The artistknows He could be egotistical and he maybe acting egotistical to some people, That's better than being normal, He wants to work on things that he's proud of in a special way that's out of the ordinary
Hypocritical, egotistical Don't wanna be the parenthetical, hypothetical Working onto something that I'm proud of, out of the box An epoxy to the world and the vision we've lost I'm an apostrophe I'm just a symbol to remind you that there's more to see I'm just a product of the system, a catastrophe And yet a masterpiece, and yet I'm half-diseased And when I am deceased At least I go down to the grave and die happily Leave the body of my soul to be a part of me I do what it takes
Meaning: He knows that he's in danger of being "hypocrtical" and "egotistical" as he pushes forward to success, but for him it's better than being "parenthetical" or "hypothetical"--someone unimportant or whose success only exists as a "what if." Instead, he'll be "working onto something that I'm proud of," and he doesn't want to do it the traditional way. He knows that it'll be "out of the box / An epoxy to the world and the vision we've lost." "Epoxy" is like a kind of clue, so he wants to bind others to a true "world and . . . vision" that he thinks is important. He wants to remind people of something higher.
He then calls himself "an apostrophe / . . . a symbol to remind you that there's more to see." "Apostrophe" here could refer to the literary device in which a character turns to the side and addresses someone who's not there or some inanimate object, used mostly to display inner monologue, but I think it's more likely that he's referring to the punctuation mark that tells us that a contraction has occurred and that letters are missing from a specific word. For him, he seems to hope that people who look at him will remember that there's more below the surface to who he is.
He calls himself a "product of the system," someone whose existence is a natural outcome of a "system" that pushes for mediocrity and sameness, but he's come out a "catastrophe." He's someone who's a "masterpiece" and is yet "half-diseased." He's perfect in his imperfections, and his uniqueness gives him special perception, ability, or position that emboldens him.
And for all this hard work, he tells us that when he is "deceased / At least I go down to the grave and die happily." He'll die knowing that he lived his life to the fullest, and, in that respect at least, he'll be successful. He then sings, "Leave the body of my soul to be a part of me." The line is anything but clear, but he seems to want to be remembered for the raw power and determination that were housed in his "soul."
The skeleton bride might portray Calavera Catrina, who is fashioned after the Calaveras of José Guadalupe Posada, an artist Rivera held in high esteem.
The Ark of the Covenant is a gold-plated wooden chest that, in Jewish and Christian tradition, houses the two tablets bearing the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses by God.
