Drowning Lessons

this is what i got.

Without a sound I took her down >slept with her?
And dressed in red and blue I squeezed
Imaginary wedding gown >maybe he was dreaming they were getting married
That you can't wear in front of me > Meaning he'd be the groom

I dragged her down > Seems likes she dead
I put her out
And back there I left her where no one could see > Maybe hiding the body
And lifeless cold >says Body
Into this well > He put her in the well
I stared as this moment was held for me

I never thought it'd be this way > Him in regret
Just me and you we're here alone
And if you stay,
All I'm asking for is > The devil telling him how to bring her back
A thousand bodies piled up > The devil


And I'll keep on making more > saying He'd kill more
Just to prove that I adore
Every inch of sanity. > His insane, maybe he didnt really meet the devil


These hands stained red
From the times that I've killed you and then > Maybe he killed her more than once
We can wash down this engagement ring > Proves the wedding theroy


And we'll celebrate the end of things with cheap champagne > Like at most weddings I've been to

Interesting theory--sounds like you think it's about the Demolition Lovers. The thousand bodies bit sort of makes it seem that way. This song is one of the more baffling (in my opinion), but I think you've got some good ideas^.

Maybe demolition Lovers and Drowning leasons are tied together, like to tell a story. What order would they go in but?

Okay, I think this is what it means. If I'm wrong, don't come to my house with a couple of your friends and shot guns.

I think I kinda tells a story. At the beginning, the couple are married or are getting married. ("Imaginary wedding gown, that you can wear in front of me." )But, the man may be unhappy and taking anti-depressions, or he may just like the numb pain. ("And dressed in red and blue I squeezed." )Anyways, so he is taking the drugs. And maybe on his wedding day, or honey moon, or whatever, he gets high off of the drugs. So, he may have killed his wife. But, here's where I'm kinda thinking differently from everyone: He possibly didn't drown her. I think that he may have shot her, or stabbed her, or something. That doesn't really matter, she got killed and now she's dead. And then he woke up or saw what he did and he just...freaked out. Here's where I think drowning comes in: His soul. He was drowned in a lake of confusion and depression from what he did. And, he killed him self. Probably by over dosing on the red and blue drugs. That's what I think the song's meaning is.

i like all these theories

I think this song ties in with early sunsets and demolition lovers, he kills her because she is not human anymore and he feels really sorry for himself so he kills himself... sort of

than he gets into limbo where he does the deal with the devil to collect the thousand souls which leads into revenge

just a thought

I've been thinking about the line, "dressed in red and blue I squeezed." I think he's choking her, and her face is turning blue. And the red I think is for blood.

Ah, good points... But this song does seem to tie in with Demolition Lovers... Assuming that this is so, what order would make the most sense...?

CollisionOfYourKiss:

Ah, good points... But this song does seem to tie in with Demolition Lovers... Assuming that this is so, what order would make the most sense...?

Well, I dunno about that. I'm told that Gerard apologized to his girlfriend in the acknowledgments, sorry for "killing" her off every song (probably including "Drowning Lessons" ), and that he hoped "Demolition Lovers" would make up for it. Most of the songs on "Bullets" are about a man killing his lover, except for "Demolition Lovers," which is about two lovers getting killed by someone else.

That's why I think they're not really related. But if you still think they might be, I guess I'd go in song order, and say that "Drowning Lessons" comes first. Besides, "Demolition Lovers" paints such a vivid picture of the dying process ("and as we're falling down, and in this pool of blood..." etc.), I think that at least one of them snuffs it at that point.

You have a pretty good point^^! You're pretty smart you know? Um, but, I think I agree with you...Thank you for clearing that up.

Solitary Style.:

CollisionOfYourKiss:

Ah, good points... But this song does seem to tie in with Demolition Lovers... Assuming that this is so, what order would make the most sense...?

Well, I dunno about that. I'm told that Gerard apologized to his girlfriend in the acknowledgments, sorry for "killing" her off every song (probably including "Drowning Lessons" ), and that he hoped "Demolition Lovers" would make up for it. Most of the songs on "Bullets" are about a man killing his lover, except for "Demolition Lovers," which is about two lovers getting killed by someone else.

That's why I think they're not really related. But if you still think they might be, I guess I'd go in song order, and say that "Drowning Lessons" comes first. Besides, "Demolition Lovers" paints such a vivid picture of the dying process ("and as we're falling down, and in this pool of blood..." etc.), I think that at least one of them snuffs it at that point.

I agree it clears things up for me

idk. I'm just glad that I'm not the only person who thinks the way I do. Everything you say makes sense, but I say that all three cds are one big story, although order wise, no effing clue. Anyone who figures out the story, will become immortal and Gee's and the bands luver. LOL!!!!! j/k j/k. That's be really cool, though. Like, if you did figure it out, then Gee shows up and says, "Welcome to the Black Parade, where there is always Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and when I bring you my bullets, you bring me your love." <---- I have no effing clue where that came from! LOL!! Anyways, I don't know. I agree with everyone. L8ers!

dorkeh__x:

miss brightside:

"dressed in red and blue..."

these were the colors of the pills that gerard took back when the band first started. the red ones were antidepressants and the blue ones were narcotics, and he needed both just so his brain would shut down so he could go to sleep at night. he mentions these pills in "Headfirst for Halos" as well when he says "the red ones make me fly and the blue ones help me fall..."

just a thought.

that's exactly what i thought
the whole pills thing

Lets say goodbye,
The hundreth time,
And then tomorrow we'll do it again.
Tomorrow we'll do it again.

maybe about trying to quit? but failing it everytime?

No matter how many times I listen to this song....which is quite frequently...I still don't get it. Some of the thing's I've read makes sense like:

My Synthetic Love:

I've allwys understood it like he's looking back at a relationship.
I don't really know if he's still in it, or if he relly killed her.

You made me have an idea.. Maybe he's remembering when he was about to get married and not being able to see the bride? meh, IDK.

its about the second part of demolition lovers its abot you already killing the 1000 evil men and you have them piled up and 'I dragged her down I put her out
And back there I left her where no one could see' cause he wants to protect her and she wants to get married but he is still killing the evil men

'And if you stay, all I'm asking for is
A thousand bodies piled up
I never thought would be enough
To show you just what I've been thinking'

I could of swore it was about this guy & girl who loved each other but the girl dies & he has to make some pact that if he gets 1000 dead bodies he'll save her.

If only i can find where i read that.

renrevenge.:

i read someplace, that if rice grains and roses are placed at your feet, it's like a....dedication to death. like if someone was about to die, they'd place rice grains and rose petal around feet. i can't remember where it's done, but i deffinatlly remember reading it on some site.

I think in Bhuddism *spelling*, they place rice grains in the offering bowls for Buhdda. Rice grains are supposed to be sacred, and like a way of exalting someone. Another way of exalting someone is to kill them (that bit might not be true, it might just be in my mind.)

Ha. Confusing. I always thought the "roses and rice grains" part was another connection to a wedding, if there's one, makes sense there might be another, right? Bear with me here. I thought there was a tradition where people threw rice grains at a newly married couple. Same thing with rose petals.

I think this ties in with the Three Cheers/Demolition Lovers plot somehow. I'm unsure about the marriage part right now...probably he's imagining about marrying her, his lover,... but at first you think the only connection is the "1000 bodies" part. Well, I was looking at Marylora's post. If what's he's asking for is the devil to tell him how to bring her back, the "1000 bodies piled up" is HOW to get her back, which is therefore the tie into the Three Cheers plot. Except, how they died was that he became angry and killed her (or at least believed he did) then committed suicide.

"We can wash down this engagement ring" means he gave up the chance to marry her when he killed her and then himself...(perhaps by poisoning, hence the "champagne" line before it).

"And I'll keep on making more
Just to prove that I adore
Every inch of sanity." Maybe he means he's "making more" bodies, to prove just how much he loves her. (That sounds weird, but I mean, if 1000 bodies was how to get her back) As though she is his only sanity.

"Without a sound I took her down
And dressed in red and blue I squeezed" Red and blue could mean injuries, as in he's hurting her. Or it could be, as someone said, a reference to the pills Gerard was taking...


Geez. Long post.

for some reason ive always thought this song was about/part of the three cheers concept. i think it is about the guy's conversation with the devil when he goes to hell. the beginning music signifies his descent into hell, then the part,
"I dragged her down I put her out
And back there I left her where no one could see
And lifeless cold into this well"
is the devil telling him what happened to the girl and that she was still alive after the gun fight. and then
"I never thought it'd be this way
Just me and you, we're here alone
And if you stay, all I'm asking for is
A thousand bodies piled up"
is when the devil is telling him that if he brings him the souls of a thousand evil men, he will let him be with his lover again.
and then
"Without, without a sound
And I wish you away
Without a sound
And I wish you away"
is when the guy says okay and the devil sends him back up

then the ending instrumentals afterwards is signifying his ascent back up to earth.

Yah i think that he is addicted to drugs, she cheats on him he beats her she does it again he is taking drugs so it screws up his mind and kills her after like he comes down from his high all the pain he brought on by killing her is too much so he kills himself too....,
just a thought....i guess

I think it's this, but there are other possibilitys[listed below] we already know that they die at the end, maybe thats part of it, she knows what could happen if they stay this way and she's scared of it. and for this reason she keeps leaving and coming back and when she comes back her hurts her, or "Drownds" her [hence drowning lessons] in her own guilt.


OR that it's that one cheated and the other found out, and they fight about it all the time

OR that they have a reationhip where it never works out and it dont because he keeps hurting her and she keeps staying.



But to be honest I think it's the first one.