I firmly believe that this is the saddest song ever written. It is not “sad” as much as it is desperate. The final chorus sums it up, and the Reznor-esque industrial noises and sounds which close the track give the listener that same sense of desperation, mixed with a healthy dose of discomfort. The two together convey a small fragment of what it is like to feel the most crushing sorrow conceivable, in a way that few other pieces of music can. Unlike most AFI songs, the lyrics may actually be the weakest element of the track. This statement, however, does not diminish how powerful the words are, nor is it meant to imply that they are weak by any standards. They just are not quite as powerful as the music.
One line, however, speaks to me in a way that the rest do not. While most of the lyrics seem to speak of a personal relationship that ended badly and left the narrator despondent, this one line speaks instead, from the point of view of an non-religious person, of the grim realization that there is nothing awaiting us beyond death. That when we breathe our final breath, we will not awaken again in the arms of our loved ones, but instead drift into a void, ever lost from consciousness. This line speaks of what it’s like to disappear.
“There are no flowers, no, not this time. There’ll be no angels gracing the lines - just these stark words I’d find.”
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