This song starts with the left guitar alternating between two notes. A second guitar (right ear) comes in playing a chord in individual ringing notes. Drums and bass come in with a two note pickup into the verse. There are a lot of little things to pay attention to in the verses. After “warm milk from my bowl”, the bass and right guitar duck out. They’re added back in after 2 and 4 lines respectively. The second verse features rim clicks on the words “clips” and “claws”. The last verse features changes in the drums and left guitar during “nobody knows me”. The transition into the first chorus is another great moment with the snare on “side” and “walls” coming on beat one of the chorus. The song ends with a guitar solo over the chorus.

——————-

A cat came drifting onto   
My porch from the outside cold   
And with eyes closed, drinking   
Warm milk from my bowl   
Thought: “Nobody hears me, nobody hears me   
‘Cause I crept in so soft!   
And nobody sees me, nobody sees me”   
As I watched six steps off

This verse starts a recurring theme of the song, which is naiveté. In this verse, a cat drinks warm milk with eyes closed and without a worry in the world, unaware the narrator is watching it in close proximity. It seems like there’s an unwholesome connotation here, like he lured the cat there for some purpose.

——————-

Like the peacocks wandering   
The walkways of the zoo   
Who have twice the autonomy   
The giraffes and tigers do   
Saying:   
“No one can stop me, no one can stop me!   
No one clips my claws!   
Now everyone watch me, everyone watch me   
Scale these outside walls!“

The peacock is also deluded in this verse, but in a different way. The cat thought it was alone when it wasn’t. The peacock thinks it’s free when it’s not. True, it can walk around the zoo, which is better than the other animals the peacock can compare itself to. However, if you have “twice the autonomy” of a caged animal, you just have a bigger cage.

——————-

Oh, you pious and profane   
Put away your praise and blame   
“A glass can only spill what it contains!”   
To the perpetually plain   
And the incurably inane   
“A glass can only spill what it contains!”

A glass can only spill what it contains is a paraphrase of an Arabic proverb, which basically means we only say things based on who we think we are, or what we’ve filled our glasses with.

Aaron calls out the overtly religious and the irreverent at the same time, telling them to put away their praise and blame, or stop judging everything based on their perceived identities. From a certain perspective, these seeming opposites err in the same way. 

He also calls out the plain and silly, because while they might not be judging, they are still filling themselves with worthless nonsense.

Outside of the Arabic proverb, this chorus reminds me of a Bruce Lee quote: “Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality.”

It also reminds me of the following Zen story:  Scholar Tokusan–who was full of knowledge and opinions about the dharma–came to Ryutan and asked about Zen. At one point Ryutan re-filled his guest’s teacup but did not stop pouring when the cup was full. Tea spilled out and ran over the table. “Stop! The cup is full!” said Tokusan.

“Exactly,” said Master Ryutan. “You are like this cup; you are full of ideas. You come and ask for teaching, but your cup is full; I can’t put anything in. Before I can teach you, you’ll have to empty your cup.”

——————-

What new mystery is this?   
What blessed backwardness?   
The Immeasurable one is held and does not resist!   
Struck by wicked words and foolish fists of senseless men   
The Almighty One does not defend!

This post-chorus part continues the idea of the chorus. It shows that perhaps acting contrary to who they are would be a novel idea for someone who claims to be pious, profane, etc.

It starts with a direct quote from an ancient Church Father named Melito of Sardis, and is specifically referencing the Passion of Christ and how Jesus did not resist it. From the eyes of Jesus’ persecutors, that he did not get God to intercede for him proved that he wasn’t the Messiah. Paradoxically, fulfilling his role to the utmost without defending himself was *exactly* what proved he was who he said he was.

Another relevant Bruce Lee quote, regarding being held and not resisting: “Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.”

——————-

I’m halfway listening to what she thinks she knows   
We’re like children dressing in our parents clothes saying:   
“Nobody knows me, nobody knows me   
No one knows my name!
No, Nobody knows me, nobody knows me   
Nobody knows me… “

This whole section reeks of a bad date between two people who basically act like their parents. Most human conditioning comes from our parents. So the two here are being superficial, imitating their parents, holding their real selves back so nobody knows them.

——————-

I half-heartedly explained   
But gave up peacefully ashamed   
“A glass can only spill what it contains!”   
We went from Portugal and Spain   
And in her mind the entire time it rained!   
“A glass can only spill what it contains!”

I think he’s trying to explain his thoughts from the previous verse, but she obviously doesn’t agree because he gives up “peacefully ashamed”. He concludes that she is a downer, because she seems to see the negative aspects of everything. Another way to think about “a glass can only spill what it contains” is that perception determines reality. If her glass is filled with negativity, that’s all she can see.

I don’t know what to make of “we went *from* Portugal and Spain.” Also, Spain and Portugal are referenced in “Flee, Thou Matadors”, but there doesn’t appear to be a connection between the songs.

——————-

What new mystery is this?   
In overflowing emptiness!   
The invisible is seen among the shadows and the mist    
Before my doubting eyes   
The infinite appears this time   
The unquestionable is questioned   
But makes no reply!

Once again, perception determines reality. The invisible is seen, but it’s before his doubting eyes.

——————-

What new mystery is this?    
What new mystery is this?   
What new mystery is this?   
What new mystery is this?   
What new mystery is this?   
“My rabbi”   
My lips betray with a kiss   
What new mystery is this?

Aaron likens himself to Judas Iscariot (which happens again in “O, Porcupine”).