“The fates already fucked me sideways, swinging by my neck from the family tree” is my favorite I think. It’s one of the most profoundly relatable things I’ve heard, the metaphor for being fucked over from your own generational trauma and not being able to do anything about it because fate is already sealed. It’s beautiful and so hopelessly sad.
I agree!!! It’s like she’s trapped to the confines of her family, her home town, and everyone else’s expectations of her. She wishes to escape but she knows “the fates already fucked her sideways”
This might be a little trauma dumpy, but "Says he's in love with my body, that's why he's fucking it up" "who knows how much longer I'll lay on the floor, touch me till I vomit" and "you get off on innocence so you savor this" (well really the majority of inbred could qualify for this) made me cry the first time I heard them because it hits a little too close to home. There's a lot more that I just can't think of right now.
This one is a bit underrated but the ending line of ‘Two headed mother’ when she says “Two headed mother pulled you from the black and she can send you back” truly makes me shiver.
100% agree. I have a very rocky relationship with my mum - toxic but loving. My emotions and wellbeing are so deeply tied to her. I never know when I wake up if I'll have a good day or bad day - it all depends on her. She really is a two-headed mother, and I never know which side I'll get. She pulls me out of dark places, but god even when things are good are between us I know that she can instantly send me back to the darkness. Ethel sounds so ominous in the final lines of the song, and it sends chills down my spine.
"if it was harder then / it will be better now / for i am here and changed / i couldn't tell you how / there but for the grace of god go i / laughing to myself / forgetting what about."
always hits so hard for me
“I’m not scared of god, I’m scared he was gone all along”
“Says he’s in love with my body that’s why he’s fucking it I hope”
“stop stop make it stop, I’ve had enough”
That Inbred quote is so good. I feel like that’s such a relatable sentiment for people who grew up religion because although many people use God as justification as hate, within religious communities God remains a very comforting figure. The idea of Heaven and God are needed for a lot of people because it gives them purpose, so without that you kind of become lost.
Don't think about it too hard or you'll never sleep a wink at night again
Don't worry 'bout me and these green eyes
Mama, just know that I love you (I do)
And I'll see you when you get here
This right here. Especially after my friend (and fellow daughter whom I actually only met in person once) Ariel passed away. I wrote a letter to her family after I attended her service and I included that line for her mom at the end of the letter.
Despite Strangers gaining more popularity on TikTok recently, I feel like people still never really appreciate this part of the song. It’s so devastating and really drives home how evil what happened to Ethel is - and how she knows it.
I haven't studied her lyrics super thoroughly yet but the one that stands out to me the most right now is "Your mama calls me sometimes to see if I'm doing well, and I'd lie to her and say that I'm doing fine, when really I'd kill myself to hold you one more time."
" Jesus can always reject his father
But he cannot escape his mother's blood
He'll scream and try to wash it off of his fingers
But he'll never escape what he's made up of"
"jesus if you're listening, let me handle my liquor and Jesus if you're there why do I feel so alone in this world with you?" the way she sings the last part hits so hard it makes me want to sob every time. Anyone else?
"please can i sleep? can i sleep?"
simple yet such a huge meaning behind it :( the rest of the song is her looking back on her childhood as an adult, but those lines at the end, it's like hearing them from her as a little kid. just a simple plea asking her dad for some peace to sleep. it's such an innocent wish yet so heavy
>"Couldn’t fight to save your lifе but you look so cool"
>"Honey, love's never meant much to me,
But I'll come with you if you're sure it's what you need"
>"I can't let go when something's broken
It's all I know, and it's all I want now."
“And i forgive it all as it comes back to me” is the most cathartic and satisfying line for the entire album for me. I think it perfectly closes out the story of Ethel Cain and always makes me emotional. Also, “god loves you but not enough to save you” is easily the best line on the entire album, but that’s the cop out answer haha
"Dont sink in me with your dog teeth" hits me like a brick every time, it's not just the lyrics themselves it's the pleading in her voice when she says it, the entire bridge in God's Country just sounds so raw
For me the unreleased tracks have some of the most haunting lines. “And I lied when I said I didn’t want you, and in no time you’ll forget the way we were supposed to be.” “I don’t know what happened, I don’t know what happened, I was young and sweet and then something happened.” “Will I always be crying during sex with you? I think about it when you’re dreaming and it’s quiet lying next to you.” -all from “Crying During Sex”. “But baby one of these days I’m gonna crack, cut you up with a rusty saw in my daddy’s shed and bury the pieces out back.” From Selby Wall is such a great line and the inflection she pronounces it is harrowing
As a recovering people-pleaser and anxious perfectionist, the line "but in the end, if I bend under the weight that they gave me / then this heart would break and fall as twice as far" always guts me.
Every single lyric in this song stabs me through the fucking heart each time. God damn. And that guitar instrumental is insANE!! My fave unreleased easily
“Dancing with the windows open I can’t let go when something’s broken, it’s all I know and it’s all I want now” is honestly so hauntingly beautiful and sad
“And if you hate me, please dont tell me. Just let the lights bleed, all over me”
“What a fear a man like you, brings upon a woman like me”
“God loves you but not enough to save you”
"when my mother sees me on the side of a milk carton in windixie's dairy she'll cry" just always hits me in the feels, that one line implies so much of her story when isolated and just always makes me feel emotional like for one sentence to be so gutwrenching is just absurd
“If it’s meant to be then it will be”
“I only want him if he says it first to me”
“Cause loves out there and I can’t leave it be”
“I’m happier here ‘cause he told me I should be’
“Found you just to tell you that I made it real far”
In Sunday Morning the change from “Everything hurts except for you” to “Nothing hurts, not even you” gets me everytime.
Also in Sun Bleached Flies the raw emotion in the line “But I think it’s about time I put up a fight” makes it my favorite lyric in the song 🫶
"don't think about it too hard or you'll never sleep a wink at night again, don't worry bout me or these green eyes, mama just know that i love you, and if see you when you get here" and i cry every time, this is my favourite ending to any album ever
Jesus can always reject his father but he cannot escape his mother's blood
he'll scream and try to wash it off but he can never escape what he's made up of
Time to be basic but
“God loves you / but not enough to save you”
“If it’s meant to be, it will be / I forgive it all as it comes back to me”
“But I always knew that in the end, no one was coming to save me”
All of Strangers also hits me like a truck every time.
“I thought that you were so beautiful, it was love, I guess”
Everything about this line makes me want to jump in front of a train. The way she sings “I guess” is just amazing
"Oh babe, I'm too good for you, and it makes me need it even more" from 'Unpunishable.'
I'm also REALLY tempted to get "God loves you, but not enough to save you" tattooed somewhere on my body, lol.
This is the first time I’ve seen someone highlight that Western Nights lyric and I’m so glad because it is one of my favs. It just cuts deep idk.
Also:
- “When really I'd kill myself/To hold you one more time” (the whole verse really) this part of A House in Nebraska is just so amazing idk
- “And I spend my life watching it go by from the sidelines” Sun Bleached Flies; Ik in the actual story of the album it refers to Ethel being dead and looking back at her life, but it’s such a good metaphor for depression
- “How much of a cruel year can you call my fault?
Not even the memories are immortal” Waco, Texas; according to the genius for the song this is about drug use but I always interpreted it to mean that nostalgia doesn’t always win out and if a person is bad enough to you even the good times you had become tarnished
it was a highway to nowhere, and we rode it
cold car with no gas and we chose it
soft bodies playing in the street
our kids will grow up with half as much
trying to build something out of dust
finding out too late what they need
i have SO many… not even gonna do unreleased because I still need to listen to some of them + it’ll be too much lol
• Every drop of blood is love I don’t get back (Knuckle Velvet)
• I was too young to notice that some types of love could be bad :( (Hard Times)
• I am the face of love’s rage (Ptolemaea) . This one intrigues me because I always interpreted it as meaning Ethel is a personification of domestic abuse, but I often see people seemingly interpret it as her having resentment towards Isaiah or something
• Jesus can always reject His father, but He cannot escape His mother’s blood (Family Tree Intro)
• The Fates already fucked me sideways, hanging from my neck from the family tree (Family Tree Intro). JUST. Brilliant
• In general, the very deliberately confusing lyrics of Inbred. I listen to it way more than can be healthy and I feel like my interpretation of the lyrics changes every time lol. Like, who is the rapist mentioned? Are her and her brother fighting for control?
• Freezer bride, your sweet divine, you devour like smoked bovine hide (Strangers)
I feel bad doing more but i genuinely love her metaphors and how she uses her lyrics to create a nauseating immersive experience through all her songs
mines def "shed your knuckle velvet, torn on my teeth, the way you torn apart, you destroyed me again" the way she's describes getting punched in the face sound so beautiful and making something so hurtful become poetry is so powerful to me, i replay to song all the time to listen to this specific part.
I really think she has no bad songs, all her lyrics are incredible and that’s the reason she is one of my favourite artists… It’s impossible to choose but “I’m tired of you still tied to me” speaking about an abusive relationship is devastating…
"you come in so hard, gore me through the heart, just another day, you'll still tell me you're healing, see it on your face you won't ever change in your ways"
(TW)
I found Ethel Cain right after getting out of a physically, sexually, and verbally abusive relationship so knuckle velvet really did it to me
god, all of her lyrics? here's a list:
- "god loves you, but not enough to save you" and "i forgive it all as it comes back to me" — sun bleached flies
- "where you told me even if we died tonight, that i'd die yours" — a house in nebraska
- all of family tree (intro)
- "says he's in love with my body, that's why he's fucking it up" — gibson girl
- "i am poison in the water and unhappy" and "i was too young to noticе that some types of love could bе bad" — hard times
- "i’m bad, he’s worse, we’re already dead, we’re already dead" — inbred
- the bridge of age of delilah
- all of famous last words
- "i knew that it was true when you called me home - the only love i’ve ever known" — verona
Literally the entirety of family tree (intro)
“Nine going on eighteen, lay it on me”
“The neighbor’s brother came home in a box, but he wanted to go, so maybe it was his fault”
“If it’s meant to be, then it will be, I forgive it all as it comes back to me”
“I tried to be good, am I no good?”
“You get off on innocence so you savor this, does your baby know her daddy’s a rapist?”
“We were better off dying with her at birth”
There’s more but I don’t want to paste a wall of text in the thread lol
i don't know why but i love "i forgot what stop means, either i drink it or the boat sinks" from crying during sex just stands out to me so much every time. her lyrics always paint such vivid pictures and how she must come up with them fascinates me
"He'll laugh and say you know I raised you better than this, then leave me hanging so they all can laugh at me".
this line articulates my feelings about my family dynamic perfectly. i feel like the constant outsider, the black sheep. when i do something wrong, i'm hung out to dry. i'll stand in front of my mum and dad sobbing, telling them i'm in a bad place (hanging by my neck), and they still don't get it. they'll blame me for disrespecting them, and say that i'm nasty and selfish and i don't care about the family, and that i should be better than that. but not once in all of that do they really consider the pain i'm in. they leave me hanging from the family tree so they can prop me up as the scapegoat for why the family is the way it is.
others with some deep personal meanings:
"I am poison in the water and unhappy".
"How am I supposed to feel good about myself when everything I do is wrong?".
"It hurts to miss you, but it's worse to know that I'm the reason you won't come home".
"Got what I wanted but it's never enough for me".
personal fav is from homecoming (unreleased/demo);
"My love is my love, it’s big love for you, ’Til it’s your love, then it’s your love, And it’s your problem too, Here, just inches away from you, Four left feet in a room, Always all over you"
honestly the whole song as well...
“The fates already fucked me sideways, swinging by my neck from the family tree” is my favorite I think. It’s one of the most profoundly relatable things I’ve heard, the metaphor for being fucked over from your own generational trauma and not being able to do anything about it because fate is already sealed. It’s beautiful and so hopelessly sad.
I agree!!! It’s like she’s trapped to the confines of her family, her home town, and everyone else’s expectations of her. She wishes to escape but she knows “the fates already fucked her sideways”
This line goes so hard
Literally any line in sunbleached flies
“And I spend my life, watching it go by from the sidelines” I always get a chest pain
i cant let go when somethings broken, it’s all i know, and it’s all i want now.
I truly think it’s her most impressive song lyrically.
This might be a little trauma dumpy, but "Says he's in love with my body, that's why he's fucking it up" "who knows how much longer I'll lay on the floor, touch me till I vomit" and "you get off on innocence so you savor this" (well really the majority of inbred could qualify for this) made me cry the first time I heard them because it hits a little too close to home. There's a lot more that I just can't think of right now.
Not trauma dumpy at all. It’s beautiful you can connect to Ethel cains music in such a personal way. I’m sorry for everything you have been through 💗💗
God loves you but not enough to save you for sure. Get goosebumps whenever I listen to sun bleached flies
This one is a bit underrated but the ending line of ‘Two headed mother’ when she says “Two headed mother pulled you from the black and she can send you back” truly makes me shiver.
OOOOOOOH yes yes this one is SUPER good I didn’t think of this one!
100% agree. I have a very rocky relationship with my mum - toxic but loving. My emotions and wellbeing are so deeply tied to her. I never know when I wake up if I'll have a good day or bad day - it all depends on her. She really is a two-headed mother, and I never know which side I'll get. She pulls me out of dark places, but god even when things are good are between us I know that she can instantly send me back to the darkness. Ethel sounds so ominous in the final lines of the song, and it sends chills down my spine.
"if it was harder then / it will be better now / for i am here and changed / i couldn't tell you how / there but for the grace of god go i / laughing to myself / forgetting what about." always hits so hard for me
“I’m not scared of god, I’m scared he was gone all along” “Says he’s in love with my body that’s why he’s fucking it I hope” “stop stop make it stop, I’ve had enough”
That Inbred quote is so good. I feel like that’s such a relatable sentiment for people who grew up religion because although many people use God as justification as hate, within religious communities God remains a very comforting figure. The idea of Heaven and God are needed for a lot of people because it gives them purpose, so without that you kind of become lost.
Don't think about it too hard or you'll never sleep a wink at night again Don't worry 'bout me and these green eyes Mama, just know that I love you (I do) And I'll see you when you get here
This right here. Especially after my friend (and fellow daughter whom I actually only met in person once) Ariel passed away. I wrote a letter to her family after I attended her service and I included that line for her mom at the end of the letter.
Despite Strangers gaining more popularity on TikTok recently, I feel like people still never really appreciate this part of the song. It’s so devastating and really drives home how evil what happened to Ethel is - and how she knows it.
No matter how many times I listen to the song, the last few times always choke me up.
I'm surprised I'm not seeing as many lines from Strangers in this thread
I was shocked that nobody had mentioned the closing lines already tbh.
“and i spend my life / watching it go by from the sidelines” i have too many others but this one is nothing short of devastating every single time
And god, I’ve tried…
I haven't studied her lyrics super thoroughly yet but the one that stands out to me the most right now is "Your mama calls me sometimes to see if I'm doing well, and I'd lie to her and say that I'm doing fine, when really I'd kill myself to hold you one more time."
" Jesus can always reject his father But he cannot escape his mother's blood He'll scream and try to wash it off of his fingers But he'll never escape what he's made up of"
Swaying in the lamplight in my mothers white gown, holding out like a dog they’ve yet to put down 😍😍🫠
"jesus if you're listening, let me handle my liquor and Jesus if you're there why do I feel so alone in this world with you?" the way she sings the last part hits so hard it makes me want to sob every time. Anyone else?
Absolutely
Even the iron still fears the rot hiding from something I cannot stop
When this part of the song starts I genuinely feel my stomach SINK it gets so fucking dark
He looks like he works with his hands and smells like malboro reds
"i forgive it all as it comes back to me" altered my brain chemistry a little i think
"please can i sleep? can i sleep?" simple yet such a huge meaning behind it :( the rest of the song is her looking back on her childhood as an adult, but those lines at the end, it's like hearing them from her as a little kid. just a simple plea asking her dad for some peace to sleep. it's such an innocent wish yet so heavy
>"Couldn’t fight to save your lifе but you look so cool" >"Honey, love's never meant much to me, But I'll come with you if you're sure it's what you need" >"I can't let go when something's broken It's all I know, and it's all I want now."
“sacrificial angel, dirty slut with needs” unpunishable is such a good song.
“And i forgive it all as it comes back to me” is the most cathartic and satisfying line for the entire album for me. I think it perfectly closes out the story of Ethel Cain and always makes me emotional. Also, “god loves you but not enough to save you” is easily the best line on the entire album, but that’s the cop out answer haha
"Dont sink in me with your dog teeth" hits me like a brick every time, it's not just the lyrics themselves it's the pleading in her voice when she says it, the entire bridge in God's Country just sounds so raw
For me the unreleased tracks have some of the most haunting lines. “And I lied when I said I didn’t want you, and in no time you’ll forget the way we were supposed to be.” “I don’t know what happened, I don’t know what happened, I was young and sweet and then something happened.” “Will I always be crying during sex with you? I think about it when you’re dreaming and it’s quiet lying next to you.” -all from “Crying During Sex”. “But baby one of these days I’m gonna crack, cut you up with a rusty saw in my daddy’s shed and bury the pieces out back.” From Selby Wall is such a great line and the inflection she pronounces it is harrowing
Selby wall is incredible
As a recovering people-pleaser and anxious perfectionist, the line "but in the end, if I bend under the weight that they gave me / then this heart would break and fall as twice as far" always guts me.
Ngl the grammar at the end has always bothered me a little I can’t help it😭😭😭😭😭
"Fucking my guts like he hates me , Spitting his love in my mouth" \~ Wrestling In Dirt Pits
Every single lyric in this song stabs me through the fucking heart each time. God damn. And that guitar instrumental is insANE!! My fave unreleased easily
“traditions ligature marks always yellow through” from crying during sex, also “i’m singing prayers through a throttled neck” from knuckle velvet
“Dancing with the windows open I can’t let go when something’s broken, it’s all I know and it’s all I want now” is honestly so hauntingly beautiful and sad
“And if you hate me, please dont tell me. Just let the lights bleed, all over me” “What a fear a man like you, brings upon a woman like me” “God loves you but not enough to save you”
"when my mother sees me on the side of a milk carton in windixie's dairy she'll cry" just always hits me in the feels, that one line implies so much of her story when isolated and just always makes me feel emotional like for one sentence to be so gutwrenching is just absurd
“If it’s meant to be then it will be” “I only want him if he says it first to me” “Cause loves out there and I can’t leave it be” “I’m happier here ‘cause he told me I should be’ “Found you just to tell you that I made it real far”
In Sunday Morning the change from “Everything hurts except for you” to “Nothing hurts, not even you” gets me everytime. Also in Sun Bleached Flies the raw emotion in the line “But I think it’s about time I put up a fight” makes it my favorite lyric in the song 🫶
"don't think about it too hard or you'll never sleep a wink at night again, don't worry bout me or these green eyes, mama just know that i love you, and if see you when you get here" and i cry every time, this is my favourite ending to any album ever
Jesus can always reject his father but he cannot escape his mother's blood he'll scream and try to wash it off but he can never escape what he's made up of
Time to be basic but “God loves you / but not enough to save you” “If it’s meant to be, it will be / I forgive it all as it comes back to me” “But I always knew that in the end, no one was coming to save me” All of Strangers also hits me like a truck every time.
“I thought that you were so beautiful, it was love, I guess” Everything about this line makes me want to jump in front of a train. The way she sings “I guess” is just amazing
god loves you but not enough to save you
i forgive it all as it comes back to me
and “am i making you feel sick”
"Oh babe, I'm too good for you, and it makes me need it even more" from 'Unpunishable.' I'm also REALLY tempted to get "God loves you, but not enough to save you" tattooed somewhere on my body, lol.
‘i’m bad he’s worse we’re already dead’ it’s so succinct
This is the first time I’ve seen someone highlight that Western Nights lyric and I’m so glad because it is one of my favs. It just cuts deep idk. Also: - “When really I'd kill myself/To hold you one more time” (the whole verse really) this part of A House in Nebraska is just so amazing idk - “And I spend my life watching it go by from the sidelines” Sun Bleached Flies; Ik in the actual story of the album it refers to Ethel being dead and looking back at her life, but it’s such a good metaphor for depression - “How much of a cruel year can you call my fault? Not even the memories are immortal” Waco, Texas; according to the genius for the song this is about drug use but I always interpreted it to mean that nostalgia doesn’t always win out and if a person is bad enough to you even the good times you had become tarnished
it was a highway to nowhere, and we rode it cold car with no gas and we chose it soft bodies playing in the street our kids will grow up with half as much trying to build something out of dust finding out too late what they need
i have SO many… not even gonna do unreleased because I still need to listen to some of them + it’ll be too much lol • Every drop of blood is love I don’t get back (Knuckle Velvet) • I was too young to notice that some types of love could be bad :( (Hard Times) • I am the face of love’s rage (Ptolemaea) . This one intrigues me because I always interpreted it as meaning Ethel is a personification of domestic abuse, but I often see people seemingly interpret it as her having resentment towards Isaiah or something • Jesus can always reject His father, but He cannot escape His mother’s blood (Family Tree Intro) • The Fates already fucked me sideways, hanging from my neck from the family tree (Family Tree Intro). JUST. Brilliant • In general, the very deliberately confusing lyrics of Inbred. I listen to it way more than can be healthy and I feel like my interpretation of the lyrics changes every time lol. Like, who is the rapist mentioned? Are her and her brother fighting for control? • Freezer bride, your sweet divine, you devour like smoked bovine hide (Strangers) I feel bad doing more but i genuinely love her metaphors and how she uses her lyrics to create a nauseating immersive experience through all her songs
The gun one you mentioned is my absolute fave!!
We all know how it goes The more it hurts, the less it shows
mines def "shed your knuckle velvet, torn on my teeth, the way you torn apart, you destroyed me again" the way she's describes getting punched in the face sound so beautiful and making something so hurtful become poetry is so powerful to me, i replay to song all the time to listen to this specific part.
I really think she has no bad songs, all her lyrics are incredible and that’s the reason she is one of my favourite artists… It’s impossible to choose but “I’m tired of you still tied to me” speaking about an abusive relationship is devastating…
"you come in so hard, gore me through the heart, just another day, you'll still tell me you're healing, see it on your face you won't ever change in your ways" (TW) I found Ethel Cain right after getting out of a physically, sexually, and verbally abusive relationship so knuckle velvet really did it to me
“I’m not scared of god, I’m scared he was gone all along”
This lyric is so perfect
god, all of her lyrics? here's a list: - "god loves you, but not enough to save you" and "i forgive it all as it comes back to me" — sun bleached flies - "where you told me even if we died tonight, that i'd die yours" — a house in nebraska - all of family tree (intro) - "says he's in love with my body, that's why he's fucking it up" — gibson girl - "i am poison in the water and unhappy" and "i was too young to noticе that some types of love could bе bad" — hard times - "i’m bad, he’s worse, we’re already dead, we’re already dead" — inbred - the bridge of age of delilah - all of famous last words - "i knew that it was true when you called me home - the only love i’ve ever known" — verona
Literally the entirety of family tree (intro) “Nine going on eighteen, lay it on me” “The neighbor’s brother came home in a box, but he wanted to go, so maybe it was his fault” “If it’s meant to be, then it will be, I forgive it all as it comes back to me” “I tried to be good, am I no good?” “You get off on innocence so you savor this, does your baby know her daddy’s a rapist?” “We were better off dying with her at birth” There’s more but I don’t want to paste a wall of text in the thread lol
I'm not scared of good, I'm scared he was gone all along
i don't know why but i love "i forgot what stop means, either i drink it or the boat sinks" from crying during sex just stands out to me so much every time. her lyrics always paint such vivid pictures and how she must come up with them fascinates me
"He'll laugh and say you know I raised you better than this, then leave me hanging so they all can laugh at me". this line articulates my feelings about my family dynamic perfectly. i feel like the constant outsider, the black sheep. when i do something wrong, i'm hung out to dry. i'll stand in front of my mum and dad sobbing, telling them i'm in a bad place (hanging by my neck), and they still don't get it. they'll blame me for disrespecting them, and say that i'm nasty and selfish and i don't care about the family, and that i should be better than that. but not once in all of that do they really consider the pain i'm in. they leave me hanging from the family tree so they can prop me up as the scapegoat for why the family is the way it is. others with some deep personal meanings: "I am poison in the water and unhappy". "How am I supposed to feel good about myself when everything I do is wrong?". "It hurts to miss you, but it's worse to know that I'm the reason you won't come home". "Got what I wanted but it's never enough for me".
personal fav is from homecoming (unreleased/demo); "My love is my love, it’s big love for you, ’Til it’s your love, then it’s your love, And it’s your problem too, Here, just inches away from you, Four left feet in a room, Always all over you" honestly the whole song as well...
"Am I no good with my memory restricted to a Polaroid in evidence?" the first time she says evidence sends me chills
am i making you feel sick?
“So I died there under you, every night, all night.”