The Eraser, Pt. 4: I'll Be Ok

"Atoms For Peace"

No more going to the dark side with your flying saucer eyes

No more falling down a wormhole that I have to pull you out

After all this adventuring and skulking about, Tom is ready to go home and settle back down. No more sneaking around the city, meeting strange people in the dead of night. It’s time to put things behind him.

The wriggling, squiggling worm inside

Devours from the inside out

Tom’s love for his partner is overwhelming. Tom may not have recognized it at first, but after spending some time apart from each other, he or she is all Tom can think about.

No more talk about the old days

It's time for something great

What destroyed their relationship last time was Tom’s partner’s insistence on trying to recapture the past. Instead, Tom is encouraging his partner to live in the present. It doesn’t matter what the old days were like; they can be happy together right here, right now.

I want you to get out

And make it work

After his dalliance with wild life and impulsiveness, Tom honestly wants to make things work between him and his partner. He thinks they have a chance to escape all this deceit and pain.

So many lies

So many lies

So many lies

So feel the love come off of them

And take me in your arms

Sure, both of them were constantly lying to each other. But, maybe, they were lying because they both love each other so much. Maybe, somewhere in all that dishonestly, they can find a way to figure all this out.

Peel all of your layers off

I want to eat your artichoke heart

Maybe a bit more honesty wouldn’t hurt. Maybe it’s time to really acknowledge each other for who they really are, flaws and all. The first stage is always acceptance.

No more leaky holes in your brain

And no false starts
I wanna get out

And make it work

No more paranoia, no more passive aggressive behavior, no more distrust. Tom is serious about all this and he’s determined to make this relationship work once and for all.

So many lies

So many lies

So many lies

So feel the love come off of them

And take me in your arms

Again, Tom is trying to look past all the lies. He’s more than willing to forgive this person, since he loves them so much. He accepts his partner completely, even the lies.

I wanna get out

And make it work

I want you to get out

And make it work
I'll be ok

Somehow, Tom will make this work. He’ll find a way to be understanding, he’ll be patient, he’ll talk his problems out. Somehow, he will be ok. All he asks for is his partner’s love.

So many lies

So many lies

So many lies

So feel the love come off of them

And take me in your arms

But wait a second here. Doesn’t Tom have a big lie himself? Didn’t Tom just lose himself in an affair outside of the relationship? Has he told his partner about that yet? And if he does…will his partner be as even-minded and accepting as Tom is right now? There’s only one way to find out…

"And It Rained All Night"

And it rained all night and washed the filth away

Down New York air-conditioned drains

The click click clack of the heavy black trains

A million engines in neutral

Fuck. Things did not go over well. Tom finds himself walking through the city at night. He’s been kicked out of his home once and for all. His partner just couldn’t accept him.

The tick tock tick of a ticking time bomb

Fifty feet of concrete underground

One little leak becomes a lake

Says the tiny voice in my earpiece

As Tom wanders through the streets, he thinks about what just happened. How did one tiny piece of truth, one honest admission made in the spirit of reconciliation, lead to this huge emotional torment? What the fuck just happened?

So I give in to the rhythm

The click click clack

I'm too wasted to fight back

Tick tack goes the pendulum on the old grandfather clock

Tom’s been on the emotional roller-coaster ride of his life. By now, it’s just too much to take. He can’t keep fighting to save his relationship. Just when he was ready to put his problems behind him, new ones rose to the surface. It’s just too much to cope with.

I can see you

But I can never reach you

Tom can only resign himself to the fact that he’ll never be with the one he loves.

And it rained all night and then all day

The drops were the size of your hands and face

The worms come out to see what's up

We pull the cars up from the river

Everything starts to remind Tom of his ex-partner. Raindrops, worms, cars…it all just leads back to his partner. He remembers hands and faces and old memories.

It's relentless

Invisible

Indefatigable

Indisputable

Undeniable

Tom is left trying to wrap his mind around the mystery of relationships. How can you make them work, when they’re so hard to understand? Everything is so intangible and transient, how can you ever get a solid grip on anything?

So how come it looks so beautiful?

How come the moon falls from the sky?

Tom is left in the middle of the night, staring at the sky. He’s lost the one thing he really loved.

I can see you

But I can never reach you
I can see you

But I can never reach you

Tom was so close. Everything he wanted was within his grasp. But now it’s gone. Tom is alone.