Song Meaning
The lyrics paint a surreal, almost grotesque picture of people adorned with leaves, likened to "Warholian wigs." This initial image is striking, suggesting a superficial, artificial beauty or perhaps a forced naturalness. The repetition of "They wear their leaves" emphasizes this peculiar, almost ritualistic display. The phrase "Kangarwomb" appears twice, a bizarre, invented word that evokes a sense of unnatural containment or a distorted origin, adding to the unsettling atmosphere.
The core of the piece seems to lie in the contrast between artificiality and enduring pain. The lines "If she had not paved / In memoriam, their wounds / With gilt gold scabs" introduce a figure who has seemingly covered or memorialized past injuries with a gilded, yet still scab-like, covering. This suggests a superficial healing that doesn't erase the underlying damage, a beautiful but ultimately hollow repair.
The most potent imagery is the "gilt gold scabs." It's a powerful oxymoron, combining the preciousness of gold with the unpleasantness of scabs. This suggests that what appears valuable or healed is, in fact, a covering over old wounds, a fragile and perhaps painful facade. The narrator's final "I dream of resting" offers a stark counterpoint, a desire for genuine peace away from this world of artificial adornment and concealed pain.
This juxtaposition of superficial beauty and underlying damage creates a deeply unsettling emotional resonance. The lyrics effectively use strange, invented language and striking, contradictory imagery to convey a sense of unease about appearances and the nature of healing. The narrator's final plea for rest underscores the oppressive weight of this gilded facade.
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