An Incorrect Interpretation of Song Lyrics

At first glance, this song may appear to be about a young man and his journey through early adulthood. The protagonist searching for a sense of belonging, persuing earthly pleasures from anyone willing, and perhaps as a consequence, mistaking sex for love.

However, if you look further into the song’s deeper meaning, you will see that it is actually about a young man and his journey through a zombie apocalypse. The protagonist searching for ‘braaaaains’ to eat and perhaps, as a consequence, feeling a bit bad about consuming so many brains.

At first glance, you might think that ‘the angel of small death’ is, in fact, a blonde ‘bringer of orgasms’ (and prescription medicine), but if you look again, you will see that she is in fact, a blonde ‘bringer of the zombie apocalypse’ (and prescription medicine).

Allow me to explain why I am right and you are wrong with my detailed annotation of the lyrics below.

“I watch the work of my kin bold and boyful.”

Here, we begin to get a sense of the narrative: the protagonist is stood at the edge of a cornfield, watching his family harvesting corn. The cornfield is very relevant to the song’s overall meaning even though it is not physically mentioned anywhere within the lyrics. At all.

“Toying somewhere between love and abuse.”

We then get a juxtaposition of these two verbs to indicate the realisation that some of the protagonist’s family appear to be turning into zombies right in front of his very eyes. Here the cornfield is also referenced again in silent metaphor.

“Calling to join them the wretched and joyful

Shaking the wings of their terrible youths.”

Here, the plot begins to thicken as some ‘youths’ appear at the edge of the cornfield. They are probably hipsters and they shout for the protagonist to join them, offering him an escape route from the situation of literally being eaten alive by his own family.

Please note: The above interpretation is not to be taken as a metaphor for the original perceived interpretation of the actual lyrics.

“Freshly disowned in some frozen devotion

No more alone or myself could I be.”

These lines create a sense of loneliness, indicating quite clearly and precisely that the protagonist has now lost the group of hipsters that rescued him from the cornfield. Probably because he is a slow runner: you can sense this in the overall tone of the song. Our protagonist is now up the proverbial shit creek.

“Lurched like a stray to the arms that were open

No shortage of sordid, no protest from me”

Again, whilst this lyric appears to reinforce the notion of sex with a less than ideal counterpart, what it is actually reinforcing is the part about the cornfield that I mentioned earlier. Don’t ask me why, it just does. I can feel it in my soul.

[Chorus]

"With her sweetened breath, and her tongue so mean

She's the angel of small death and the codeine scene

With her straw-blonde hair, her arms hard and lean

She's the angel of small death and the codeine scene."

The overall chorus of the song embodies the sense of a zombie apocalypse and recaps the plot thus far: after losing the rescue party and finding himself up shit creek, the protagonist is now alone in an alley, with the blonde zombie queen: the angel of small death. Again, this has literally nothing to do with la petite mort (the little death), but instead is a reference to zombie carnage.

Notice how the narrator mentions the antagonist's arms: this is important. It is because of these particularly toned arms, that the zombie queen is able to pin down the protagonist to bite one of his legs off. You begin to get the sense that the antagonist is a bit of a bitch, probably because the narrator calls her ‘mean’, but that is only because she wouldn’t give him any codeine to take the edge off his recently masticated leg. (She’s actually probably all right once you get to know her, brain-eating and leg-biting aside.)

The zombie virus is now coursing through the protagonist’s veins and he’s getting hungry for brains….

“Feeling more human and hooked on her flesh I

Lay my heart down with the rest at her feet.”

Again, at first glance, you may believe this to be a metaphorical sex vs love reference. It is not. The protagonist is literally just hooked on the taste of flesh and his heart has now dropped out of his decaying chest. Stop looking too deeply for hidden meanings.

“Fresh from the fields, all fetor and fertile

It's bloody and raw, but I swear it is sweet.”

My last point is reinforced here with this lyric, as it is so astoundingly clear that the protagonist has gone back into the cornfields for a good old zombie knees up flesh-fest killing spree and emerged feeling happier for it. He is literally saying ‘the brains taste sweet’ but making it sound a bit sexual again to fool you. Clever, clever zombie bastard.

“Leash-less confusion, I'll wander the concrete.”

Here, you get a sense that the protagonist is out of his mind and walking in circles because of the one leg situation. He is now consumed by ‘braaaaiiiins’ and he and the zombie queen have made their way into town together on a rampage for flesh. The killing spree continues.

“Wonder if better now having survived.”

This is a very poignant part of the song where the protagonist acknowledges that he’s still alive, in some way. And he still has one functional leg. Better to live a half-life of eating brains than no life at all. Right? *insert sad emoji*

“Jarring of judgment and reasons defeat.”

This is the pinnacle plot-twist: for some reason, the protagonist, against his better judgment, decides to turn on his zombie queen.

“The sweet heat of her breath in my mouth I'm alive.”

Here the song ends with the protagonist biting the zombie queens face off, mouth-first, and feeling bloody brilliant about it. This is because he realises that killing the queen is the cure for the whole world! As the zombie queen stumbles around faceless, trying to find some codeine and a plaster, he throws the codeine down the drain laughing.

His leg grows back and his appetite for brains dissipates as he realises he is back to living a full life as a human being, with no zombie tendencies. However, he will have to live with the horror of how many brains he has eaten. Forever. FOREVER.

Haunting really.