Sarasvati is the Hindu Goddess of knowledge, music, arts, wisdom and nature. This song romanticizes death. Mary wants to be removed from herself, but carefully, because she’s already fragile, and completely empty.
[Verse 1]
You are Sanskrit on my skin
Peel me open 'til I am nothing but a whisper
Name yourself sinner, I only play for pennies
And I don't play for sinners, I play for sadness
I play for dead things
[Chorus]
Pull the bones from their sockets
Please be softer while you do it
For I am fragile and vacant
Sarasvati sung me to sleep
I rested my head against her knee
And the music I like goes up and down
Like bobbing bodies in the riverbed
[Verse 2]
And they say
"Mary, why are your songs so sad?
Look at the luck and fortune you've had
Why do you cry at night?"
[Chorus]
Pull the bones from their sockets
Please be softer while you do it
For I am fragile and vacant
[Bridge]
You can take my body and tongue and organs
Whisper into my skin like death does
All red and rosy and stuff
I want every piece of me to crash into every piece of you
I swear to God that's how they make stars
I'm not whole
[Chorus]
Pull the bones from their sockets
Please be softer while you do it
For I am fragile and vacant
Oh
Mary Lambert released Sarasvati on Tue Dec 17 2013.