Lapse lyrics

I take the song as someone who has an addiction; he has broken his family apart and is deciding to give himself a fatal dose.

“The road turned into a snake,
It looked in my veins and said,
"It's in your blood"

Leads me to think drug/alcohol abuse runs in this person’s family

“That's when I tried to run,
But it was way too dark
Got scared,
And ran into your arms”
This the part where it talks of “lapsing”
He tried to clean up (maybe for his family) but he was not able to. Life without drugs was too hard he turned and went back into its comfort.
I know you know how it feels to make a clean break
My bones are your bones,
My home is your home
You must be, so confused
Got scared, and ran away from you

This makes me wonder if his family left him because of the drugs. But it does illustrate that he chose to run to the drugs and away from his family.

“I'm predisposed to trust a photograph
To portray the way you used to laugh

Do you recall the day you wed?
Such a radiant bride,
You couldn't wait to see
Your first born take his very first step,
And you smiled at him,
'Cause you thought he looked like me”

This is where you see he truly valued his family but sometimes for someone with an addiction the love for your drug takes first place over your family.

“Now I've dodged your questions so much,
I don't possess the strength
To answer straight

And no, I'm not afraid,
At least not to die
I'm afraid to live, and not remember why

Sweet chemical indifference,
I can't stop,
Can't change the evident

Predisposed to perpetual sickness,
I refuse to let you all be witness
Make sure the needle is clean
When you let me go back to sleep

And situate the piece of the picture
Underneath my fingers,
It protects me in my dreams”

He can’t tell his family why he is putting them through this. He knows he does not want to live this way or continue putting his family through this. He holds onto their photo as he kills himself with a hot dose. The photo will be his comfort…maybe his thought of heaven.

“Predisposed to forget the best part,
A story where the hero dies without regard
Made sure that the needle was clean
When I let myself fall asleep”

This was just another area where it is spoken of him dying. I think the needle being clean is way of doing it with dignity. Calling him a hero makes me think of Shakespeare where the heroes were tragic and the cause of their own undoing.

There's also a lot of debate about the needle. Be this about an elderly hospital patient or a junkie, you can figure it out.

I don't think it has anything to do with cutting, actually. By "It's not as deep as it seems," He's talking more about an emotional void, the emptiness one may feel when going through the "transition" he is. He's saying the hole in your heart may feel gaping, but it's not as huge a loss as you feel. When he mentions "indifference" and various "predicaments," he uses words like "chemical" and "divine," which suggest that the things he's gone through are the work of things beyond his control.

As for what those things are, I have two theories:
1)Drug addiction -- Words like chemical, blood, needle... The concept of not remembering why you live, either in an emotional or literal sense; losing people because they can't deal with you.
2 - This one's more popular and makes more sense) Alzeimers with old age. (Rumor has it one of the band member's grandparents suffered from it.)
"The road turned into a snake" - Life really is a highway, but when it turns into a snake, it can curl back, erasing what you had ahead of you, and bite you.
"It's in your blood" - It can be an inevitably genetic disease.
"Divine"/"Chemical" - Back to the lack of control...
Wedding day, photographs - You remember very little, so you cherish what you can.
"Remind you not to forget to remember me" - Genius and heartbreaking irony.
"Now I've dodged your questions so much, I don't possess the strength
to answer straight" - You can try to deny it, but eventually it will overtake you, sometimes too late.
"Got scared, ran..." - Confusion...
"No, I'm not afraid; at least not to die. I'm afraid to live and not remember why"- The greatest lyric in this song, and possibly one of the greatest ever. It's obvious in meaning, if I'm right about the song, but even I can feel it so strongly at 15. I think we all can relate, in some way.

This song is very touching to me...I think that it means that he's not afraid to die and for his girl to remember him after he's dead... :)