song interpretation of Carmelina?

[stg7311]

from the audio of being album. i do not understand the lyrics,  i see that there is clearly some sexual remarks, but whats it about?

i like the song and like most of matthews songs, i dont really understand the original meaning and he just leaves a lot of things for open interpretation..

[Outtahere]

From what I can recall, Carmelina, at least the first verse, was partly inspired by an event, I believe it was a murder but I'm not sure. So the first lines would actually be about a stabbing and not sex.

But don't quote me on that.

[folk singer]

I know part of the song is about William S. Burroughs accidentally killing his wife in mexico city, while they were high and playing William Tell (target practice is for mexico)

[Scott Rodgerson]

In the same breath, I think he mentioned it being about the strangeness of fame.

Cut to "Girls in Black", where he laments that there was a time "he walked the streets, like on the sea".

[stg7311]

On 6/24/2020 at 12:28 PM, Tips said:

From what I can recall, Carmelina, at least the first verse, was partly inspired by an event, I believe it was a murder but I'm not sure. So the first lines would actually be about a stabbing and not sex.

But don't quote me on that.

oh ok. yeah, another user said its about William S. Burroughs accidentally killing his wife. i wonder why Matt would write a song relating to that event though. nonetheless, its a catchy song. i interpreted as something sort of sexual..but the music video showed another thing and didnt make sense to me. i guess it could be about a boss willing to ¨kill¨ workers who arent motivated to make money for him. just a wild guess..i assume its a song criticizing corrupt CEOs and other authoritative figures who abuse their power

[Scott Rodgerson]

If I'm remembering right, the video was about the things a person can do for a living (not necessarily violently torturing employees, but say, being an executive at an arms company) while still functioning as kind and decent everywhere else in their life. MG was given to highlighting the grimly absurd back then (see: any Manifesto), and the song itself is about the absurdity of celebrity, so the dichotomy sorta tracks.

[DudeLove721]

Yeah, I remember him saying at the time that it was about William S. Burroughs killing his wife and the strangeness of fame. I believe he mentioned how odd it was to him that he's such a revered poet who receives so much praise (he was even in U2's Last Night On Earth music video) but he flat out murdered his wife. Still, it gets overlooked and is a fact the general public really doesn't focus on.