Damien Rice: Nine Crimes Meaning
Song Released: 2006
Nine Crimes Lyrics
This is not what I do
It's the wrong kind of place
To be thinking of you
It's the wrong time
For somebody new
It's a small crime
And I've got no excuse
Is that alright?
Give my gun away when it's loaded
Is...
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What I think is...
Literally a gun is used to harm or kill. Figuratively it's the same thing, but implied in an emotional sense, giving the loaded gun away is giving someone else the power to kill you, or in this case, information that would kill the other person, which in a relationship is the same thing as hurting yourself. Asking about how they're s'possed to hold it if they don't shoot it is saying, "How am I going to carry this if you don't know, and if you don't hurt me.". The confession of the sin is what makes it real, and makes it into a bullet wound. Hiding it leaves you with a loaded gun you can't hold.
Both of them have done something that would hurt one another, and something that would hurt themselves. In the end when they say "No", it can be taken two ways, 1) That they've decided they don't want to ruin their relationship with saying it. 2) No, I won't shoot you.
Just my thoughts. :) -
i believe the gun reference pertains to her love. To give my gun away when its loaded, loaded could be the pent up frustration of having love to give that is not accepted or reciprocated. It appears obvious (to me) because, If you wont shoot it how am i supposed to hold it? refers to the fact that she needs her love to be taken and for the person that wont shoot it to reciprocate. she is trying to explain her justification of her actions. Only my perception, thats what so great about this site. As soon as I have some lyrics figuredout in my mind, another persons perception leads me to question my own.
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This song is hauntingly beautiful, at the same time it’s deeply disturbing. Both partners have cheated, and they’re grappling not only with their own conscience but also with the fact that their relationship is at a crossroad. Not to simplify things, this is fairly commonplace for a lot of couples – they get back together or they move on their separate ways. But, oh, “9 Crimes” is so much more than commonplace. The video is brilliant is in its horrifying imagery. It’s beautiful, even a tad romantic, while covering the ugliness of each partner’s deed and guilt.
So, here goes my interpretation… There are overtones of violence that we cannot ignore. First, she’s disembodied. Yes, we can take a psychological view and say that her head (i.e., judgment, conscience) got separated from her body (i.e., sensuality, temptation). Fair enough, as a metaphor. But let me use the phrase ‘cut off’ to speak to her head, and it’s literally a sharper meaning. Second, the “loaded gun” is, granted, another metaphor, but in reality it’s a very powerful image. Think of words like ‘lethal.’ Third, the slingshot at the end is a relatively benign thing, in the realm of children’s play. But in view of her fragility, the effects of such a slingshot are devastating, as we see. She literally breaks apart and dies in pieces.
The song and video speak to our flawed humanity and therefore our imperfect relationships. “Leave me out with the waste” isn’t just an expression of guilt. No, guilt is something you feel after doing something wrong, you correct it, and you move on. This song phrase speaks to a deeper kind of shame. To belong amidst the trash, as the video clearly portrays, is to feel a more profound sense of lowness or badness. The fact that she is like a helium-filled balloon is to convey the vulnerability of herself as well as her almost angelic, floating beauty. All of her is destroyed, in the end – first, by having been ‘cut off’ from her body, then by the children’s slingshot.
Now, regarding him. He, too, apparently cheated on her. While he echoes her words and seems to feel similarly as she does, the nature of his psychology is quite different, I argue. On the face of things, his guilt doesn’t seem as profound as hers. And he certainly doesn’t seem as vulnerable or incomplete as she is. He’s portrayed in full body, after all, and he isn’t shot by those darn children! So, here’s the last piece of my interpretation… I’d like to argue that the song and video are largely about him than anything else. She represents a sort of mirror to him, or more accurately a reflection of things inside him – his own desire and temptations, longing for love, and, yes, fragility, guilt, imperfection. Now, it’s easy and fair enough to say that this is a very sad, failed romance between two partners who’ve hurt each other by cheating. I very much agree with this. But in the realm of art and psychology, this doesn’t preclude the idea that he is actually alone in the video. He may be grappling with different parts of himself. Imagine that he’s standing in front of a mirror, after having cheated on his lover, and he’s looking at himself in the reflection with a sense of disgust, even hatred with what he’s done to her. Imagine he himself being split off into two parts: (a) the better judgment and conscience (the one looking in the mirror), and (b) the cheating, lustful part (the one being looked at). My points about her being disembodied, above, may be a metaphor not so much about the lady, but more about him. In the end, the slingshot breaks up this metaphor. While she seemed like a helium-filled balloon, she was more like a Christmas ornament or precious vase. So, finally, imagine this having happened in reality: He is looking at the mirror, and out of disgust strikes what he sees of himself (again, the cheating part) and there is broken glass having fallen down on the floor!
What makes this all complex and amazing is that Damien Rice and the video director are using multiple metaphors (gun, slingshot) and there are meaning interlaced into meanings (humanity, relationship). I hold to my argument at the beginning about the violent overtones here, with ‘loaded gun’ referring to rage, shame, hatred etc. “Give my gun away when it's loaded,” presumably for “you” to use it to shoot “me.” “If you don't shoot it how am I supposed to hold it” is a bit of an odd thing to say, but I argue that it’s a bizarre kind of ‘taking turns’ at shooting ‘each other’ – that is, use it on me first, then I’ll use it on you. It’s not as bizarre, though, if you subscribe to my notion that he’s alone and he’s looking at himself in the mirror. So you can imagine him shooting his reflection first, then shooting himself!
Again, odd… but ultimately brilliant, profound, beautiful!
Best regards, and thanks for reading this!
Ron Villejo, PhD
Entrepreneur|Poet|Consultant
BTW: Because I am the PoetryGuy, I wrote a poem of my interpretation of this. If anyone is interested, please e-mail at ron.villejo@gmail.com and I'd be happy to send it to you! -
I think that the girl has been cheated on and it trying to explore her feelings about forgiving him and although he feels like crap for cheatng on her and is trying to get forgivness from her he continues to cheat on her with the same girl as he feels he cant let go of his mistress as she is giving him comfort when his partner is being so cold with him as she is struggling with forgiving him. "It's the wrong time she's pulling me through"
The gun represents her defence. if she forgives him, will he do it again? "Give my gun away when it's loaded" He is struggling because she wont blow up at him and get angry which would only make him feel better and less guilt "If you don't shoot it how am I supposed to hold it"
Just one perspective folks! x
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This song is about a woman who has found out that her man has cheated on her and is debating over forgiving him. He wants her to take him back.
First, she sings:
"Leave me out with the waste" - she's been cheated on and now she feels worthless
"This is not what I do" - she usually has more self respect than to consider getting back together with a cheater
"It's a small crime and I got no excuse" - she trivializes the problem in order to justify forgiving him
"Is that alright with you?" - she is asking herself this question.
"Give my gun away when it's loaded" - a loaded gun represents her self-respect which would help her to end the relationship, but she debates giving this up.
"If you don't shoot it, how am I supposed to hold it" - if she decides not to exercise the power given to her by her self-respect (ending the relationship), she wonders if she'll be able to keep her self-respect.
The man struggles with his guilt.
He sings:
"She's pulling me through" - he speaks of his woman, saying that being with her is the only reason he can live with himself at this time.
"Give my gun away when it's loaded" - the loaded gun represents his guilty conscience, which he cannot cleanse himself.
"If you don't shoot it, how am I supposed to hold it?" - he tells her that she must release him of his guilt and forgive him (discharge the gun) before he can forgive himself.
The "No" at the end is her final decision to keep her dignity and end the relationship, which means that the man must live with his guilt. -
it's def about cheating as said in the song. The gun part is interesting. I think the loaded gun is his lust and wanker. He's horny and they're not having sex. "If you don't shoot it" and he can't hold it or hold it in. he's giving in. It applies to her too minus the wanker. Also, as with most great tunes, there's different levels of meaning,the loaded gun is bottled emotion too. The gun could also be a metaphor for the heart and it's loaded or taken but I think it's more about loaded sexual needs.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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My interpretation of this song seems different from others I've read. Obviously what I'm going to say is all my opinion. Fair warning.
When I heard this song and watched the video my first thought was that the male is remembering how much he messed up a relationship by cheating.
It starts with the girl singing.
Leave me out with the waste
This is not what I do
It's the wrong kind of place
To be thinking of you
Here I think the women is singing during the breakup. She feels like he has left her out with the trash and even though he has cheated on her and left her she is still thinking of him hence "its the wrong time to be thinking of you". I think these lines also express that she feels she is supposed to be better than this. She feels she is better than to still care for someone who has blatantly hurt her. Thats what I get from the line "this is not what I do".
It's the wrong time
For somebody new
It's a small crime
And I got no excuse
These lines to me from the girl express she is still in love with him and is not ready to move on and that she feels its a crime to herself and she has no excuse to do it, but she is feeling raw emotion from rejection.
Then the lines by the girl.
And is that alright? Yeah
Give my gun away when its loaded
That alright? Yeah
If you don't shoot it how am I supposed to hold it.
To me these lines by the girl express that she has given him her heart ( loaded gun )and that if he didn't want to be with her (shoot it) then how is she supposed to live with this loaded gun. To me this line means she is considering suicide because its not possible for her to hold this "loaded gun" aka her broken heart with he has rejected.
The next line of the song by the guy.
Leave me out with the waste
This is not what I do
It's the wrong kind of place
To be cheating on you
I believe he is saying he feels like trash for what he is doing. "This is not what I do" reflects that this is not his normal self to cheat and leave someone he cared about if not loved for a new fling.
The next lines of the song by the guy which I believe he is speaking well after the breakup and I believe after the girls suicide which drove him crazy and to become a bum. The video reflects this by him digging through trash and picking up coins when he imagines seeing her head on a balloon string.
Its the wrong time
She's pulling me through
It's a small crime
And I got no excuse
Here I believe he is saying after her suicide and his guilt he realized he really loved her and that her memory is the only thing pulling him though this bad time. The video shows him as a bum holding a balloon sting with her head floating at the top which I interpreted the balloon as something of a toy, but it is the memory of the girl he drove to suicide that he realized he loved too late. As the bum is walking down the street with this memory on a string some kids come and pop the balloon with a slingshot. I took this as a creative way of saying maybe he was imagining he was speaking to her and she was with him again and some kids came up and said "hey mister, who are you talking to". And these kids "popped his balloon" and ruined his hallucination of her hence why the video makes this kids seem cruel by popping the balloon with a slingshot, as they took this bum out of his memory of happiness.
The end of the song to me express that he has now given his heart (loaded gun) to her just like she gave to him only she is not around to accept it so he is left having to live with it himself. He is facing the same thing she did before her suicide. If she is not around to accept his love ( shoot it) then how is he supposed to live with it ( hold it). -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Ignore all the other interpretations on this page. The one submitted by anonymous in Oct07 that starts "The song is a tragedy" is exactly right. The rest are off the mark.
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I think that in this song there are two interpretations to be made - the woman and the man.
the girl can't stop thinking of this guy, even though she knows she shouldnt. She shouldnt because this guy is completely unavailable thus the "if you don't shoot it how am I supposed to hold it". How are you supposed to take love unless you can physically feel it from another. It's quite obvious she's given her heart away but ... what about him?
The guy on the other hand knows that he once loved this girl but whats the freaking point? so life moves on and so does he, and he wants so bad to heal her pain to get over his own guilt of ever hurting her. His lines are more like saying "im sorry that this happened but I'm not going to pretend to feel like I did... but whats happening to you is tearing me up." so inside his mind there are two conflicting forces - the side that wants to love her and the side that knows he doesn't... and its making him terribly lonely..
This is what the two parts have in common. over all this song is about loneliness and the unavailability of another. what ever is going on between these two people is not love - its the inability to love ...
because like the wind you can't see love. you can feel it - but unless you feel the bullet where it stings its obviously not there. -
I think some of the interpretations above are correct.
This is not what I do - meaning this is not something she normally does. Same thing when he says it, so its a girl and guy both cheating...and they have no excuse for it...
The only thing I see differently is the "is that alright? give my gun away when its loaded, but if you don't shoot it how am I supposed to hold it?" Meaning....the gun is her love....how can she give her love away when its already been given to someone else (loaded) but if he's not going to shoot it (take her love? appreciate her? etc?) then how is she supposed to hold on...
It took me a while to figure out what I thought about those lyrics until someone wasnt shooting my loaded gun and then, I finally realized it... -
The song is a tragedy.
The song is describing the breakup of a couple. The woman is cheating on him, at some bar or "Lonely Hearts" No-tell motel. He's found someone to "pull him through" the hard times during the breakup.
The real tragedy is that the love has slowly melted away; there is no fiery confrontation or breakup, and neither has really let go -- "Is that alright with you?" Both of them keep asking, keep hoping that the answer is a resounding "NO!"; something, anything to trigger a reaction from the other.
To "give away a gun while it's loaded" -- is there not enough passion left even to feel bitter, to feel anger, to pull the trigger? "If you don't shoot it, how am I supposed to hold it" -- if you won't protest me leaving, does that mean I have to quietly watch you walk away too?
The final word says it all -- No. It's not alright, but she doesn't think there's anything left to fight for. He's already gone. -
I think it's about a guy that's cheating and his girlfriend who finds out and starts thinking about leaving him for someone else but can't bring herself to do it because she loves him so much and hates herself for not having the strength to move on.
The give my gun away when its loaded bit could be meaning that both the guy and girl are putting themselves in dangerous situations cause they are handing each other a loaded gun. I think the shoot it bit is like saying that if something doesn't change, like if the girl doesn't leave or the guy doesn't stop cheating then both of them are gonna break down cause of all the guilt and regret that's going on.
At the end the guy is like no it's not okay cause he decides he doesn't want to lose her and see her with someone new.
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