anonymous June 23rd, 2006 12:06AM  

Yeah, it's based off of A Rose for Emily, but he changed some things, because this story takes place in the early 1900's. It's about a woman falling in love with aman who won't marry him cause he's gay:"..he's always looking at men down by the pool..". So she poisons him with arsenic(in he song, it's cyanide), and she keeps him in her house,and he stays there until she dies(he calls the mansion not a house, but a tomb...). She has problems with letting people go, cause in the story, her father dies, and she wouldnt let them take the corpse away.i think this song is about learning to let people go, and about acceptance, and moving on

anonymous November 24th, 2006 01:33AM  

"He calls the mansion not a house, but a tomb,
He's always choking from the stench and the fume,"
The first verse refers to the stench created by Homer's corpse from Emily's house.

"He's not around,
He's always looking at men."
Refering to Homer's sexuality

"If you marry me,
Would you bury me?
Would you carry me,
To the end?"
What Emily wishes.

"To the hearts you break,
And all the cyanide you drank."
The character Homer died by Cyanide poisoning.


"She keeps a picture of the body she lends,
Got nasty blisters from the money she spends,
She's got a life of her own and it shows by the Benz,
She drives at 90 by the Barbies and Kens!"
Emily was rich and eccentric.

Sounds to me like it is infact about "Rose for Emily"

anonymous January 5th, 2007 09:08PM  

Here's a link from wikipedia if you wanna read the story... It's pretty obvious this is what the song was based on...
http://www.ariyam.com/docs/lit/wf_rose.html

scythe016 February 20th, 2007 09:19AM  

The song is more of a form of distrust. A distrust wherein one will try to regain the trust he lost by making a sacrifice that would persuade the partner to give him back the trust.

Looking back at the song... One was repenting for what he had failed to do... And by that makes a sacrifice or a "risky" move that would prove his repentance.

In turn, the partner must understand the situation. Try to help the former on his weaknesses... That's why through marriage, Man and Woman unite to face the challenges the world had brought unto them...

This song not only applies to Marriage...
It applies to anyone's relation to his fellow (disregardless of who they are)

anonymous July 5th, 2007 10:49PM  

Can I please have the website for where I can read "A Rose For Emily" online?

anonymous January 4th, 2008 01:52PM  

Yes, I agree with 'peteinthepants' because, when it's about a girl who has fallen in love with a man but then finds out he's gay, how will that song ever fit in the story of the rest of the album??

anonymous January 31st, 2008 03:57AM  

I have never read that book everyone keeps going on about but yer the 1st verse I agree with the was going to marry a gay guy and kills him.. but in the second verse it seems to me she got all his money and is feeling guilty about what she did and is taking drugs to try and forget what she did and ultimately will share the vows with him when she dies of an overdose

anonymous June 28th, 2008 05:55PM  

Yep. Everyone's exactly right. It is about the short story "A Rose for Emily". I remember when we read it in English class in 10th grade, I was like "God, this story sounds oddly familiar". Haha. I don't know how I made the connection so quickly, but I did. But also, if I remember correctly, I think Gerard actually said once that it was based upon a short story. Which of course, the perfect story to match it is "A Rose for Emily"

anonymous January 4th, 2009 01:15PM  

Omg, everyone Is a little bit wrong! This song is based on the book "A Rose For Emily" Emily has a boyfriend that Is gay named Homer. (there is some differences In the song from the book.) Homer and Emily are at the wedding. He refuses to marry her because he is gay and doesn't really want to be with her. He runs out of the wedding,he goes in the elevator and escapes from the church to his house. Emily wishes Homer to marry her, carry her and bury her to the end. The next day I guess she has a other boyfriend on a date at a restaurant. Homer comes In the restaurant and sees his ex girlfriend Emily. He throws a piece of cake at her, she gets mad and dumps her boyfriend. She goes home and the next day she calls up Homer to come over her mansion. He comes over and she gives him a drink filled with cyanide (poison) and he dies. She keeps his body in her mansion somehow she keeps his body there forever.

anonymous September 13th, 2009 12:38AM  

i personally think that its about a guy who gets married to a rich girl that he thinks he likes but he realizes taht hes gay... then he starts gettingun happy with his life and starts killing people "Face down and bloated snap a shot with the lens" and puts his wife in a coma " If you ever say never too late.I'll forget all the diamonds you ate. Lost in coma and covered in cake" and he does this with cyionide... thats my opinion