Les Funérailles

Song Meaning

The narrator opens with a stark apology, admitting an inability to face the grief of others, specifically their daughters. This avoidance stems from a haunting vision of a "ghost" seen recently, which seems to have driven them indoors, finding solace only in the familiar, albeit melancholic, presence of Gary Numan and the walls that "remind me of you." The initial tone is one of deep personal distress and social withdrawal, masked by a polite, yet clearly strained, deference. The core tension lies in a desperate, destructive desire for connection and preservation. The narrator wants to "deserve you" and "preserve you," yet immediately counters with the chilling admission, "I might as well kill you." This paradox suggests a love so possessive and fragile that its very existence threatens the object of affection. The narrator's "unresponsive head" and the idea that the other person's "born again" moment signifies their own demise reveal a profound fear of loss, intertwined with a self-destructive impulse. The lyrics employ a striking contrast between life and death, particularly in the third verse. The narrator declares "life is for losers and death is for strangers," a bleak pronouncement that re-frames their own potential demise. The idea of dying to "make it out alive" and waiting for the other person to arrive before they "join you in heaven" suggests a morbid obsession where their own existence is contingent upon the other's. This creates a disturbing narrative where death becomes a perverse form of reunion or escape. Ultimately, the song's power comes from its unflinching portrayal of a suffocating, self-negating love. The narrator's internal conflict, oscillating between a desire to cherish and a compulsion to destroy, is laid bare. The repeated, shifting refrain about the other person being "born again" – leading to the narrator's "expire," "tired," and finally "inspired" – charts a psychological arc from despair to a twisted, almost transcendent, acceptance of their own end as a means of eternal connection.