“Bodies Divided” was shaped differently than most of the music Culprit puts together. The song was missing a band mate during practice when they wrote it. Also, the lyrics were written by a member who normally doesn’t write any of the the lyrics. Check out the full story below.
Background
How did you write the song?
This song kind of came together in a very unorthodox way in comparison to the rest of Culprit songs. I remember we had a rare three person band practice one day with just Zach, Jason, and myself. Travis wasn’t there for some reason. We came up with this jam together and we liked it a lot, so we showed Travis at the next practice. After awhile, Travis and I sat down with just acoustic guitars and mapped out the harmonizing guitars in the verses. After that happened, the song just really came together. It’s the only song on the record (Totem) that I wrote the lyrics for, which is also unusual for us as Travis typically writes all the lyrics.
How did the song come about?
I suppose I already covered that ground in the first answer, but I guess one thing I could add is that the song wouldn’t be as nuanced and complete without the help of our producer, Dryw Owens, in the studio. There are just a bunch of little accents and what not that Dryw helped us add that gave the song a really strong direction, which was exactly what it needed. We’re really happy with how everything turned out in the studio.
What is the song about?
I think the song covers a lot of ground, lyrically, about my own personal beliefs. Part of it is just generally written about existentialism in general. In my years as an adult I’ve realized how incredibly delicate humans are, but also how closed off and selfish we can be towards one another. That’s what the title of the song is about, and what the lines “So fragile we are / Afloat in an ocean of nothing but intention, lust and sin” and “There is no win or lose / only bodies divided by withholding the truth” cover.
The other motif in the song is about my struggle with religion. I was strongly raised to be Catholic, but growing up has made me truly question everything to the point of not really believing in much that Catholicism stands for anymore. So lines like “We have faith in the divine / Thought we’d be so much more / So curse self worth” point out that we have become so reliant on a higher figure that we expect them to solve all of our problems for us. We don’t give enough credit to ourselves to solve our own dilemmas, and therefore we look down upon self worth.
The end of the song, the bridge, is about how all of this self examination has been detrimental to my thinking about our existence as a whole, and how much I wish I could go back to being a carefree kid. That’s what the lines “Take me back to the age of unknowing / When no knowledge had yet poisoned my brain” are about. I hope that makes some kind of sense, haha.
Lyrics
V1: Am I but a shell just surrounding a soul? Guarding dreams with only my skin and bones. So fragile we are, afloat in an ocean of nothing but intention, lust and sin, oh no.
PC: This is how we’re defined, so please just let me leave. We have faith in the divine. Thought we’d be so much more, so curse self worth.
V2: I’ll float away, off the deep end, into oblivion
CH: Nothing can save us now. We are short term solutions in an ongoing trial. There is no win or lose, only bodies divided by withholding the truth.
BR: Take me back to the age of unknowing, with no knowledge is poisoning my brain.
