That Handsome Devil - Charlie's Inferno

Band: That Handsome Devil
Album: The Heart Goes to Heaven, The Head Goes to Hell
Song: 05 - Charlie's Inferno

Basically one of the worst songs of all time. It's really awful and shitty.

BUY IT NOW!

LYRICS:

(Here lies Charlie. You can tell it's him 'cause we put his name on the stone.)

He kept his showers ice cold,
Used eco-friendly lightbulbs
Rode his bicycle to work when the gasoline price rose
He'd judge with no pretense, fish on the weekends
Each morning, get up, do the Pledge of Allegience

Never swim in the ocean, for fear of shark attacks
Bi-monthly get his wife a rose with a card attached
Avoiding all the little things that were hard to ask
Had a car crash, cardiac arrest, died of a heart attack

Up the golden escalator, all his friends and neighbors
Huddled there in prayer around the respirator
Catch you later, I'm off to see the man upstairs
They all look like ants from here
Stars and crystal chandaliers

There was an angel at the entrance
Checking off a guest list
Charlie wasn't on it, and was ushered to the exit
His heart sank, he was breathless

Excuse me, sir!
There must be someone you've confused me for
If I could see someone who knew me or someone in uniform
I go to church on Sunday, truly, usually more!

Screaming at the angels while they pushed him through the door!

Excuse me, sir!
There must be someone you've confused me for
If I could see someone who knew me or someone in uniform
I go to church on sunday, truly, usually more!

Screaming at the angels while they pushed him through the door!

"Abandon all hope, all ye who enter."

It was a horrifying sign, but sounded like a neat adventure.
Far beyond the halos and the castles in the clouds
Fatsos squealing, shackled with some apples in their mouths
Attention whores in padded bras hanging from extension cords
Tortured with the products from their favorite catalogs

Here, we buy and sell a million kinds of Hell
Imagination is the limit to the devil's clientelle

Up a dingy elevator, no televised debate
Will save you from the Hell you paid for
Sorry buddy, smell you later

Side-stepped fate
Went right for the gate
But you know the devil, he loves a good chase!

There was a demon at the entrance, making X's on a checklist
Who would kick you in the ass when you begged him for repentance
Those tempted by the senses with the cruelest of intentions

Charlie's heart sank, he was breathless

Excuse me, sir!
There must be someone you've confused me for
If I could see someone who knew me or someone in uniform
I really don't belong here, I know you've heard the tune before

Screaming at the demons while they pushed him through the door!

Excuse me, sir!
There must be someone you've confused me for
If I could see someone who knew me or someone in uniform
I really don't belong here, I know you've heard the tune before

Screaming at the demons while they pushed him through the door!

You can run from your demons until you are exhausted
One day you will have to stop and find out what they wanted
A-running from those demons until you are exhausted

You can run to those angels until you are exhausted
One day you will have to stop and question what they wanted
Keep on running to those angels until you are exhausted

Excuse me, sir!
There must be someone you've confused me for
If I could see someone who knew me or someone in uniform
(He's already died)
I really don't belong here, I know you've heard the tune before

Screaming at the demons while they pushed him through the door!

Excuse me, sir!
There must be someone you've confused me for
If I could see someone who knew me or someone in uniform
I really don't belong here, I know you've heard the tune before

[collyqually]

Imagine being a ghost at your own funeral, and then you hear the person reading your eulogy talking about how you used eco-friendly light bulbs

[boneasin]

I like to imagine Charlie is a victim of those games where you pick who goes to hell and heaven and you keep putting the wrong ppl in the wrong places-

[centipede]

I found this song after trying to play lemon demon on Spotify but since I was on mobile it played this instead and I was "oh wait this is a bop" and that's why this is one of my favorite songs.

[magpie]

now this is a song to aggressively walk down the sidewalk to

[Tubezaku]

Oh man. This song sounds so upbeat, but the second you start paying attention to the lyrics it becomes horribly depressing.
I love it.

[slaythebad]

This song is about how people are so afraid of a bad afterlife that they commit seemingly unselfish acts so they are "guaranteed" a positive afterlife. However, these unselfish acts ARE selfish, since they are only done to try and win over whatever higher being the person believes in. The "Keep on running from your demons" part is talking about how people don't confront their problems and just think all will be solved when they die, which is why they fill their lives with meaningless actions.

[tegolin]

I've listened to this song dozens of time because it's so damn catchy; here's my take on the lyrics.

Charlie is not allowed into heaven because he never fulfilled his life on earth. The good deeds he claimed to have done were all superficial. He didn't come closer to God at a church service, he just went to a building every Sunday. He never loved his wife unconditionally, he just bought her roses and a card. During the chorus, his attempts to show his faith is by looking for someone to vouch for him. He doesn't care about himself, only of what others thought of him. 
This song ties in with the album title too. What Charlie THOUGHT would get him into heaven was actually what sends him to hell. Coincidentally he also died of a heart attack, so his heart went to heaven, and his head went to hell.

Or I'm completely wrong about the lyrics. This song is still fantastic.

[quantumblauthor]

Hot take: Charlie left so little of an impact in life that Heaven forgot he existed.

[onelovelylilidiot]

There are multiple ways to interpret this song

Interpretation 1: Charlie was too focused on seeming good to the people around him that he never actually was good. His reasons cor doing good were shallow which is what landed him in hell. He would’ve gone to heaven if he actually wanted to be good without reward. This one is pretty popular here
To sum up: Charlie did a bad

Interpretation 2: Calvinism. A branch of christianity that believes most people are predestined to go to hell, and very few can ever get to heaven. God is not pleased easily, even by this little specimen of Christian and the American Dream lifestyle here. Very pessimistic lmao
To sum up: these angels are picky jeez

Interpretation 3: Lmao look at this idiot dying to this joyful tune haha
To sum up: good song

Interpretation 4 (favourite of mine): Whole thing is a message about acknowledging your past and moving on from it. Heaven represents a healthy state of mind, hell represents the lowest moods (like depressive slumps and junk). This guy basically thought that just because he refused to talk about bad memories he’d feel better [mood], but he was wrong and fell back into his old depression
To sum up: Go to therapy and talk about ur demons

[junkratpoison]

this song describes my biggest fears ever in a beautifully catchy tune. i love this so much.

[snailsslugs]

Thank god for Spotify.. I really like how upbeat this sounds, the insturmental reminds me of elevator music a little

[MambamboCombo]

My theory isn't just that he went to hell... This IS his hell: Repeatedly getting rejected from heaven... While listening to catchy tunes

[saltyshoelace]

"You can run from your demons until you are exhausted; one day you will have to stop and find out what they wanted
You can run to those angels until you are exhausted; one day you will have to stop and question what they wanted"

I'll be damned if those aren't the best lyrics ever written.

[cat-ish]

I know a lot of people take it literally and interpreted that Charlie was actually a shallow man who didn't do all his actions sincerely but I thought it was a metaphor for someone who has a lot of "demons" plaguing their thoughts and mental state despite being a good person and trying hard to better himself wondering why he's still like this. People know him as a good person, he goes to church on sunday, why is he still like this? Why aren't these demons going away? He chases towards the angels but never actually asked what his demons wanted. And he will keep running until the day he gets too exhausted to keep going and _has_ to

[empirerising]

I just realized the brilliance of, "His heart sank. He was breathless." It's a double meaning of disappointment but also dread. He gets rejected from Heaven? He's already breathless (dead). There's no time to correct the situation. He knows this dire fate is now unavoidable, so his heart sinks.

[yesposts]

top ten songs to think about an animatic in your head to number one

[gabrielmerchant]

"You can run from your demons until you are exhausted, some day you will have to stop and find out what they wanted" THAT LINE IS SO FCKING R A W UGH I LOVE IT SO MUCH IM GETTING THAT TATTOOED ON ME ASAP

[Actual-Knight]

one of my favorite details in this song is that the angel makes checkmarks on their list, but the demon makes X's on his

[Godunderscor]

The whole song changes on repeat. Every time it repeats I think of it as Charlie's personal Hell of him having to relive the experience of being denied Heaven for eternity.

[pennycat]

Holy shit I just realised the album art is in reference to Charlie's death
In his heart he wanted to go to heaven but his mind/inention was the opposite leading him to hell