Caleb is the first song in a quadrology of 4 songs: Caleb, The End of this Chapter, Don't Say a Word, and Juliet.
I've looked up other people's interpretations on sites like songmeanings.net and there are still alot of gray areas there. So for those SA fans out there, and those who are interested in a challenge... I'd like to have your opinions on the song Caleb... or any of the other 3.
Caleb is the stalker in the last 3 songs XD just to clarify. You might just like the songs if you give them a try. They're what sold me on the band... and now i have almost 100 of their songs lol.
i'll bring the lyrics to you guys... its better in song tho
[There is a man in this world who has never smiled You may know his tragedy, the later years by heart In the beginning there was a mother, father and a child A troubled little silent boy whose life they were to destroy Known to us from this day on by his father, Caleb]
His mother came up with such a clever way to save the day with a little white lie. He thinks he missed the point back then, but now he's grown to understand it, in a way. "Father said "I'm sorry" only once, as I remember" "Words weren't meant to hurt, only destroy you, my stupid son..." One person can make a difference, sometimes... Just turn his head when the kid is still and has a weak neck.
Smiled at his funeral, "happy you're dead."
All his solutions, it seemed, were only problems in disguise Glueing on his drinkin´ face, got ready to erase another day...
Mother was yet confident, although they had it tight, taught her son At the end of every tunnel's a little light It wasn't a lie, it was her hope, that everything would be fine one day "He can fulfill his every dream, Iâm happy as long as heâs not."
"I hate it and fear can't face it the child is not right, he's my greatest shame.
Go out, create thunder, and stand right under That old apple tree Where the snakes let him feed on
Lost hopes, all those kind words could hurt him even more, now Somehow, lost one more way back home
Out on the lake, he rows towards a monster he shouldâve been running away from, years ago. The past had made him blind to the way heâd turned the pain into a way of life.
Followed his father, tucked him in, Caleb knows the trade. Heâs the portrait of a man his mother drew to hate forever. She was a beast, a deadly saint, wrong in many ways Wanted to keep up the charade, until the end waltzing together
Over the hills, under the sea, Fighting the will, whole Universe Why does a man driving a hearse Live in a fear, Gift and a Curse
Taking ´em out, taking ´em all, Shooting the wall, over and out When nothing moves, allâs well, A decision he can find a way to live with
... and dried up flowers are so beautiful. And it applies to all things living, and dead. For that I serve my time... in my suite in Hell.
[Solo]
"Now I ring the bell to tell the world, I'm ready when they bring out the soon to be dead against the wall ..." This necessary evil has no heart Flowers and people he will now enlace A price he must pay serving a cold ... whatevergod.
Didn't even know this was a quadrology of songs 0.o I admit I didn't show much interest in the texts up to now; but Caleb sure has always puzzled me nevertheless.
If I try a more direct interpretation, it seems that this guy was just an unwanted child being raised with pain and fear (The past had made him blind to the way he'd turned the pain into a way of life.). Seems he's either some kind of pallbearer or even reaper now (Why does a man driving a hearse Live in a fear, Gift and a Curse),(I'm ready when they bring out the soon to be dead against the wall ..." This necessary evil has no heart). I'm not that good in interpreting such things.. I'll have a look at the lyrics of the other songs, maybe I can find something there.
Ok so I have done a bit of lyrics reading and forum rummage, and have come to the conclusion that there is no point in which everyone agrees.. well except that Caleb, The End of this Chapter, Don't say a Word and Juliet are part of the Caleb 'saga'. There are theories about other songs filling the leaks, like Broken which apparently has some common points, or UnOpened which is apparently the woman's point of view on the matter.. dunno 'bout those two. There are people who say Letter to Dana and Shy are prequels to TEotC and DSaW; I think it's not because Letter to Dana is a complete story in itself, I'm not sure about Shy however; someone made good points on why this could be a prequel. ostdays=0&ostorder=asc&start=0">Here's a link to an interesting forum; on the first pages there are already some good interpretations, I won't post them in here (too long).
To the core of the problem.. I think the general idea is right: Caleb is the prequel to the other songs: - You may know his tragedy, the later years, by heart makes sense to me now. His tragedy is explained in the songs TEotC and DSaW. Caleb is the explanation for how the wicked stalker character became to be, because his mother has raised him to be like that, and maybe even orchestrated or aimed at what happens in the next songs: - She was a beast, a deadly saint, wrong in many ways Wanted to keep up the charade, until the end waltzing together Then in TEotC we learn that the character is stalking a woman (which woman, where does he know her? A big gap that some think is filled by Shy). He has found her again and contacs her. In DSaW he has found out about his own character: - I truly see a madman in the mirror when I'm weak I spent a year in love before I realized it's me , turns completely crazy and prepares to kill her. Apparently she manages to change his mind and tricks him in the song Juliet: - I sit with someone in the dark I'm so afraid to see it's me again... You had a change of heart, Now we're all getting hurt... - Drank the poison most foul with you... But why do you smile? - You were supposed to wither away with me, so, Juliette Please don't smile Though I'm personally not 100% sure Juliet is really involved, it isn't the dark song like the others, more the sad melancholic one, and since Tony said in an interview
Some of these songs will appear on every album. On this album it's just ''Don't Say A Word'' there will be more in the future. All of these songs are slower, darker... Like some ''murder ballads'' hahaha.
I'm not convinced about that.
I just hope they will tell more about that Caleb thing, I'm really intrigued now, but there are way too many gray areas like you call them.
i know you can't always trust the internets but people have said that they've seen interviews that confirm juliet being the follow up to don't say a word
I've heard of the "soon to be dead brought against the wall" part being described as he was in the military and was the executioner of prisoners... or that he was just an executioner. his gift was that he was numb to the situation and that he could do his job well... his curse was that b/c of his gift he was a little off in the head.
but the fear thing is even grayer then.
the most cryptic part of this song is when it talks about him sitting under the apple tree where the snakes let him feed... (O_o) my mind...
"go create thunder and stand right under that old apple tree where the snakes let him feed"
me thinks it is a biblical reference of sorts. the creating thunder and standing under/feeding on apples...to me... means he went out and lived his life (made his share noise in the storm that is the world) and learned all kinds of things... probably forbidden knowledge about his childhood that that should have remained hidden from him. that would accomodate the snakes and apple tree bible references.
i've also read somewhere that the band doesn't even know the meaning behind alot of lyrics... they just accept it and play whatever tony tells them too lol.
i'll have to finish my thoughts on this later... school work calls :'-(
"go create thunder and stand right under that old apple tree where the snakes let him feed"
me thinks it is a biblical reference of sorts. the creating thunder and standing under/feeding on apples...to me... means he went out and lived his life (made his share noise in the storm that is the world) and learned all kinds of things... probably forbidden knowledge about his childhood that that should have remained hidden from him. that would accomodate the snakes and apple tree bible references.
Yeah, I also thought about a possible biblical meaning of this. I even found out that 'Caleb' is also the name of a biblical character, but I don't see any relations to SA's Caleb.. yet.
Maybe the part with the snakes simply means he's a sinner, cause he has been fed apples by snakes there. The part with the thunder could be something like, he creates thunder (does harm to people etc) and then stands under the tree of his sins and gets struck by his own lightning (his own acts return on him, maybe people hunt him..).
I've heard of the "soon to be dead brought against the wall" part being described as he was in the military and was the executioner of prisoners... or that he was just an executioner.
Makes sense now that you mention it. Look at that:
Taking 'em out, taking 'em all, Shooting the wall, over and out When nothing moves, all's well, A decision he can find a way to live with
The last line shows his indifference. The following lines show in my opinion his morbid penchant for dead/dying things:
...and dried up flowers are so beautiful. And it applies to all things living, and dead.
Now, one thing that always bothered me: is Caleb really the son? Because the beginning always confusese me:
Known to us from this day on by his father, Caleb
Sometimes I think Caleb could as well be his father..
Knockoutsloth.... hopefully your best friend isn't an obsessed killer (O_o)... that'd be most unfortunate.
now back to business... i've heard it described that you could think of caleb being a junior... both he and his father both having the first name of Caleb. the lyrics make me think that he killed his father
"Followed his father, tucked him in, Caleb knows the trade. He's the portrait of a man his mother drew(grew?) to hate forever."
the 2nd part of that makes me think that unknowingly Caleb picked up the bad traits of his father or just his mother saw his father in him whenever she looked at him afterwards. I mean having both parents detest your existence could explain some of the reasons behind him being warped.
Thanks for the explanation on who is Caleb; if I look at it again, maybe the line even means we call the son Caleb because of his father Caleb ('known to us by his father'
Followed his father, tucked him in, Caleb knows the trade.
This means he probably traced and killed his father, like you said; showing that already then he had stalker traits/abilities (he 'knows the trade'
He's the portrait of a man his mother drew(grew?) to hate forever.
I think this is rather saying that the mother 'drew the portrait' of her son in a way that makes him hate (what? everything?) forever; so she educated and raised him to be the kind of person he will become. That's probably one of the most important line in the song since it is the explanation why Caleb is how he is: his mother made him that way.
What bugs me is, in DSaW we get to know two sentences his mother used to tell him:
Mother always said "my son, do the noble thing..." You have to finish what you started, no matter what, Now, sit, watch and learn... "It's not how long you live, but what your morals say" Cannot keep your part of the deal So don't say a word... don't say a word
How is that related to the evil mischievous mother that we know in Caleb? Or is it showing how she manipulated him?
For one who is self centered... the noble thing to do would be teaching her a lesson. in his case teaching her a lesson would mean killing her.
"Cannot Keep your part of the deal so don't say a word...Don't say a word"
I think those two lines are describing a warped sense of justice.
I think "juliet" or whoever the girl was either cheated on him and left him, just broke up with him, or never returned his love in the first place and maybe went and started liking another guy. The one that'd make most sense to me would be if they once loved each other and she said I'll love you forever (or something similar), and then broke up with him afterwards... for someone who is warped, i would imagine that not only would he be PO'd but infuriated and wanting to get back at her. The DSaW line would be him having her and telling her to basically shut up and listen to what he has to say to her.
*** side not here *** i'm still relatively new... how do you quote passages that others have written already?
Before you told me about the Caleb thing, I even thought that the two persons in DSaW are married, that the "art of the deal" are the wedding vows, and that she cheated on him or even got away with another man for good, as in TEotC:
You have new love and It looks good on you I have never wished you dead, yet.
That would explain why in TEotC he has to track her down and why in DSaW he call her a whore. It just wouldn't match if Shy really came first, he then really would be only a stalker.
**Oh and to quote, just copy what you want to quote into the box where you write comments, select it and click on the blue 'quote' button above of this same box. Should do the trick.
If shy is involved at all then so is Letter to Dana and Kingdom for a Heart... KFaH and shy both make references to Dana at some point so i'd say its safe to say that those 3 are all linked.
I mean if those three are linked to the others then maybe...... Dana was a girl Caleb liked... a childhood friend maybe... It says he saw Dana's picture in a "filthy magazine,"..... maybe for an unstable mind such as calebs, seeing something like that sent him over the edge so he started after the girl from "shy" that resembled dana.
I don't know its really hard to focus my thoughts on this when the lyrics are so cryptic lol
