What do you think Evil means?

Interpol: Evil Meaning

Tagged: Prison [suggest]
Album cover for Evil album cover

Song Released: 2005


Evil Lyrics

Rosemary
Heaven restores you in life
Coming with me
Through the aging, the fearing, the strife
It's the smiling on the package
It's the faces in the sand
It's the thought that moves you upwards
Embracing me with two hands
Right will take...

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  1. somethingsomething
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     May 12th 2009 !⃝

    Taking into account the video (which is not always a good way to interpret lyrics) it looks as as this is a song about mourning and loss after the accidental death of a loved one. The song could also refer to a car crash (glass and grease) and as previous entries have pointed out, there are a number of references to grief, loss and mourning, given with a detached attitude (but hey who's on trial?) that is also represented in the video where the protagonist is a plastic dummy, in shock and filled with a sadness rather than grief. Also there is no reference to a 'sandy' in this song. I believe some people may be mis-hearing the line 'saying 'hey, why can't we look the other way?'

  2. anonymous
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     May 4th 2009 !⃝

    this song is aout crystal meth, switch the words around, you can't lay grease
    Leave some grease under the belly.
    Lay some shards inside my hand.
    ehh? anybody that knows about meth users knows what a grease belly is. it is those big round tubes they use to cook meth. lay some shards inside my hand? i rest my case.
    Is this motion everlasting
    Or do shadows pass in the night?
    i know everyone thinks it says shutters but listen more closely he says shadows. you tweakers will know what shadow people are. i rest my case.

  3. anonymous
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     Apr 30th 2009 !⃝

    The song is a reference to The Stranger by Albert Camus. A 1942 book about the meaninglessness of life and the inevitability of death. Rosemary refers to "Marie", the protagonist's girlfriend. Evil refers to how people view him after a meaningless, accidental murder on an Algerian beach.

  4. anonymous
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     Sep 6th 2008 !⃝

    I think that a couple of these Interpretations are good, however..
    When he says "Hey, but who's on trial?"
    He's not saying who's on trial, it's a common phrase (especially in NYC, where they're from)
    It's like saying 'What's with the third degree?' or more succinctly: Why are you asking -me-?
    Just thought that would help. :]

  5. anonymous
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     Aug 24th 2008 !⃝

    I think the "good Nazi" theory is correct as well as the drug use interpretation--it could be both...to be indirect with meaning lyricists use metaphors; historical figures or mythological characters are the best references since they are universally known (in other words, easier to relate with)
    I think the murder/infidelity interpretation is the most direct/obvious take on the song...it could also mean the workings of a mind who's always misunderstood...the names used could've been chosen for phonetics purposes--'cause they sound better than "Jane" or "Rosalie"...who knows? I wish I could find Interpol's own take on this song...

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  6. anonymous
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     Jun 24th 2008 !⃝

    I think the murder interpretations were the most accurate, but sometimes I think artists write songs that might not always make sense.

  7. anonymous
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     Nov 30th 2007 !⃝

    The song is apparently based on Rosemary West, an infamous English murderer.

  8. anonymous
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     Aug 22nd 2007 !⃝

    I think this song is actually about the life of Albert Speer who was the "good Nazi". I use that term very loosely as anyone who knows will know he wasn't.

    However, he spent a life sentence with no cell mate. His wife was rosemary who committed suicide white the Nuremberg trial was happening when Speer was on trial. That leads to her memoires while he is in jail thinking about her.

    He is also associated with the killing of thousands of jews, but was never actually convicted.

    There is more in the song, but I can't be bothered. Look it up yourself, more fun that way.

  9. casandrapaige
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     Jun 27th 2007 !⃝

    I heard this song was referencing the serial killer Rosemary West. It seems to make sense-

    Rosemary
    Heaven restores you in life
    You're coming with me
    Through the aging, the fear and the strife
    It's the smiling on the package
    It's the faces in the sand
    It's the thought that moves you upwards
    Embracing me with two hands
    Write, will take you places
    Yeah maybe to the beach
    When your friends they do come crying
    Tell them now your pleasure's set up on slow-release

  10. anonymous
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     Apr 24th 2007 !⃝

    Hmmm.. well lets see here. Honestly perspectives. never tried it but shards under the belly grease in the hand. Nlack tar. Puncture wounds. Slow release on alternative the long way back. Clean, Slow release alternative meds. Look the other way. When I goto a gallery I don't think about what it means to me I try and realize what it meant to the artist. Considering I went back stage with these Guys. I think I'm close here. YouPeople.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  11. anonymous
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     Dec 13th 2006 !⃝

    This song is about a heroine user; rosemary is the mark(s) a needle leaves on you after frequent use (not a girls name as commonly thought). The beach refers to the Goosebumps you get on your arm after shooting up (a very common reference) mostly refers to ones arm after heroin use). "When your friends say you come crying" heroine users often call on friends for money. "Now your pleasure is set on slow release" when you unwind the ruberband or string around your arm slowly after injection heroine in your body to more slowly feel the sensation of the drug flowing through your body. "The thoughts that move you upward" getting high. Sandy is a girlfriend or friend who doesn’t approve of his use of heroine hence his saying "why can we just look the other way" ."lay some grees inside my hand" another direct refence to injecting. "a life time with no cell mate" mby life long sentence for drug abuse or selling or just a feeling of loneliness. Most of the rest of the song is just more of about his and Sandy’s relationship and or his relationship with heroin

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  12. anonymous
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     Dec 12th 2006 !⃝

    this song is about a herione user, rosemerry is the marks a needle leaves on you after frequent use(not a girls name as commonly thought). The beach reffers to the goosebumps you get on your arm after shooting up(a very common refference) mostly reffers to ones arm after herionuse). "when your friend say you come crying" herione users often call on friends for money . "now your pleasure is set on slow release" when you unwind the ruberband or string around your arm slowly after enjection herione in your body to more slowly feel the sensation of the drug flowing throught your body. "the thoughts that move you upward" getting high. Sandy id a girlfriend r friend who doesn't approve of his use of herione hence his saying "why can we just look the other way" ".lay some grees inside my hand" anouther direct refence to enjecting. "a life time with no cell mate" mby life long sentence for drug abuse or selling or just a feeling of lonleyness. most of the rest of the song is just more of about his and sanys relationship and or his relationship to herion

  13. anonymous
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     Aug 11th 2006 !⃝

    I think, plain and simply, this song is about someone who has had an affair. So many of these very thoughtful interpretations are failing to see the forest through the trees. There are two women, rosemary and sandy. The line about rosemary being restored, in my opinion, a reference to redemption, that she was given the shaft in the affair, but that life would make it up to her. For sandy, she is being begged for forgiveness. The affair is regarded as a train wrech, or car crash of sorts. The life with no cell mate represents the emotional isolation one experiences when one's spouse is stepping out. The long way back is the long road to rebuilding trust.

    Hey wait. Great smile. Is tantamount to a guy coming home late from a bar and trying to appease his pissed off wife by saying "hey, nice dress." or something like that.

    Sensitive to faith, not denial. Means that sandy is fully awaure of what has been going on, but does not act rash; she respects her vows, even if he hasn't.

    But hey, who's on trial? Simply means that he has absolutely no right to judge her given what he's done.

    The car crash is a metaphor for the train wreck the guy's life has become in the wake of his infidelity.

  14. anonymous
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     Aug 8th 2006 !⃝

    This whole song represents someone being trapped in there own mind. Someone had done something so wrong that they can’t live with themselves anymore. They apologize for what they have done. When the song says "sandy, why can’t we look the other way" he is saying that "we" as in two of us can not see why they killed her. "weightless semi-erotic" is a meaning of which that he didn’t mean to kill her and that for what he did he will join her in his own pain and denial. "hey wait, great smile." is simply a metaphor for how so many people want to try to forget about people that have died, and that have tried to get on with there lives, when he says those lines its almost like he can't believe that they are so happy...He doesn’t understand that they could forget so easily. "I spent a life span with no cellmate" is of course his sentence for doing what he did to his wife. Being alone is the worst thing, to be trapped in a cell with himself and his thoughts that have slowly over taken his mind. The last few lines "leave some shards under my belly lay some grease inside my hands" is not him talking...Being trapped inside his own mind has caused him to say things that mean absolutely nothing to anyone else but means everything to him, they are metaphors that can not be explained. At the very end of the song he asks many questions to "sandy" because he doesn’t understand, he wants clarification to why he killed her because in his lasts few breaths he wants answers for everything he has done, "why can't we just look the other way" is asking why the world can't understand that he didn’t know what he was doing. And then at the very end he of course dies. "evil"

  15. anonymous
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     Dec 22nd 2005 !⃝

    While I can see some room for the perspective that it's about murder, the video clearly goes in the opposite direction. It's clearly been an accidental death. So perhaps it's about someone trying to move on after a loved one's death and yet he is haunted by his former lover.

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