Lyrics
There is a story that was told
Introduction to a narrative or legend
When I was not yet very old
Recollection of the story from childhood
About a house in our small town
Setting the scene in a small town
Where lived a lady in a gown
Description of a woman living in a house
This gown was stitched of human skin
Detailing a gown made of human skin
Made up from all who came within
Indicating the source of skin for the gown
Her warm red home upon the hill
Reference to the woman's home on a hill
Where none now go or ever will
Emphasizing the abandonment of the house
For ever since one chilly winter's eve
Introducing a mysterious event on a winter's eve
Two boys found the strangest sleeve
Discovery of a peculiar sleeve by two boys
The blood of which matched that of men
Connecting the blood on the sleeve to missing men
Whom our town had never seen again
Implication that the men met an unknown fate
After they had sought her out
Boys seeking out the woman with the gown
Having heard she made men shout
Heard rumors of her ability to provoke men
In ways their girls and wives would not
Implies she had a unique influence on men
Or else had once, but then forgot
Suggests a forgotten or lost experience
This gown was stitched of human skin
Repetition of the gown's composition
Made up from all who came within
Reiteration of the origin of the gown
Well shout they did these sorry souls
Description of the unfortunate souls shouting
Who if they'd had some nobler goals
Reflection on the questionable choices of the souls
Would not have been part of a dress
Commentary on their participation in a mysterious dress
Of which the purpose no one could guess
Uncertainty about the purpose of the gown
None except the woman who
Attributing knowledge of the purpose to the woman
Made the thing and wore it to
Indication that the woman made and wore the gown
The chapel for the Skinless One
Mention of a chapel for the "Skinless One"
She built before she had begun
Implication that the woman built the chapel
A ritual evil and black
Reference to a dark and irreversible ritual
From which there was no turning back
Emphasizing the inescapable consequences of the ritual
That allowed to travel free
Describing a supernatural ability to travel from the woman to others
From her body into me
Implies the transfer of something ominous from the woman to the speaker
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