It means Tavros is often suffering, usually at the hands of others but sometimes suffering just because he doesn’t think he deserves any better.

That whole verse is basically Gamzee saying, “You get a lot of crap heaped on you and you don’t really ever do anything about it, but I’m hoping you wont turn me away because I think I could be something good in your life, and make you happy.”

During Gamzee’s breakdown, he looses his faith in his religion (and supposedly it’s two rabble rousing deities), instead projecting his religions fixation onto Lord English, and also drops his regular quirk for one with two distinct volumes, representing a sort of …split personality. So yeah, that’s what it meant. :3

An in depth analysis is coming but if you really can’t wait: No, Inherit Nothing isn’t about Equius going god tier it’s about Equius’s death, but his god tier title is what influenced the title of the song. And yes the parallel between his and Nepeta’s song was intentional.

Hope that uh, brings you peace… within yourself….

Thanks! :D

Well…take it either way really. I like leaving things open to interpretation. Though someone asked me a while ago to do a dissection of Inherit Nothing like I did for I Am An Island and My Nightmare, so I might post that soon.

Ok I’ll do it, only for you lovely people. <3

The basic premise in my head for My Nightmare was that it would jump around constantly between who was singing (Tavros or Vriska or both) and also who they were singing ABOUT (themselves or eachother) so this might get messy explaining…

I’m gonna have a nightmare tonight 
I’m gonna be my nightmare tonight

Self explanatory, I think.

You’re pretty picky, you’re a clique of one 
I’m right though, surely I’m not the only gun you’ve got loaded? 
How do you keep from gloating? 

This whole first part is Tavros singing about Vriska, however, he’s a bit snarkier than he would usually be cause he’s got her confidence now, right? Vriska was always bragging about how many plans she had on the go, and many of her plans involved him, toughening him up and making him into what she wanted him to be. Now that he can feel her intent from the inside (ew) and also her self-confidence, he’s marveling at the overwhelming experience of it (of course Vriska never stops herself from gloating but hey, maybe that would be more important to Tavros?).

You’re pretty tricky, did you pick that shade 
just to distract from the flash of the shining blade you’ve got hidden? 
Deep wounds overwritten

Here they are both talking about Gamzee, his new god-tier duds, his (from my interpretation) betrayal of Tavros by putting him in the same body as his murderer. Also now that they’re in sprite form they’re not all hacked apart and filled with holes anymore so…that’s something.

I had so many new friends to see 
so many possibilities 
now I couldn’t possibly feel worse 
I had so many fires left to nurse

Tavros, wishing he were still dead. Fires left to nurse = sick fires in case you didn’t catch it.

In my nightmare tonight I’ll see giant leviathans 
breaking the water in half with their shining skin 
riding them laughing you’ll be in my nightmare tonight

Ooohkay I’m not sure how to explain the choruses other than they describe nightmare scenarios for each of them, in turn and sometimes combined.

Tavros, as a lowblood (and as a sane person), would probably be pretty scared of Gl’bgolyb, the power she possesses that he can only fathom at, and the knowledge that she could crush his mind in an instant if she’s not kept calm…Vriska paralells anyone?

In my nightmare tonight I’ll see beasts all stampeding 
your signia burned onto haunches still healing 
and leading the pack on their backs in my nightmare tonight 
You’ll be in my nightmare tonight, tonight….

Vriska knows Tavros could be formidable with the right confidence, what with his psychic beast controlling powers and all. Before they were prototyped this would’ve been a good thing, but now her own personality is being encroached on and it’s a fight for dominance, which I think really frightens her. The idea of loosing herself.

“Signia burned onto haunches still healing” is a reference to the branding of cows and bulls just fyi.

You’re pretty ugly when you get down to it, 

I do love ugly trolls! But this is actually about how they now have access to the inner workings of each-others minds (just my headcanon), and can see the very worst of eachother and themselves like never before.

combined, I’ve half a mind to just say screw it and break completely, 
or surrender so sweetly 

To fight or to flee? To try beat the system or play the cards they’ve been dealt? Tavros and Vriska can’t even decide on that (well obviously Vriska decided for them but this was written before they exploded keep that in mind haha).

I thought I’d have a chance to be my own, 
free from the tyranny of your tarnished throne. 
Now I see that kingdom belongs to me, oh no….

Tavros was finally free of Vriskas terrifying attentions, and Vriska was free of the confusing feelings she had for Tavros. But obviously that didn’t work out and they are now, for all intents and purposes, one and the same as their tormentor.

I had so many irons in the fire 
so many brands and swords 
To their backsides I had even more 
So many plans on what they’re for

Vriiiiiiiiska.

In my nightmare tonight, there’s volcanoes erupting 
A red hot web veining the land, it’s disgusting

Sprites know stuff about the mechanics of the game! Erupting volcanoes do seem to be a reoccuring theme especially in the alpha session. This is meant to be like “I’m having all these wierd visions right now and I know stuff I shouldn’t know, gah!”

Also “red hot web”… red hot fires for tavros, and webs for spiderbitch. :)

cracked mountains of madness, your hand in my nightmare tonight

The erupting volcano could also parallel Tavrisprite themself, pressure building until they explode? Obviously I didn’t know they were going to explode until after I’d written it but I think it’s cool it worked out that way.

In my nightmare tonight I’ll see me all consumed, 
and attempting to sing disharmonious tunes with you. 

My favorite lines of the song tbh. And pretty straightforward, just some genre aware dual-perspective angsting.

The rest of the song is just repetition and literalness so….yeah! guess that’s it. :) Hope you enjoyed and sorry for corpse party rocking dash clogging.

Possibly at some point? TBH I’d be much more interested in hearing what other people get from it, before I go into it, if I do it at all…

To me doing this to songs feels a bit like dissecting a frog. Sure it lets you know how it worked, but afterwords its just a cut apart dead thing and won’t ever “hop” like it used to. I had the same problem with analizing poetry in school.

But if enough people really want to know I could give it a shot? :) I already feel bad enough that I haven’t managed to post any tabs or chords yet! D: And you guys are so great to me I want to give back!

soooo like this post if you’d like more song dissection I guess? lol I’ll take it as a poll…

I suppose I could. :) Sorry in advance for clogging dashes, the cut post option doesn’t show up for me! The song in question is here.

I personally like to leave my lyrics kinda open so people can decide what they mean to THEM. But for anyone who’s curious and doesn’t mind the “magic” being ruined a bit, haha…

The four verses of the song are split between the four Alpha kids.

First verse is Dirk:

I am an island, no man is an island but me 
I reach out my leaves, and skillfully touch them to sea 

Leaves = Hands, limbs. He’s a skilled dude, surrounded by water on all sides. Pretty straightforward.

I ship out a boat made of hope on the waves and watch as it slips below 
I am an island, a island that nobody knows

This is a bit premature on my part, but with Jake being prince of Hope, and boat=ship as in “shipping”….it’s how Dirk wants Jake but it’s really going to fall apart. That’s the cheesier explanation. It could also be him actually just reaching out and putting his faith in the game/his friends, even though their session is pretty much DOA and the world is already destroyed. 

Second verse is Roxy: 

I am an island, no man is an island but I’m not a man 

I was raised by an ocean of creatures and brands 

Creatures = Carapicians. Brands = Alchohol brands/Betty crocker and her insidious global branding. 

I give what I can of, the fruits and flowers that bloom on my skin 

Roxy shares the pumpkins/food she acquires with her neighbors, she wants to help people and reach out to others…

But when loneliness knocks, she lets herself in 

…But finds herself alone despite her craving for companionship.

Third verse is Jake:

I am an island, no man is an island but me, 
I warm all my sands by the pyre of my family tree 

RIP grandma Jade. :(

I took to the tundra, I climb every mountain and fight every monster I can 
to run from that long burning fire, my friend

When I think of “Tundra” I think, huge, lonely, cold expanse of land with very little on it. This obviously doesn’t represent Hellmurder island in geography, but more a metaphorical solitude.

The “long burning fire” represents Jakes memories of his grandma, and also his subconscious knowledge that there is more to life than adventuring, there is real danger in the world, and real heartbreak. I feel he’s been in a delusional world of hollywood movie heros/villains for so long that he’s kinda…removed from reality. 

Last verse is Jane:

I am an island, no man is an island but I’m not a man 
And messages in bottles feel like battering rams 

Battering - Batterwich? geddit? Har har. I just thought it was a nice comparison that sounded quite poetic, but aside form that…

Messages in bottles = IMs. Despite being a cheery girl, Janes best friends are all people she’s never met and the most meaningful contact she gets with them is of the digital messaging variety. (It could also be her waiting for the Sburb beta and being all a-twitter when it finally gets there, hoo hoo!)

In my head I’m a beacon, a pinprick of potential, birthed out of nothing but blue 

Jane has big plans for the Betty Crocker company, what with being its heiress and all. She obviously has confidence in her abilities and ideas. “Birthed out of nothing but blue” = her colour, as well as her sudden birth/creation via ectobiology.

And the light that I signal, it’s shining for you

Who else loved the flash game puzzle with the lanterns? Lovely. <3 Also some unrequited Jake/Jane implications with this line.

Then there’s the chorus, extra stuff. Which for the most part represents all four of them and their lives within and without the game. I think the metaphors are mostly straightforward in those but I’ll go over a couple lines that might be confusing?

Just think, someone out there is watching the stars 
but they’re not the same as ours, some say they’re already dead, 
and the light’s only on in your head.

There’s a theory that because it takes so long for their light to reach us, many of the stars we see might not exist anymore, and what we’re seeing is light from billions of years ago that’s only just getting to us now. This relates to how the post-Condescension and pre-Condescension kids interact/talk to each-other hundreds of years apart. 

Yeah… anyways. hope that was interesting/informative. :> Though I encourage any and all interpretations of my songs, whatever you take from them is just as valid. My only intent is to cause feels/thinks. :p