The group takes its name from Shakespeare. In particular Hamlet's soliloquy To be, or not to be, where it refers to dying; "coil" is used in its archaic sense of "disturbance, trouble":
"What dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause."
Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1, line 67.
Sixteen Days / Gathering Dust
This Mortal Coil Lyrics
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Sixteen days no light of day
Sixteen days without liquid on my stomach
Sixteen days without sun on my back
Sixteen days without ideas in my head
Sixteen days with writing on my hands
Sixteen Days
might seem like an unusual song title, but the lyrics in this track by This Mortal Coil are actually about someone who has been through an extreme hardship, possibly even imprisonment. The repetition of "sixteen days" serves to emphasize the length and severity of the suffering that the person has endured. The lack of basic necessities such as bread, water, and light serve to highlight the deprivation that they experienced during this time. Similarly, the absence of tactile sensations like sun on their back, and the lack of stimulation for their mind, reveal the extent to which they were cut off from external sources of comfort and support. The writing on their hands could be a metaphor for how the person had to cling to whatever they could in order to survive and maintain some semblance of themselves.
The song title, "Gathering Dust" may refer to the idea that time has passed, and this experience has now become a distant memory that is gradually losing its vividness. By gathering dust, the memory is no longer being "used" actively in the person's life, but rather shelved away like an old object. The song may be suggesting that although the sixteen days were an ordeal, they are now over and the person has formed a new identity through the experience, one that is linked to their past but not defined by it.
Line by Line Meaning
Sixteen days no bread and water
I endured sixteen days without receiving any sustenance or hydration.
Sixteen days no light of day
For sixteen straight days, I did not witness any natural light from the sun or moon.
Sixteen days without liquid on my stomach
I went sixteen days without consuming any liquids, which made me quite thirsty.
Sixteen days without sun on my back
For sixteen days, I wasn't able to feel the warmth of the sun's rays on my skin due to my conditions.
Sixteen days without ideas in my head
During my sixteen-day absence of stimulation, my creativity and imagination dwindled, and I struggled to come up with new ideas in my mind.
Sixteen days with writing on my hands
To pass the time and perhaps keep myself sane, I resorted to writing on my own hands after being deprived of any other writing medium for sixteen days.
Contributed by Adeline H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.