Song Analysis

Bride and Groom

This city is haunted by the ghost of failure
I am one and you are one
We've spent this whole time on the run
From a lie that I told
That you closed your eyes and you chose to believe

So now you ask me for honesty
Just to take a second, breathe
I'm not good enough for you
You were never good enough to me
No one's ever good enough to be
Or have something so naïve

When I broke my hand on your car
When you told me you were leavin'
And I begged for your forgiveness
My broken fingers bleedin'
My heavy heart repeatin', afraid,
Just stay here with me

Then you took your clothes off instead
And you danced around my room
Don't worry, you said,
'Cause the end is coming soon
And we'll meet again someday
And we'll toast these stunning ruins
For the bride I'll never be
And the groom

Now I picture you like snowflakes
Like desperate pouring rain
Like the beating of the drum
In the parade of the insane
You are the whisper in my ear
When I wake and no one's here
There's just the echo of your name

So now you ask me for honesty
I close my eyes, breathe,
I'm the one who always is
So ready to leave
To be a distant memory
To be a ship disappearing in the sea

And I crashed upon your rocks
When I heard your voice singing
And I begged for your love
With my busted ears ringing
My hopeful heart repeating
You are more than the promise of the sea

Then you took your clothes off instead
And you danced around my room
Don't worry, you said,
'Cause the end is coming soon
And we'll meet again someday
And we'll toss the cursed ruins
Of the bride I'll never be
And the groom.








This song was written by The Airborne Toxic Event for their third album Such Hot Blood. This is important to know because their first two albums are all sad songs none of which are about love which contrasts with this album in which they sing only songs about love, both falling in love and having your heart broken. This song is about a guy who is in love with a girl who also cares for him, but he wants more and she doesn't. The song contains multiple examples of simile for example when he compares the girl to snowflakes, rain, and drum beats using like in the beginning of the second verse. All three of the similes are used to describe the importance of the girl and how different she is from everyone else. This can be seen in the fact that snowflakes are never the same, and the beat of the drum being different and always changing because the person playing it is crazy.
There is also an excellent example of allusion when he sings about the rocks and her singing alluding to the sirens. In the story of Odysseus he listens to the siren song which is meant to lure in people to be killed. This story is usually used to indicate how the person tempted the other into something however the last line of this verse shows that he came to her not because of her song but because she was special to him and meant more to him than to the other people who had heard the song and been lured in.
The meaning of the parts of the wedding of which he sings in such allusions as the "toast... to the bride and groom" is that he was ready to marry her but he wasn't enough for her and so she was happy with him so she stayed for a while but she left after being with him for a little while longer.