards, in a sort of nervous reserve, "waiting" for something. He is giving "idle hands" another go, trying to not give in to his impulses, indicating an interior moral conflict. But he does wait, "savour[ing] the moment" probably refering to some past action that they are struggling not to return to (give idle hand ANOTHER go, as if in the past they have not been idle at all). A white canvas suggests that this is an opportunity to paint whatever picture (or portrait!) is desired, the character having a chance to choose for themselves what to do. But ruby eyes watch, obvious symbolism for demons....
Rain washing clean all the sins
A liquid gown that covers all
Your loathe turns endless
Opened mirage soothes your sense
Locked on the pinnacle
The best secret within
"Rain washing clean all the sins", not only flat out telling that yes, this character DOES have sins (as hinted at before), tells that they believe they can change. Something as simple as the weather, a "liquid gown that covers all" (eg. rain..because in the pouring rain, nothing is the same), can offer a break with the past (As mentioned by Demoke, water here is a very good contrast to eternal/internal fire). The character is disgusted with themselves ("loathe turns endless"), and finds that opening themselves to this soothes them - even though this is a mirage, a falsity. The "pinnacle" and "best secret within" are probably one in the same, and with reference to the preceeding lines link with something secret that the person has done in the past. At this point one must start asking, just who the hell is this guy? What have they done to make them so, dare i say it, psychotic?
Oh, and also note that up till now how the beat has often appeared stuck in a rut almost, as if it is going over the same ground, with little real progression...almost like hes been over these same damn thoughts before...
Like a derelict child
Heart burning for a stranger
Ascending to the meek
Flock round the liars in awe
And here we start to see more of the person's character. They are childlike, specifically like an abandoned child - not normal in other words. "Heart burning for a stranger" conjures up emotional intensity, in a disconnected way. Why a stranger? Why not someone closer to them? A fitting explanation is that of the serial killer (a link with the first stanza, "idle hands" could thus mean strangulation - something that they are fighting not to go out and do again...after all, the person 'burns for another stranger'). That would explain why they are "ascending to the meek", seeking power over someone else weaker than they. "Flock round the liars in awe" indicates an almost compulsive need to be around "the liars", symbolising a warped sense of normal people, who must not have given him something that he was promised - love maybe? Purpose in life? Happiness? (Remember of course that this person is "like a derelict child", so does not share the normal human attachments, and is very likely resentful of normal people; ie. The Liars)
The guitar work begins to expand into increased variation...perhaps he IS making progress after all...
Caked in the soil beneath
Fear me when we meet
Turn away in admiration
My firm grip round the nucleus of joy
Ahhhh, and he turns more and more pyschotic as the song progresses...Note firstly how the disconnection between the narrator and the subject is lost - 'you' becomes 'me', and the imagery of one person watching another breaks down. "Caked in the soil beneath" is surely death and departure (ie. someone's funeral). "Fear me when we meet" directly following this line comes as a threat of the preceeding line, eg. he is going to kill you, confirming the serial killer suspicion. "Turn away in admiration" reveals a need to be admired, reflecting back on being "like a derelict child", insecure and undervalued. This is almost a line of advice, that people should just admire the character and turn away; what will happen if you do not? Well, he'll put his "firm grip round" and you shall be "caked in the soil beneath"/dead. "The nucleus of joy" is an interesting line, firstly showing that breath and life (assuming the nucleus of joy to be someone's neck) are joy themselves, meaning that he wants to snuff out people's joy and life in one go; and secondly that the "nucleus of joy" is only in other people, not himself - is it just me, or does this guy just badly in need of a hug? Sheeeesh....
Enough of this
You will leave me now
You will see it now
Perish at my hands
And there he goes. Hes finally stopped denying it all, and as a fantastic culmination begins, he casts off idle daydreaming (excuse the pun...and if you didnt get it, nevermind) and lays down an ultimatum: leave now, or see it/him now (there is also the very possible idea that him being a 'derelict child' is true, and he believes that everyone will "leave [him] now"...and that is why people will die, because they are all about to abandon him, yet again). And there really is no difference anymore between 'it' and 'him', as the next stanza shows. What is to be seen? Why, your own death, at his hands. There are no more illusions from this stage of the song. Hes given "idle hands" a go; no more. No more observing himself from above; no more reflections on 'washing away the sins' or how 'childlike' he is. Enough of that. You will perish. And he is the one that will do this. <cue brilliant guitar solo at this acceptance>
Close to you
Tangled up in hair
Fresh stigma looks
Shall I take you with me
The dominant imagery here is of him sneaking up behind someone, so close that he is actually 'tangled up in [their] hair", <cough> serial killer. The question here is almost mocking; we already know that his mind has been made up...its a question of WHO to take, no longer SHOULD he take anyone at all....
For one last time we slip back into the repeating guitar background..could it be that he has still not realised something?
And it is cold
Ruby eyes in the fog
It is me
And the slowest horse finally crosses the finish line...that demonic face seen earlier? That was him and only ever has been. He is a 'white canvas' with nothing but evil 'ruby eyes' drawn upon it; a portrait of death and death alone. He IS the Funeral Portrait. This why all the pronouns have by now drawn together into the one, the 'me'; this schizophrenic soul-searching has been a way for him to come to terms with his 'true' nature...oh, those guitars are not stuck in the slightest any more...
And you are just like them all
Stained by the names of fathers
Im greeting my downward fall
Leaving the throes to others
...And it turns out that he couldn't be happier with realising who he is. He 'greets' it in fact, even if it is a "downward fall". He sick of this life; he will leave it to everyone else. In his eyes everyone is the same ("and you are just like them all"), as everyone is just the continuation of what went before them ("stained by the names of fathers") - except, i should say, but for him, who quite possibly never really had a father. He sees life as nothing but agony and pain ("throes"), and wants no more of it. Even much of this song was nothing but "throes", an inner struggle for his real nature - but no more of that. I like the repetition of this stanza, showing that in the end this is allll it comes down to: everyone and everythings just the same old shit (for him), nothing ever changes, and he welcomes leaving all that behind - others can have it, but he wont. Hes moving down...to hell! <hums dramatic music>
