Tetragrammaton
The Mars Volta Lyrics

Tell me it's over
The singer is unsure if something has ended.

Rusbel awaits
Rusbel is waiting but for what or whom is not clear.

I've been to the surface And nothing is there
The singer has explored and found nothing.

Eyelids sank muffled In the nerve aura sound
The artist was caught up in the sound around them.

But when she awakes Will she still be with us
Uncertainty about someone being present or with the group upon waking.

My heart is darkclots Leap year is late
The singer feels a sense of dread or doom, perhaps due to unusual occurrences.

How did you get here Ask all but the bait
Questioning how someone arrived and excluding the person being asked from suspicion.

From a christ that went hissing Constricting his cells We summon by candle by book and by bell
A ritual involving summoning a being through the use of religious iconography.

Glossolalia coats my skin Glycerin and turbulence Stuffed the voice inside of God Mirrors to the animals
The artist has a religious experience or vision that is overwhelming.

The sermon goes mourning Pricking it's hail Slothful the child That preys on the seed Shall behead the drough Wound under sleeves I hope you have room In a thicket of vines
A dark, foreboding warning about the possible violence that might occur.

Give me a moment To clean what you've stole The streets will hang high Stretch ribs and let taste We'll cover the smell with silver nitrate Mending the cuts of your prosthetic faith
A desire to reclaim something that was taken, and to take action to mask the evidence.

Then so long Dear mnemonic Assume the form You've given me and I'll spill Now hold on Just hold my hand Say that they made you But you brought your own leash Tell me no more no Say I'm the last one Outside By the drift You read my will Of thread and itch Failure to comply As failure to decease And still you won't know everything I've built the fall
A jumble of thoughts and emotions that hint at the artist feeling betrayed and seeking revenge.

Sulking drained the fall of my pale will Swarming by your steps Licking the ankles of blasphemer guilts It only meant to drape a plastic Over the stuck pig scalp of head To cover the sock where the flatline had spread The kiosk in my temporal lobe Is shaped like rosalyn carter She says my map is home again But torn face down I have only but a million blemishes To tell you all about In the end they just gagged me To make him come out
The singer feels overwhelmed, perhaps mentally ill, and is struggling to communicate coherently.

Gas me the hind Of your five legged snare Tooth picks the eye But no things there Down drags your waltz Cross the alter top From a sleep that Depravation knew Trespass your form I'm void of dusk I'd ask to look But the mask stays on
An unsettling scene of violence and darkness.

You'll levitate Teutonic print Cruelty is the wrath Of my instrument
A cryptic statement suggesting some kind of power or control.

You locked the cuffs Arsenic erupts Will you drink the shadow Of my red hair You and your false Witness to God You've one in the chamber But your finger got stuck
A threatening accusation of deceit and violence.

Let slip the sound Of a cry for help But all was lost On the night you walked
A sense of lost opportunity or failed chance to seek assistance.

Palms speak through eyes Serve your memory lost I contaminate with insignias
A mysterious and somewhat ominous statement that hints at some kind of power.

Unwrap my corpse And let it thaw In the eye of the needle I can't get out
A disturbing image of death and entrapment.

They'll check my wrist I'll faint a pulse I'm not the human You thought I was
Suggests an imposter or someone hiding their true nature or identity.

If you pet the night Sixth pentacle dice If you roll the seven St. michael dies They'll be no ransom Don't shut my mouth I scald the answer You're afraid of
A strange omen or warning that is difficult to fully decipher.

Glossolalia coats my skin Glycerin and turbulence Stuffed the voice inside of God Mirrors to the animals
A repeated statement from earlier in the song, which suggests a spiritual or mystical experience.

Wait till it get my hands on you I won't forget a face that left me Just you wait Till I get my hands on you I can't You won't remember
A desire for revenge and the ability to remember a wrong done to the singer.

In the end they just gagged me To make him come out
A final, cryptic statement that suggests entrapment, silence, and perhaps coercion.