H.I.M: Wings of a Butterfly Meaning
Wings of a Butterfly Lyrics
We're standing still in time
The blood on our hands is the wine
We offer a sacrifice
[Chorus]
Come on and show, them your love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul, my love
Rip out the wings of a...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:Ville Valo in a Kerrang magazine says that it comes from a Greek mythology that they belived that if you ripped the wings out of a butterfly then they would live forever. Would you be able to destroy something buetiful to live forever. The first verse tells of exitement "the blood on our hands is the wine" "heaven's ablaze in our eyes" "we offer as sacrifice". But the second verse shows the regrets they face but they still don't have to worry about dieing, they have become immortal. but they still want forgiveness "This endless mercy mile" "hell's freezing over in our eyes" "God's kneel before our crimes"
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2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:Darling, while your 'interpretation' was.. Interesting.. It's not even close. In certain cultures, butterflies are believed to be sacred. And they live forever. But ripping the wings of them off, would kill them, thus giving the person who ripped them off, eternal life. In this song, Ville is basically saying: are you willing to take a chance to ruin something beautiful (a butterfly. But in this case, he's using a metaphor. Ie butterfly = life) To take a risk (ripping the wings off = a relationship) in order to gain something greater (eternal life from ripping the wings off = Love). It's confusing, but quite fascinating once you figure it out.
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3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:I always equated it to the Death of Christ...Gods kneel before our crime....Rip out the Wings of a Butterfly for your soul...Kill one of innocence and beauty to save yourselves....Heaven ablaze in our eyes....Thinking only of saving yourselves, you sacrifice that which is pure for your own renewal....The blood on our hands is the wine....His blood with the final spear in his side was spilt to act as the wine or sacrifice...Show your love....He was loved here on Earth yet we betrayed him and he died saving us. With hell freezing over in our eyes...we looked upon our deeds and saw our damnation....That's my spin on it at least...
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The songs maybe were wrote by him. But number 2 "This endless mercy mile" means he is in love but maybe he doesn't love someone conrete person he love is the life the little things in life even the bad. he is from greece there in the past there were many gods maybe he believes in them in what's beyond life and death or maybe he doesn't believe in god so he says gods to provoke GOD. Maybe his heart is brave and he want's to see what will happened if he judje God becouse if someone is in love why the world will be against him why god will bring him pain. why those who are gay are senteced in endless mercy life. It's not fair. He sing for the love which is denied by every one and given from God as revenge. But those people are not guilty for there love they are senteced on damnation without fault. That's HIM and number 2 how you were sayng these metal gods are not even close to god they are sellouts but you can't see it only HIM does but no one else can understand the meanings of the HIM songs only HIM does and that's killing because the world is crue like god and love it the only thing that saves us but we deny the love becouse of our evel side.
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I think it might be about fame and struggles to become famous.
I like the other interpretations too, but like someone said before good lyrics can be interpreted on various ways, and I think that these lyrics are good.
Line ''we're crawling side by side'' reminded me on soldiers and I think that soldiers around poet are his band...
So this is my interpretation.
"Heaven ablaze in our eyes" - Heaven can be scene that was mainstream before HIM became popular, because like it or not HIM is kinda mainstream(or should I say was?) and most metal bands never become mainstream, and considering that for the most ordinary people metal bends are satanists, the opposite, mainstream artists, could be considered as angels, or some other creatures from HEAVEN.
They ablaze because with their presence(HIM) they ruined their heaven.
"We're standing still in time" -
This is obvious, the thing with most metal and rock bands is that they're stuck in some past time, they never look outside the known matter for them.
"The blood on our hands is the wine, we offer as sacrifice" -
They sacrificed something ofc, but what?
I think it's their honor, because they maybe feel like they've betrayed the others(metal fans, musicians) for chasing the fame.
In metal society it's considering that mainstream is something sacrilegious.
Chorus part is we already know but there is one interesting line. Word, exactly.
''Show, THEM your love"
It's gotta be mass, and showing them love means showing them a feeling that they want to see. Metalheads don't need love.
But mainstream mediocretes? I think so.
Show em love - give them what they need, sacrifice something for eternal life(rip out the wings of a butterfly).
But why would they do that?
Why would they sacrifice something for becoming famous, becoming part of something "sacrilegious"?
Ego(For your soul), for the soul of the other member of the band, it got me thinking that the writer of these lines is not the same guy that is moaning for fame. Maybe Ville V. is not the guy who wrote these lyrics, because he certainly looks like guy who is moaning for fame.
Another interesting thing, the way that's said, "For your soul, MY love", like he's blaming the other one.
Like he's saying ''For your ego I'm giving something that should be just mine''.
And that last repeated line in chorus(for your soul) sounds so desperate.
Like he's desperately yelling."This endless mercy mile" - I don't really understand what he's trying to say with this line so I'll just skip it. xD Don't want to embarass myself. xD
What ever is the meaning of that mercy mile, they're crawling together through it.
"With hell freezing over in our eyes" - We already know what is hell, and it's frozen for them, they're not welcome there anymore.
The other possibility.
Frozen hell is the opposite of burning heaven mentioned in first verse so maybe it's just an ornament to the lyrics. Sounds lame, but then whole song makes sense.
"Gods kneel before our crime" - Who are those gods?
In christianity there is only one god, and they would probably speak about christianity after they mentioned heaven and hell, right? But it's gods not god.
So I'm thinking about some other gods. Metal gods.
You've heard about that before, "God of metal, Ronnie James Dio" or Ozzy Osbourne or whoever else press likes.
So I think he's talking about his idols. But how would they kneel? And more important, why?
The gods admire them. On the first album of HIM they made a cover of Chris Isaak's wicked games(lame, exactly the theme of this song) it was '97.
Why I'm saying that? Chronology. They've "sold" themselves 5 years before one of the gods did that too. I'm talking about Ozzy O. and his disgusting reality show. He knelled before their crimes. And 3 years after he "kneeled" they published this song.
This is interesting interpretation, and probably not true one, I doubt Ville V. or whoever wrote this was thinking about all this things, but who really knows what's it all about?
And I like the way it all fits with my theory.
Great song! -
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This is a hellish, horrific song: a beautiful melody that makes me shudder. To me "rip off the wings of a butterfly" is a clear metaphor for destroying something or someone innocent. That is the sacrifice and a most terrible one it is. Indeed, your soul would be owned--totally--if you were to do that. :( Every time I heard this song, I thought, I would never, ever do something like that.
And then, not too long ago, I met a representative from hell. And he has what I want so very, very bad. What I've wanted all my life. What I've needed, for years. Something very rare, very hard to find, even on this hellish planet. I would do anything for him. Anything. And I deeply fear for my soul. :(
Sound romantic, melodramatic, unreal? Nah. It's just life. Life throws this sort of thing at us all, all the time. (sad smile)This world is such a dangerous place.
Unda -
the whole song means you have to destroy something old to built something new...he said it in an interview its a tricky one i know...still tryna find page 43 of the devils bible to find the meaning behind shatter me with hope...help anyone?
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I am not saying this is what the songwriter intended, only that it is AN interpretation of the lyrics. The beauty of a well written song/poem is in the multiple ways it can be interpreted.
In listening to it, it occurred to me it could be a song about an abortion:
Verse 1:
We're standing still in time
The blood on our hands is the wine
We offer as sacrifice
"Standing still in time" is a reference to that moment, the blood on their hands is obvious. This is about their decision and the action, the actual event.
Verse 2:
This endless mercy mile
We're crawling side by side
With hell freezing over in our eyes
Gods kneel before our crime
Show's the aftermath. They never thought they'd do something like this (hell freezing over) and Gods kneel before their crime shows their regret in addition to it being a bad thing they've done.
Now the chorus. Rip of the wings of a butterfly becomes a metaphor for the abortion. Ripping out the gentlest, most fragile part of a beautiful creature. And they're doing it so they can have their own life.
You can interpret the "show them your love" and "for your soul" to be that is being done either because He pressure Her (if you love me you'd do it) and because they decided that a child would disrupt their lives too much, so doing this saves them in the process.
All in all it is a pretty regretful look at the abortion, so I feel the need to point out that despite seeing this in the lyrics, I am pro-life and not just using this to be preachy.
I think it makes a decent, possible, interpretation. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This song is about one of the hardest parts of life, giving something you love up for something new. In this case, Ville uses the metaphor "Rip out the wings of a butterfly for your soul" to interpret the meaning that to get someones soul, you must first sacrifice something to get it, in the songs case, you rip out the wings of a butterfly to get it.
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Uhm... whoever thought ville was an idiot...
You're retarded.. -_
you agreed with the interpretation but you don't even understand it =/ -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I kinda agree with jessifax26, read it!
I think it's about some person he loves and they are friends and he's singing about the risk to ruin a friendship by starting a relationship.
I have a deeper theory but that may offend someone.. So
It might be about a guy who they are friends with but they kinda have a secret relationship and he's singing about coming out.
"Come on, and show them your love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly"
and they really would like but they don't know how people would react.
"This endless mercy mile
We're crawling side by side
With hell freezing over in our eyes
Gods kneel before our crime"
He's telling something like It will be hard and they'll judge us bu they'll show who's the boss. -
So are you saying that pretty much the "girl" or whoever it is.... Should basically give up something to prove he or she loves that person?
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The internal struggle between good versus bad. Listening to evil say it, "come on lets show them your love" and to prove your love you will take from the beauty of life and rip off the wings of a butterfly. Evil taunts for your soul. We sacrific to appease evil and have blood on our hands of our crimes. It is only the heavens above that the Gods will come forward and kneel at our crimes.
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Well I'm not great at interpretations, but this one is easy for me because Valo actually told what this song means at the HIM concert in Denver. He basically said that everyone is trying to find a hidden meaning in this song but its simply about torturing something that's precious to most people.
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