Tell Slater Not To Wash His D**k by Bring Me the Horizon Lyrics Meaning – Unveiling the Veil of Intimacy in Post Hardcore
Lyrics
I’ve seen your eyes, I’ve seen your eyes, I’ve seen your eyes.
I’ve been away for every day and every fucking night.
And with every city, it gets harder.
You gotta mouth like a razor-blade. it cuts so deep.
So kiss my wrists my neck and give me eternal sleep.
You say, you say, I’m only a phone call away.
But for me, this distance is decay.
So line my throat with lipstick and leave my blood for flies.
I’ll gurgle the blues under a sea of lies.
Before you take me to sea, let me kiss the bride.
Now take my body to the shore and ill wait for the tide.
I will always love you. but I need pills to sleep
I have always failed you. so throw away my memories.
So throw away my memories
Bring Me the Horizon has a tendency to push boundaries, not just with their sound but with the thematic content of their lyrics too. In ‘Tell Slater Not To Wash His D**k,’ we are flung into a maelstrom of emotion, each line reverberating with the raw authenticity emblematic of the group’s earlier work. This track, steeped in the grit and fervor that characterizes post-hardcore music, carries listeners into a space of aching truth and visceral connection.
The title itself, jarring and visceral, presents an immediate sensation of shock and curiosity. It wraps a story of intimacy, distance, and disillusion in a shroud that dares you to peel back its layers. There’s more here than salacious shock and from the very first line, lead singer Oli Sykes doesn’t just sing; he confesses, plunges into the deep end of vulnerability, and emerges with a darkly poetic narrative.
A Razor-Blade Mouth and The Cuts That Go Beyond Skin
Lines like ‘You gotta mouth like a razor-blade. it cuts so deep’ ricochet with significance, evoking the pain that stems from communication or, perhaps, the lack thereof. Elevated from simple shock value, the metaphor compares words to a knife, highlighting their ability to cause lasting hurt. The razor-blade mouth isn’t just about the pain inflicted; it’s a testament to the sharpness of dialogue that characterizes human connection, particularly in romantic endeavors.
When longing is sharpened by distance and given voice, the result is as damaging as any physical wound. This song serves as a stark reminder that emotional turmoil can often bleed out just as devastatingly as any corporeal injury when words become the weapon of choice in our crossfire of affections.
Decoding the Distance: More than Miles Apart
Central to the song’s narrative is distance, and not solely the geographic kind. ‘You say, you say, I’m only a phone call away. But for me, this distance is decay.’ goes beyond the literal interpretation of separation by positing that emotional disparities can erode a relationship as effectively as any physical span. It’s a poetic illustration of how connection—once thought inextinguishable—can smolder to ash, leaving behind only the detritus of what once was.
Here, Sykes magnifies the discordance between the physical and emotional state of being ‘a phone call away,’ dissecting how psychological and emotional detachment can fester and deteriorate bonds that were initially strong. It’s not the miles that tear them apart, but the growing indifference with each ring of the telephone.
Memorable Lines: Gurgle the Blues Under a Sea of Lies
Taking a deep dive into the song’s bridge, ‘So line my throat with lipstick and leave my blood for flies. I’ll gurgle the blues under a sea of lies,’ Bring Me the Horizon layers on the imagery thickly and to harrowing effect. This is not just a vivid picture of demise but a potent emblem of feeling smothered by both deceit and an overbearing sense of obligation to maintain appearances.
The visceral imagery of bleeding out beneath false pretenses suggests the ultimate sacrifice of one’s true self on the altar of a love that demands conformity. It’s a choking and silencing of the protagonist’s authenticity, causing them to blunder blindly into an abyss of dishonesty. The use of ‘gurgle’ here is particularly effective, conveying a sense of being drowned out by the volume of deception.
Love, Pills, and The Poetry of Failing
‘I will always love you. but I need pills to sleep’ is as raw and jarring as a cry in the night. It’s this confession of a chemical crutch that summons the darker realities underlying troubled relationships. Love becomes something like an addictive drug – beautiful but destructive, a paradise that somehow also necessitates escape.
And in admitting failure, ‘I have always failed you. so throw away my memories,’ the singer allows a bittersweet resignation. It is a mournful acceptance that sometimes, love, alone, is insufficient. The urge to destroy reminders of failed intimacy speaks to the desire to erase not just the pain but also oneself from the gallery of someone’s heart – a withdrawal so complete it borders on annihilation.
The Enigmatic Pull of the Tide and a Final Farewell
The closing stanzas serve as both a halting crescendo and a bleak denouement in their description of a body carried by the sea. ‘Now take my body to the shore and I’ll wait for the tide’ grants the listener a glimpse into a surrender to forces greater than one’s self – the inexorable pull to be erased and cleansed by nature’s indifference.
By invoking the image of wedding vows, ‘Before you take me to sea, let me kiss the bride,’ the protagonist juxtaposes the customary beginning of a union with its ultimate dismantling in the waves. It’s a poignant metaphor for the cyclical nature of relationships: they emerge, crest, break, and ultimately recede. Thus, the song isn’t just a piercing echo of despair—it becomes a salute to the solemn, eternal rhythm of love and loss.
