Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of a complex, almost parasitic relationship, centered around a woman who offers a dangerous kind of intimacy. The opening questions, "Have you ever loved a woman / Who should be that little intruder?" immediately establish a sense of unease and transgression, suggesting a love that feels wrong or out of place. This isn't a gentle affection; it's an entanglement that feels like a violation, a seduction that comes with a price. The core of the song seems to revolve around the act of "sharing the snake" and "swallowing the snake." This potent, unsettling imagery suggests a shared burden, a forbidden knowledge, or a destructive temptation that the narrator is being urged to accept. The repetition of these phrases creates a hypnotic, almost ritualistic feel, emphasizing the inescapable nature of this offer. It's a dark pact being proposed, a dangerous truth being passed along. The lyrics then shift to a more direct confrontation with the consequences of this entanglement. The woman is described as having "seduce[d] you with a trade," implying a transactional intimacy where affection is exchanged for something potentially harmful. Later, the narrator speaks of learning "Heaven through impure lips," a striking contrast that suggests a corrupted form of enlightenment or salvation gained from this woman. The idea that her "tender arms" would have "strangled you to let you live" is a powerful paradox, highlighting a love that is both life-giving and destructive. Ultimately, the song presents a stark choice between two forms of sacrifice. The narrator must release the woman's suffocating embrace, which paradoxically offered life through strangulation, to embrace the "fainting arms" of a cross that are "just killing you to let you live." This is a profound spiritual or emotional crisis, where both paths involve pain and a form of death, but one offers a chance at a different kind of life. The final call to "follow the snake" suggests that even after the choice, the dangerous path or the temptation remains a guiding force.