Closer

Apr 8, 2007

Closer

Its that one line that stands out.  Its what people hear first.  It seems dramatic in its vulgarity; and so it's taken out of context.

This is not the typical bass thumping, "hey baby, lets get in on" song.
It is not about dominance, nor pleasure.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.

"Help me" is more key to the feeling than "I want to fuck you like an animal".

This is a person in pain - in total desperation:

"Help me; I broke apart my insides... I've got no soul to sell"
Fucking her is a last resort, an escape from his reality which he knows he can not truly fix, "the only thing that works for me, help me get away from myself."
The next line after the hook shows the unhealthy dynamic at play "My whole existence is flawed; you get me closer to God"
He wants faith, he does not have any left.  He is empty inside.  He is tormented.  "...have my isolation...have the hate that it brings...have my absence of faith, you can have my everything". 
After the word "fuck" we don't hear these lines.

Just because he does the penetrating does not make him the one with power in the relationship.  "Help me, you make me perfect.  Help me become somebody else."  It is he, not her, who is scraped off his knees.  He who drinks her honey.  She "is the reason [he] stay[s] alive."

In the rest of the album this is expanded upon.  He is a broken man.  She enjoys the dynamic they have, or at the least is willing to take advantage of it.  He is the one being used.  His fucking her may be the only aspect of their relationship in which he has any semblance of control.

At first listen the music is loud, fast heavy - but it has a very "dark" [excuse the expression] undertone, it is not upbeat, it has that bump, but it is depressing - its the feeling of depression thinly veiled, of enthusiasm as distraction, like taking pain killers and running on a broken leg.  The pain is still there, no matter how fast you go, no matter how euphoric you feel in the moment.

It is a feeling, I suspect, which more of us can sympathies with than we would care to admit.

At least, that's how I interpret it.  I'm no poet.  I could be totally wrong.

I do not find it offensive.

A friend of mine did not like this song.  That's what inspired this, of course.  I guess that's what Catholic school does to a person, even if they didn't really buy into it.

And so, when some brilliant DJ combines it with the soundtrack to the first Super Mario Brothers for original Nintendo, seamlessly, well, I just have to conclude that juxtaposition is the greatest thing ever.

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