Lyrics
I didn't know what a brute I was
The speaker was unaware of their own brutish nature.
I dipped my cigarette and rode the bus
They extinguished a cigarette and traveled by bus.
Vengeance built me hastily
Vengeance was hastily responsible for shaping the speaker.
And I drag the clanging notion I was nobody, nobody
The speaker carries the belief that they were nobody.
Nobody
A reinforcement of feeling insignificant or unnoticed.
All I had was my invention
The speaker's sole possessions were their inventions and love.
And my love it fitted on you
Their love was suited for the person they're addressing.
Oh, look what thoughts can do
Reflecting on the power of thoughts to influence.
What thoughts can do
Emphasizing the impact of thoughts.
If you're not by now dead and buried
A hypothetical scenario: if not deceased, likely married.
You're most certifiably married
Asserting the probability of the listener's marriage.
Oh, married
Reiteration of the idea of marriage.
I'm sure you're sleeping sound
Assuming the listener is peacefully asleep.
With a mistress of the hours
Suggesting the listener is with a partner.
The hours that grind your life to dust
Alluding to the mundane passage of time.
Oh, easy loves
Describing the listener's easy, perhaps casual, loves.
You keep lap pets
Implying control over pets but powerless elsewhere.
Denied them you are powerless
Suggesting a lack of control or influence.
Whatever keeps you sleeping through the night
Whatever helps the listener sleep peacefully.
I'm not the man you thought I was
The speaker's true identity differs from perception.
My love has never lived indoors
Their love has never adhered to conventional norms.
I had to drag it home by force
They had to forcibly bring their unconventional love home.
Hired hounds at both my wrists
The speaker feels constrained and hurt by past experiences.
Damp and bruised by stranger's kisses on my lips
The pain inflicted by strangers contrasts with their longing for the listener.
But you're the one that I still miss
Expressing continued yearning for the listener.
You're the one that I still miss
Reiterating the persistence of longing for the listener.
And the truth is that it comes as no surprise
It's unsurprising that the speaker isn't who they're perceived to be.
I'm not the man you think I am
Reiteration that the speaker's identity is misunderstood.
I'm not the man you think I am
Further emphasis on the speaker's misunderstood identity.
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